Connecting Conservation and Communities: Eco-tourism development in rural Nicaragua by Cristina Murillo Barrick
It is midnight in the tropics; the clang of the ceiling fan is not an entirely discomforting rhythm, the cicadas and frogs are engaged in their warm-aired serenade and I cannot sleep. Tomorrow I will take a bus to Managua and begin in-country work on my UC Davis Blum Grant. It is hard not to be nervous when you care about something. The birth of this project can be traced back to November in 2009, when I volunteered for a month in rural Ostional, Nicaragua teaching English lessons to a youth guide group by day and patrolling beaches at night in search of sea turtles. A picture of myself (front far right) and the 2009 guide group in Ostional, Nicaragua. Upon returning in 2016 I was able to reconnect with several members, two pictured here, Marvin (front far left) and Irvin (front, middle) attended the Eco-tourism Training Workshop in August. The guide group officially dissolved a few years back, but interest in recei...