I just passed the three-weeks-in-Nicaragua mark (as well as the “I-can-talk-about-more-than-just-the-weather” mark in my Spanish lessons- quite the milestone, in my mind). So, bueno, La Vida Idealistas. I am a 26-year-old from Washington state, currently living in Leon, Nicaragua. I’v[...]
Archive for the ‘Nicaragua’ Category
Guest Post: To Kiva Fellow or not to Kiva Fellow, Eso e’ la pregunta. (Part III of III)
Today’s guest post comes from Rob Gradoville, a current Kiva Fellow, Rotary Scholar, and Fulbright Fellow in Cusco, Peru. Since 2005, Rob has been thinking about the best way to provide the basic services that rural folks in the developing world want and need most: clean water and electricity[...]
Guest Post: To Kiva Fellow or not to Kiva Fellow, Eso e’ la pregunta. (Part II of III)
Today’s guest post comes from Rob Gradoville, a current Kiva Fellow, Rotary Scholar, and Fulbright Fellow in Cusco, Peru. Since 2005, Rob has been thinking about the best way to provide the basic services that rural folks in the developing world want and need most: clean water and electricity.[...]
Guest Post: To Kiva Fellow or not to Kiva Fellow, Eso e’ la pregunta. (Part I of III)
Today’s guest post comes from Rob Gradoville, a current Kiva Fellow, Rotary Scholar, and Fulbright Fellow in Cusco, Peru. Since 2005, Rob has been thinking about the best way to provide the basic services that rural folks in the developing world want and need most: clean water and electricity[...]
La Vida Idealist.org is Seeking New Writers!
If you are reading this now, chances are you’re interested in nonprofit or development work in Latin America. You may actually already be teaching English in Colombia, or working in a national park in Costa Rica, or completing your first year of the Peace Corps in Chile. And if that’s th[...]
Quetzaltrekkers: Into the Clouds, Part 1
Three-thousand three-hundred feet below the mountaintop we will summit tomorrow morning, I sit in a small one-room house on a wooden chair fit for a person of childlike proportions. The house is lit by a single candle. The faces of my co-guide and our clients are illuminated by the flame’s orange [...]
Origins of Responsibili”ti”
In the weeks leading up to me leaving the U.S., many adults from my parents’ generation told me the same thing: “Oh. Well.. it’s nice that you are doing this now at a time in your life when you have no real obligations or responsibilities.” What they really wanted to hear from me was a t[...]
Do as the Central Americans Do
When in Central America, do as the Central Americans do: slow down, make it count, and when in doubt, wing it. Things such as internet connections, water pressure, food service, bus travel, etc. run much more slowly here than in the U.S. In the communities I’ve visited, I’ve witnessed h[...]




