Please read this carefully to decide if we are right for you!
Modern day tourism tends to emphasize the ‘bucket list’ and the ‘experience’ aspect of traveling often to the exclusion of the learning and reflection that can make international travel, especially to “less developed” countries, more meaningful and worthwhile. We try to offer a truly exceptional range of good, interesting experiences (we do not do the adrenaline pumping stuff unless you specifically request it) whilst learning Spanish – we are now one of the best schools in Central America – and absorbing the culture and history of Nicaragua. Travel can also be an important stimulus to reflect on questions which affect us all as global citizens such as “what kind of development is good”, “what can we do about the state of our environment” and ‘how will climate change affect us?’
We do not offer luxury or perfection, we are not a paradise and we do not offer to solve all your problems. We aim to provide a friendly and thoughtful service to our visitors which is also exceptional value for money. We are not a “Hilton” type hotel where all is of a predictable standard (please note there is no pool, no disco, no all-night bar). Staff and students treat each other as human beings working and living together who naturally have different opinions and even (occasionally!!!) make mistakes. Our animals – both domestic and wild – are a part of our community.
We create as much sustainable local employment as possible. Except for Paulette (semi-retired) and the occasional intern, every aspect of La Mariposa is staffed and managed by local people, trained by us over the years. Wages are reasonable but not high (workers also receive a month’s paid holiday per year, a month’s wages at Xmas, severance pay and social security). Our goal is to help as many families as possible across the community rather than pay a lot to a select few.
A very unusual aspect of La Mariposa is that we do not operate behind closed doors, everything we do is visible. You can talk to any of our staff, watch the accountant adding up bills (if you want to!) and join in with cooking in the kitchen. We do not hide any aspect of our work and you are always welcome to ask questions.
We have developed many other ways of putting money into the local community. Paying families to host students, with both very poor rural and more urban families benefiting. Plus we buy as little as possible in supermarkets (and we avoid the bigger ones as they are now mostly owned by Walmart), purchasing instead from local producers supplies from fruit to building materials. We consciously minimize buying imported goods (wine and cat food are exceptions). This policy ensures that the food we serve has not been transported long distances. We serve a great deal of local produce including citric fruit, mangoes, avocados, coffee, beans, squash, and a range of vegetables which we grow on our ‘huerto’. So we do tend to eat a lot of whatever is in season!
Over the years La Mariposa has become involved in a wide range of different projects in several of the poorer barrios in nearby La Concha. We do not set up our own projects: ideas and initiatives come directly from people in the community and, at their request, we employ people to work with them. Some of the projects support children, including differently abled children. “Chispa de Vida” is our largest project and it is now housed in a eco build on our own land. We undertake many one-off projects. We increasingly emphasize environmental projects and have, for example, planted some 30.000 native trees over the past few years and created two nature reserves. Plus we have our rescued dogs, cats, monkeys, parrots, horses.
Volunteer work is available on most of the projects.
Clearly we aim to be as eco-friendly as possible in our own practice. We are not 100% but better than most and constantly striving to do more. Both the hotel and the study center incorporate solar power, solar heated hot water, rain water collection, grey water recycling, organic gardening among other features. We plant trees where ever possible on our land, both rare forest trees and fruit trees for wildlife. We grow some of our veggies on our organic huerto and produce some of our own organic free range eggs. The food at La Mariposa is in season, largely vegetarian, locally sourced and as organic as possible. And always freshly cooked!!
Our furniture is sourced from local carpenters who use sustainable woods and fibers such as banana fiber. Blankets in the hotel rooms are purchased from a family weaving cooperative in Leon (there isn’t one in our area). An example of how we connect different aspects of our work is that we visit this coop on the Saturday trip to Leon and you can try your hand at weaving your own blanket!
3 years ago we tried our hand at eco building. The result was a very beautiful and sustainable building at what is now the Group Study Centre (aka Piscacho) made from a variety of locally available materials including recycled tires, straw (left from the local rice harvest), bamboo, thatch and volcanic rock. This has been so successful that we are continuing to refine our techniques, using the same basic methods in all our new building. For example, the straw cabin at the reserve is covered in adobe (a mix of mud, straw and manure).
Our respect for the land is such that we try hard to use built spaces in the most economical way possible and minimize the need to build extra areas. Our rooms and cabins are designed to make the best possible use of space. And it often means dual usage of a space…for example the library in the eco hotel doubles as a TV room, a classroom, a meeting space and an office! Our lovely garden terraces and patios are not just relaxation spaces (with many locally purchased hammocks) and havens for birds and wildlife but also serve as outdoor classrooms. One of our classrooms serves as a massage room, complete with massage bed made from a fallen tree, at weekends! We have resisted concreting for pathways and vehicle parking as this prevents water absorption during the rains and creates run off problems. So our paths are mostly hard trodden, but absorbent – earth, and you do need to take care as they are far from flat and smooth!!
So over the years, environmental justice has become a stronger and stronger guiding principle for us as the effects of climate change become clearer and the impact is felt locally. Poorer countries will undoubtedly suffer disproportionately. Deforestation is a major contributing factor. In Nicaragua rainforest is being felled at an alarming rate especially for logging precious wood and raising cattle (a beef burger costs about 9 acres of rainforest!!!). Even protected national parks (as in other parts of the world) are increasingly under threat, including, on our doorstep, the Masaya Volcano National Park. Sadly most tourists only know about this volcano because of its dramatic live crater and have no awareness of the Masaya Laguna, the surrounding dry Pacific tropical forest (among other rare ecosystems) or the communities that live within the borders of the National Park. This forest is fast disappearing- only 2% of the original now remains. Water is taken from the Laguna for road building. The local communities are not consulted on tourist infrastructure developments. La Mariposa, on the other hand, works hard to do what we can to preserve these amazing and unique features of our precious landscape.
Thus what started out as a mere Spanish school has evolved organically into a myriad of projects and initiatives but all based on the same values. We have to consider the immediate community and environment whilst simultaneously thinking globally. The problems local farmers face here in La Concha are directly related to industrial prosperity and global climate change. How can we connect it all together in practice as well as in theory: people, animals, trees, the soil, food, water, the community and environment of which we are a part? And how can we change what needs to be changed but preserve that which matters? These questions and challenges determine our priorities at La Mariposa more and more.
We welcome people who can feel marginalized in more mainstream hotels – including families, older people, differeently abled people, black people and people of colour, gay and lesbian people, and we do not charge a single person supplement. Many Mariposa students leave us having made good friends amongst the other guests and with workers.
Whilst we welcome children at the Mariposa and do our best to create a safe, educative and fun environment, we must make it clear that children remain the responsibility of their parents at all times.
OUR RESPONSIBLE TOURISM POLICY
HOW DO WE DO ALL THIS? – Our main source of funds is income from the Spanish School. Our resources depend on how many students join us! We do not make any profit. Of the money you spend in La Mariposa, about half is spent on wages (of approx. 60 staff, most work behind the scenes on maintenance, gardening, caring for animals, projects). $800 -$1000 per week goes on food and supplies, plus the costs of building maintenance and gasoline. The remainder is spent on the projects. Two years ago we formed an NGO, Asociacion Tierra which now also helps raise funds for the projects. But the basic model remains – the more we can expand our eco-tourism, the more resources we will have available for investing in the community and our environment.
