Proyecto Sol (‘Project Sun’) has been installing solar panels in remote rural communities for nine years. It’s about to start a new phase in the community known simply as ‘Sector 80’, an isolated area to the north of Lake Nicaragua. This community, which had no electricity at all and still has no water supply, received…
It’s coming up to seven years since we installed the first solar kit in one of the rural communities near Masaya which don’t have electricity. Our original volunteer engineer, Marc Ricart (from Barcelona – centre in photo), left installers like Norman Padilla (right) with the skills to continue the scheme. ‘Proyecto Sol’ has now brought…
Here are some slightly surprising figures. In the whole of the British Isles, there are currently 59 known species of butterfly. In the national park that covers the Masaya volcano, the edge of which is a kilometre or two from our farm, so far over 180 species of butterfly have been identified. The park covers…
Living in Nicaragua I’m keen to learn all I can about its history and particularly that of the Sandinista revolution. I’ve always been interested in Fonseca’s role as the political inspiration for the Sandinista party and – within the party itself – its most respected figure, even though he died before the ‘triumph’ of 19…
Following a substantial grant from the British Embassy in Costa Rica (which also covers Nicaragua) towards Proyecto Sol, and a new donation from Midland Heart, the Birmingham-based housing association, we were able to extend the solar panel project to yet another community. It’s in the very isolated area between Nicaragua’s two big lakes, called Palo…
The right-wing cynics were trying their best in the run up to Sunday’s election in Nicaragua. Correctly foreseeing victory by the incumbent President Daniel Ortega (he won with 64% of the vote), they were arguing that at the least sign of electoral manipulation the US should put its foot down. For example, only a few…