NIC/022: La Ruta del Café"

Project NIC/022 “La Ruta del Café”: Lux-Development promoting social and economic development in rural zones of Northern Nicaragua


Cooking on a traditional oven


Tourist activities in the Canon de Somoto


Observing wildlife in the mountains of Matagalpa


Maiz: one of the basic crops on which rural Nicaragua depends


Tour of the Lago de Apanas with local fishermen


Local artist, Umberto Gutierrez, explaining his rock sculptures, Reserva Natural Tisey-Estanzuela


Cacao in the rural communities of San Ramón


Traditional agricultural practices in Madriz


Local wildlife, Finca Esperanza Verde

On the 1st and 2nd of July 2008, Lux-Development, through Project NIC/022 “La Ruta del Café” and in cooperation with the Nicaragua Ministry for Tourism (INTUR) organised a workshop in which rural community tourist service providers from the North of Nicaragua contributed to the creation of the first ever National Tourism Quality System for rural community tourism in Nicaragua.

The World Bank´s 2004 Nicaragua Poverty Assessment showed that despite a decrease in overall poverty in Nicaragua, extreme poverty in the country continues to exist to a large extent in rural areas. Natural and economic disasters like Hurricane Mitch and a decline in coffee prices have contributed to these problems. Estranged from the urban centres of the country due to unpaved, poorly maintained roads and limited transport; these areas have often not been part of development that has taken place in other parts of the country. Furthermore, access to basic services such as electricity, water or telephone networks is in most cases limited. As almost half of Nicaragua´s five million people live in rural zones, the development of these areas is of importance to the development of the whole country.

Indeed, the World Bank cites expansion of economic opportunities for the poor in rural areas as one of the challenges which Nicaragua faces in order to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. Northern rural communities in the areas of Project NIC/022 are almost entirely dependent on coffee as their main source of income. This dependence leaves them vulnerable to the fluctuations of the world economy. This was the case at the beginning of this decade, when coffee prices fell dramatically. The results of this price fall were felt strongly in these areas; to such an extent that many farmers are still repaying loans they took out at that time.

It was particularly this fall in coffee prices which first stimulated an interest in developing tourism in the rural zones in the North of Nicaragua. Although currently over-looked on the main tourist trail in the country, many saw the potential of the natural beauty and traditional culture as a tourist attraction.

“La Ruta del Café”, (Coffee Route in English) is the touristic route proposed by the Nicaraguan government to promote tourism in five Northern departments of the country (Esteli, Jinotega, Madriz, Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia). Lux-Development is supporting the initiative of the Nicaraguan government through Project NIC/022 “La Ruta del Café”. The project is being supported financially and technically by Lux-Development for four years. Working across the five mountainous northern departments of Nicaragua, Project NIC/022 has its principal objective stimulating social and economic development in the region. It envisages: tourist planning; community organised tourist projects; professional training in key topics; a fund for small businesses and promotion as its 5 results. For the rural communities of Northern Nicaragua, tourism offers an opportunity to diversify their income, without abandoning traditional activities, but remains a new concept to them. In this respect, the technical and financial support which Lux-Development is offering is invaluable.

In this vein, Project NIC/022 “La Ruta del Café” is organising the introduction of this National Tourist Quality System for rural community tourism. For Nicaraguan rural tourism service providers, this represents a ground-breaking system which will allow access to a Quality System for Tourism. In order to obtain classification under the current system, a business must comply with all criteria with a maximum of 5 exceptions. However, many of these criteria are not practical or indeed relevant to the conditions and circumstances in rural Nicaragua. Thus rural tourist providers cannot provide the minimum levels required to obtain a classification under this system. Furthermore, the strict organisation of the current system into types of business (hotels, restaurants, bars) prevents the inclusion of the diverse types of small businesses which exist in rural Nicaragua (such as lodging in family homes).

Rural community tourism is a concept difficult to define and its organisation varies from community to community. It can generally be understood as tourism in a rural zone, promoted and organised by the community that uses its resources in a sustainable way. Furthermore, this type of tourism is considered to exist complementary to the traditional activities of the community and normally the benefits of the tourist activity are distributed between the members of that community. Finally, rural community tourism aims to appreciate and promote the natural, traditional and cultural resources available in the area itself and to promote interchange between locals and tourists.

The aim of the workshop on the 1st and 2nd of July was to present the National Tourist Quality System for rural community tourism proposed by Project NIC/022 and to give local rural tourism service providers the chance to contribute to its content, offering their opinions on the pertinence and applicability of the system to rural conditions. Throughout the two days of the workshop the participants worked with enthusiasm: volunteering personal experiences with tourists. Participants discussed ardently how to resolve hygiene issues; whether white table cloths were necessary in rural comedors; addressed the need for minimum first–aid training and how often sheets should be washed. These issues were approached by the group from two perspectives: namely, what is acceptable to ask of “us” and what will tourists expect from “us”. The result is a system which will provide strong guidelines for rural service providers as to the required tourist standards: but which in reality most rural tourist service providers are currently still a long way from achieving.

After the system is finalised, it will go to a trial stage in some of the communities within the departments of Project NIC/022 with technical support from Lux-Development. The hope is that, if it is successful, the Nicaragua Tourism Ministry will adopt the system to apply to rural community tourism for the whole country.

The rural areas of the North of Nicaragua are places of wild countryside, where people live respecting the natural rhythms and the laws of nature. They are untouched barren hills through which Sandino has wandered, in which the Sandinista guerrilla forces spent years during the 70s revolution, in which the US-supported contra and the Sandinista ejército were posted during the 80s war. They are areas that Hurricane Mitch tore through in 1998. Above all, the countryside and the people have a unique vision of the world and a story to tell which go beyond its natural beauty.

A rural community tourism experience in Nicaragua can involve witnessing the two shining lights of a woman´s eyes in the dark as she tells you the story of La Moconda (a local legend) who lived by the waterfall. It can be seeing the stars illuminated quietly over the cloud forest; spotting toucans or guardabarranco (momots) in the morning. It is a breakfast of gallo pinto and sweet coffee with families whose concept of tourism is sharing simply what they have. It is marvelling over sculptures which one man has spent 30 years carving into the rocks. It is a contrast of miracles and disappointments of hardship and resilience. Rural Nicaragua is a place where the past explains the present, and communities confront the future with tempered optimism and unique initiatives. This optimism and initiative are what Project NIC/022 “La Ruta del Café” hopes to build into something concrete and sustainable over the next three years of its activities.

Catriona Knapman

Junior Technical Assistant
Project NIC/022 “La Ruta del Café”

As Junior Technical Assistant to Project NIC/022, Catriona Knapman has been working closely with rural community tourist service providers and communities for over 11 months.