TRIP ADVISOR

We really don't like TRIP ADVISOR.

FIRST, I'D LIKE TO SAY THAT FINCA EL ZOPILOTE IS WORKING VERY WELL, LIKE NEVER BEFORE. BOTH THE HOSTEL AND THE FARM ARE FLOURISHING....OF THE HUNDREDS OF TRAVELERS THAT PASS THROUGH EACH MONTH, MANY OF THEM ARE SAD TO LEAVE. EL ZOPILOTE REMAINS A WELL-LOVED PART OF ISLA OMETEPE AND A PLACE NOT SOON FORGOTTEN BY OUR VISITORS. 

Please, Click here to see our TripAdvisor Listing.

REASONS WHY WE DON'T LIKE TRIP ADVISOR:

1) We did not ask to be on the website....El Zopilote was already on the site with 4 reviews when we realized.

2) We cannot erase our farm / hostel from trip advisor....it may sound strange, but it is impossible to erase your business from trip advisor unless you close the hotel.

3) Trip Advisor is a bilion dollar company ( Check Wikipedia by clicking here please ) with very good web designers; the majority of the time when you google a hotel the Trip Advisor reviews will appear even before the hotel's website.

4) As the owner of El Zopilote, I can respond to the reviews posted by my guests. One time I wrote something like this  ''......I don't like what you are saying and I don't like Trip Advisor......''  Trip Advisor did not publish my reply because I was speaking badly of them.....There are other big companies for example Apple that publish any comment, even '' ....I hate Apple because it is a bad and horrible company....''  TRIP ADVISOR only publishes what is convenient for its image.

5) After many years observing our reviews we have realized that the majority of the guests write them when they are angry with us....for example, right now we have around 50 reviews: the bad ones were written by guests who did not like El Zopilote, and make up around 10 of those.
The original good reviews written by our guests make up less than 10,
the rest are fake or almost fake, written by my brother, sister, mother, myself, friends etc etc etc because we had to fix our score and this seemed like the only option.....

6) The majority of our neighboring farms and hostels are also posting fake reviews to highten their score, another reason Trip Advisor is not a reliable website

7) There are companies like this one: http://www.tripadvisorsuccess.com/ offering fake good review and deleting the bad ones. Trip Advisor cannot be trusted.

8) Trip Avisor is free for the owners of hotels, but you can pay 350 usd a year and get some advantage like hiding bad review and get better score,another reason Trip Advisor is not a reliable website

9) There are some reviews written by very stupid people who come to our farm expecting a 5 star hotel and expecting to be waited on like royalty though they are paying less than 10 usd a day. Other people wrote about 'how a Permacolture farm should be,' after staying here a mere 3 days; these individuals couldn't tell their heads from their asses.  ......Follow a selection of the review written by some of these stupid people:
---PIXI360  TITLE: Uconfortable and Unfriendly
---ESTAFAFUERA TITLE: Misleading/disapointed
---RENOIRF TITLE: Underwhelmed 

Conclusion: I hope that our guests and people in general are not using Trip Advisor. In our reception there is a suggestion box that we always check for suggestions and tips....
For the trip advisor users, I suggest they write a review not only when they have problems with a hotel, but also when they like a place.....

For the people that really want to write a bad review, we answer with 2 words typical from Tuscany where we come from:  O' LECCAMELO/A

BUSHOP

BuShop: our little farm-shop inside a school bus

To see all the photos of this project , please click here

FINCA EL ZOPILOTE BLOG

Bienvenido al blog de FINCA EL ZOPILOTE.

Me gustaria escribir este blog en más de un idioma, sino por conveniencia tengo que elegir uno, que es el Inglés siendo el mas ''interncional''.Sin embargo, para aquellos que no lo saben recomiendo utilizar un traductor como GOOGLE TRASLATE: pueden traducir todo el blog solo escribiendo la URL http://www.zopiloteorganicfarm.blogspot.com/  y elijiendo el idioma.Gracias.

Welcome to the blog of FINCA EL ZOPILOTE.

I 'd love to write this blog in more than one language, but for convenience I have to choose one that will be English being the most''international''.However for those who do not know I recommend using a translator as GOOGLE TRASLATE: you can traslate the entire blog by typing the URL http://www.zopiloteorganicfarm.blogspot.com/ and choosing the language.Thank you.

Benvenuti al blog di FINCA EL ZOPILOTE.

Mi piacerebbe scrivere questo blog in più di una lingua ma per praticità devo sceglierla una sola che sarà l'inglese essendo la più ''internazionale''.Comunque per chi non lo conosce consiglio di usare un traduttore come GOOGLE TRASLATE: si può l'intero blog scrivendo la URL http://www.zopiloteorganicfarm.blogspot.com/ e scegliendo la lingua.Grazie.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR READING THE BLOG

I decided to write this blog to show and explain to all projects built and our ideas for the future.Is not a blog as a diary organized and the arguments have a label with a name so that everyone will choose what most interests them.I will try to use simple language and straightforward, easy to understand words.I am interested that ordinary people can study, copy (if desired) and improve our plans to live in future in a greener world.Happy reading!

