Our new year officially started in March and we’ve been busy with lots of wonderful projects ever since.
Thanks to our amazing community, our number of members increased by 50% this year!
Recycling Depot
We are working on a new recycling depot which will hopefully be a more permanent solution. There was a problem with children breaking in and making a mess at the old site, but it appears they have been reprimanded and it will no longer be a problem. But the intention is to have the area be more secure.
Art School
The art program at Majahua over Semana Santa and the sale of the art was a big success. Thank you Amor Tropical for hosting our exhibition and sale. We raised enough money to fund the children’s day festivities end of this month and to contribute to a summer art camp which includes visual, theatre and movement arts, (expressive arts), recycling education and healthy food preparation.
It will run for 3 months, during June to September, as a pilot for a weekly art school next high season. The intention is that the high season art school will be open to tourist children for a fee and free for the locals kids. The school will help to raise funds for TL moving forward.
Please note that our art program has now helped to fund 2 other programs in the community; 1) the Hermanas secondary school transportation fund and 2) the Children’s Day in Majahua. I think this cross pollination between groups is the true meaning of community and I’m excited about future possibilities!
Restaurants
Our goal is to continue to influence the practices of local restaurants so that more venues are adopting environmental best practices.
Environmental best practices include at this time:
Decreased use of disposable items
Composting
Plastic recycling
Hydration Station (serving garafon water in glasses instead of selling plastic bottled water)
Here are the restaurants that are practicing at least some of the above:
Orbes
Robertos
Brisas En Las Rocas
Las Brisas en Majahua
La Bahia
Amor Tropical
Present Moment
Cafe Pacifico
Mi Casa Su Casa
Eden
Inn At Manzanillo Bay
If you know of other restaurants making efforts in any of these areas, please let me know so we can stay current with local businesses’ efforts and make sure to let our community know about them.
Water Harvesting
Pato and Gonzalo are working on a plan, based on permaculture strategies, to develop a water harvesting system. The idea is to collect rain water in culverts on private land in the hills outside town. At this point it looks like they will be approaching some families who’s land this would work on to see if they are interested in getting involved. See pics below
Women’s Workshops- At the end of this month we will begin a series of workshops for women at the Medical Clinic regarding healthy food and healthy waste management (I.e. recycling and not burning plastic). Attendance at these workshops will be required for the women in the village receiving gov’t financial assistance but is open and encouraged for all women in the community.
Earth Day Walk & Brunch April 22. Join us for a mostly shaded walk to enjoy and help maintain the bike trails followed by brunch at a local restaurant. Please send an email with your interest in taking part to Debi at blackbearrealty@gmail.com.
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