After a hearty breakfast of refried beans, scrambled eggs, freshly made corn tortillas and a local fresh, salty, white cheese I was off to meet the group at La Cieba, a grandiose tree at the centre of Sabana Grande, for a tour of the village. The tour, like most of our orientation, was in español and I’d be lucky if I understood half of it, but I’ll give you a quick run-down on what I did catch.

Sabana Grande, a small rural community in the municipality of Totogolpa, Mariz Department is in the north of Nicaragua, only 30 or so kilometres from the Honduras border. The majority of people live in dwellings very similar to the one I am living in (described in my previous post) on semi rural plots of land. The community sits to one side of the highway and is connected by narrow dirt roads or walking tracks. Although the odd motorbike is seen, the most get around by bicycle or walking, with public transit served by old american school buses utilised for transport to the nearest town of Ocotal. The community is served by a small one-day-a-week health clinic, a several pulperias (convenience stores) a number of churches both Catholic and Evangelical, and a bar. Well that is if you can call a room with a couple of tables, few chairs, stacks of beer crates and a couple of massive speakers a bar. We even had to go to the pulperia next door for mixers for our rum!

After taking in the highlights of the settlement we made our way through the agricultural area separating the majority of the community dwellings from the main road and the solar center. Despite the three year drought there was a reasonable amount of agriculture around Sabana Grande, mostly small farms supplying the community. Crops included avacado, tomatoes, lemons, papaya, mangoes and the occasional coffee patch – although this was outside of its ideal growing region. Immediately adjacent to the Solar Centre was a transport hub for coffee growers in the the surrounding areas. Across the road were fields with long spans of plastic sheeting where the raw beans were left out in the sun to dry, before being packaged up into sacks and transferred to the distribution centre where shipping containers would be loaded up for transport all over the world. I had been told the solar ovens were ideal for roasting coffee, so I am keen to get my hands on some beans at some stage and give this a try!

Back at the solar centre we got a tour around the the facilities and the projects in various states, many incomplete or in need of repair. Some of the projects include:

• The solar ovens, which have been an important part of the Grupo Fenix community in Sabana since its conception
• Biogas production from a septic tank system – not functioning currently due to a lack of poo.
• Un glazed solar thermal water heating for bathroom facilities at the solar restaurant
• Various water collection and storage systems.
• Two small off-grid systems supplying power for lighting at the solar restaurant, one of which was not operating.
• A solar powered water distiller to provide for electrolyte top up for batteries
• Off grid system supplying DC lighting and AC power to the Solar Centre workshop

On top of of this there are various installations and training programs in place in the wider community.

After lunch at the solar restaurant we had an afternoon presentation by Susan Kinne – founder and president of Grupo Fenix giving us a background of the 20 years of history of the organisation, which was fascinating and incredibly inspirational.

We finished the day all a bit weary from taking in a lot of information (the majority of which was in Spanish) and a decent walk in the morning. But I personally was inspired and excited to get underway with the work ahead!

Washing up area

Latrine