My Beekeeping Assignment in San Jose de Cusmapa, Nicaragua

By F2F Volunteer Kris Fricke 

This was my first visit to Central America after having done many projects in Africa. As I stepped out of the plane into the warm humid air filled with the vibrant smell of foliage I was struck by how much it reminded me of Africa, though of course it's also quite different and I was comparing and contrasting in my mind throughout the trip. The plumes of smoke from volcanos visible right from the airport and throughout the capitol were really a marvel to me!

My project was with Fabretto in the town of Somoto in the mountains in the north and in the tiny town of San Jose de Cusmapa near there. The area was beautiful and scenic with little villages of classic tiled adobe houses nestled among the mountains.  Somoto was a small town of cobbled streets that were very pleasant to stroll about upon, with seemingly most of the town's population sitting on their doorsteps in the evening.

Fabretto is working with youth in many surrounding communities to train and support them in getting started in beekeeping (among many other things), and we visited many different outlying communities and inspected their hives with them to see how they are doing and what advice would benefit them. I found their beekeeping to be well on the right track and hopefully with the advise I gave them they will be even more so. I was expecting the bees to be very “Africanized” and aggressive but they weren't quite as bad as I had feared.

The village of San Jose de Cusmapa was a particularly delightful place to visit. Kind of draped over the top of a mountain (I'm told it's the highest altitude settlement in Nicaragua), once can behold magnificent vistas from the edge of town, though one is often looking down on the tops of clouds.  People get around town either on foot or by horseback, with horses by far outnumbering the few cars I saw in town.I also gretly enjoyed the Nicaraguan food during the trip, of particular note I recall the rolled tacos and various forms of tamales.

Altogether I had a very enjoyable trip, I  was glad to see such enthusiasm and momentum in developing the beekeeping sector and feel it has great potential.  I definitely look forward to returning to the area in future years.