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“I like to change my life, radically,” says Carlos Espino sitting on his verandah overlooking Lake Nicaragua, otherwise known as Cocibolca. The 55-year old Canadian citizen born in El Salvador is frank. “One day you are a computer programmer, the following an agriculturist. One day you live in a city, the following you live in last corner of the world. You have friends, the following day you have new friends.”
It’s a still, warm morning on Ometepe, the massive expanse of Cocibolcas’s water dominating the view from El Encanto. Carlos, a computer programmer, and his Australian wife Helena Lorenz are putting the final touches to their website promoting the four-room hotel and restaurant. Its name, The Enchantment, sums up the views from the nine-acre property situated on the island’s isthmus between Concepcion and Maderas Volcanoes. Like a growing number of foreigners buying island properties, the couple was instantly enchanted by Ometepe’s natural beauty. “There are many islands,” says Carlos, “but this one is unique because of the two volcanoes.”
Two years ago, the couple escapes the rain and cold of their hometown in Bellingham, Washington to spend December in Nicaragua. “We had been looking for business opportunities in the U.S. and nothing seemed viable,” says Helena, a former public health nurse. For the couple, the island’s developing tourism industry and the country’s relative safety made Ometepe a more attractive option over Mexico and the neighboring Central American countries.
While the island’s isolation and lack of development are part of its charm, these factors also complicate life for landowners. “Anyone who has done any construction here knows you’ve got to double the estimated completion times and costs,” says Helena.
The six-month timeframe for the construction of El Encanto became thirteen. “There are no subdivisions,” explains Helena, “so land comes without electricity and water”. Carlos describes his dealing with Union Fenosa, the electricity utility, as “frustrating.” The homestead that houses El Encanto’s restaurant was built mostly without power tools because Union Fenosa took such a long time to hook up the electricity.
Construction materials and labor are also more difficult to come by on the island. Most materials come from the main land and builders face labor shortages during planting and harvesting seasons. “It’s difficult to get specialized labor,” Carlos points out, “and labor from off island is expensive.”
Growing organically
Darrin Schellenberg and Eileen Wall live about three kilometers from El Encanto. Their thirteen-acre property is located between the township of Balgue and a cluster of houses known as El Madroñal. Darrin and Eileen, both in their forties, are busily working on the beginning of a second house. Amid the concrete foundations, Eileen is directing the local construction. The men travel from Altagracia (about 20 km away) each morning. Several weeks into he job, the crew’s foreman still has not turned up. “He is finishing off another job,” remarks Eileen. The couple seems unperturbed. Eileen’s fluent Spanish and Darrin’s know-how keeps work ticking over on the site. |
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“Our dream was to have a farm and grow our own food,” says Eileen. The couple bought the property in 2001 but continued to live in California’s Central Valley for the next four years. The seasonal nature of their jobs as produce inspectors in the States allowed them to stay on the island for extended periods. They lived out of a four-man tent while building a small house and rehabilitating the land. “We had to buy a new tent every six months,” remarks Eileen, “because the weather destroyed them.” For the past two years, the couple lived permanently on the island.
Six years after purchasing, Darrin and Eileen’s farm is testimony to their hard work and passion for organic farming. Ninety percent of the land is under cultivation of grain crops (corn, sorghum, sesame, and twelve varieties of beans), along with citrus trees and coffee. Production is largely for household consumption with the surplus sold for foodstuff they cannot grow.
The lack of a local market for organic produce is one of their biggest challenges. “The reality is that the money you make off growing organic food is nothing,” says Darrin. While financial returns from organic farming have disappointed the couple, its impact at a community level is positive. “This is a healthier farm and produces as much or more that other farms that have been sprayed,” remarks Darrin, “and I thinks some of the locals are starting to notice.”
For Darrin and Eileen, setting up life on the island has been a process of trial and error. “We came here thinking we could grow all our own food and that was it,” explains Eileen. “But that’s not it. We can’t survive just off that.” The couple makes money from renting their house and they have plans to convert part of the house currently under construction into a restaurant or internet facility.
“You’ve got to come here with an open mind”, advices Eileen, “Take it slow and get used to where you’re at. Understand the goings-on of the community.” Social life is part of the attraction of island life for Helena. “People have been very welcoming to us,” she says, “and there is always social activity going on in the streets.” Helena points out that her fluent Spanish and Carlos’ Latin origins have made the transition from the US to the island easier. “We’ve made friends among the campesinos,” she says. “Economic differences have not been a barrier to making friends here.”
For both couples, financial obstacles they faced in the US also motivated the move south. Nicaragua’s affordable land and viable business opportunities make it attractive to foreigners wanting to live abroad. However, the transition from living in a so-called “developed” country to a “developing” one requires more than a good economic sense. Trading the complexities of life in a western metropolis for the simplicity of rural life in Nicaragua is a tale with elements that sound more like fiction than reality.
Maybe understanding that is part of the key to surviving here. For both couples, “getting things done” on the island demands patience, adaptability, and a good understanding of the complexities, culture, and cultural differences. Would they swap the daily challenges of life on the island for a life in the US? ¡Nunca! |