PLASTIC BOTTLES to build a house

See all the photo of this of this project ..photos..

For this project i would like to thank a unknown visitor who left in the farm some copies of a similar project done in Guatemala.

Using bottles to build a house? It is a strange idea but for us it was very useful, mainly because it allows the recycling of many bottles. The idea has been maturing over time: first of all in Ometepe there is an organization that teaches to the locals to put in ordinary concrete blocks, plastic bottles to recycle and to use less cement. Then came this informative book written in St. Marco in Guatemala that ex

plains how to put plastic bottles in the walls and cover them with cement. Then we knew the technique of ferro-cement to make the tank water. Then I wanted to build my house for my family and having very high walls had to find a lightweight material because Nicaragua is a place subject to earthquakes. And finally came my friend Michele who wanted a lot of plastic bottles to build a

chicken coop and we have prepared. An incredible number, several cubic meters of plastic, even more incredible when we think that none of the bottles was sold at our farm. Michele has changed his mind and remained there all the bottles. So we started the construction of the walls.

Only one wall is all plastic ( 1 ), while others begin with stone and after the first meters continue with bottles ( 2 ). Before you make a structure of iron with the irons in the direction of the width of the wall positioned in pairs at a distance of several centimeters, just for it to take a bottle ( 3 ). Along the length of the wall iron bars are put at about 50 cm away. After reinforce with smaller iron bars orizontally. After that binds the net of steel (the same that we used for the tank) on one side of the wall and also on the other so that the two networks create a room to put several plans bottles that are inserted between the two , empty and with cap( 4 5 ). Then binds metal wire in several places and put pressure plastic bags because the structure has less movement ( 6 7 8 ).

Once finished the preparation work is complete except for the cement that is then''pulled''on the net and smoothed with a spatula ( 9

). Finally is a mixture of cement, sand and plenty of lime to give the finishing and the color white ( 11 12 ).

The result seems good, the walls are strong, yet light, are very insulated because they contain air. We calculate that we have used about 3,000 bottles in a place where no one goes to pick up the garbage recycling is a great environmentally friendly.

Check all the photos of this project to understand better.PHOTO.

CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS ( fitodepurazione )

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS OF THIS PROJECT photos ( 1 )

photos ( 2 )

For this project I would like to thank Art Ludwig of Oasis Design and his book The New Create an Oasis with Grey Water

The constructed wetland is a process that allows you to clean the gray water (from the shower drain, from the laundry and kitchen) and the black water (from the bathroom ) through the plants.Since the first year (2002) to Zopilote we tried to recycle the gray water and fortunately,

we have compost toilets so we don't produce blackwater.Initially, the gray water was recycled with a system called BRANCHED DRAINS WITH FREE FLOW OUTLET (this system from a source of gray water separates the flow into several tubes, up to 16 even, but in our case from a source we had only one exit) .To understand the whole gray water showers and 2 kitchens (3 sources) was channeled by gravity in 3 different depressions covered with mulch with lots of plants gray water resistant near the channel and close the depressions. For resistant plants i mean resistant to gray water ( as you know is full of soap ): we used the banana trees, herbs, bamboo, and various local plants that grew alone, while it was impossible to grow tomatoes, herbs and delicate plants . This system allowed the complete recycling of gray water, creating green spaces even in the dry season, but we wanted more. In fact over the years significantly decreased the amount of water available to the community, then the liquid is more precious than before and every years we need watering different plants, not all graywater resistant and finally we also wanted a place to freshen up a little, a natural pool in short.

After 7 years of observation and after reading the book by Art Ludwig CREATE AN OASIS WITH GRAY WATER, we have started the new adventure of constructed wetlands which is very committed in time and money. The system devised is a series

of concrete drains roughly 50 cm high and wide from 20 to 70 cm that from the kitchens and showers bring the water by gravity to 3 pools of ferro-cement placed below. All channels and all the pools except the last are full of stones of various sizes with plant planted on it.

The pool below will be our reserves of clean water now ready to be used to watering plants and make a bath and will be located in a densely planted place to facilitate the manual irrigation of plants. For showers and laundry we have 'nt filtered the water while for the kitchens, since el zopilote is a farm / hostel with tourists often careless or neglectful of some attention, we put 2 filters, which separated the bulk of the remains of food and are cleaned daily. Across the system there are many traps for the fats where water is caught from below and then separated from fats that float because lighter. However, it is in the pools of ferro-cement that is the actual cleaning of the water because they are big enough (6 / 7 thousand liters), with the banks to increase the distance traveled by water and filled with stones of various sizes . In the end it creates a huge filter made from stones and roots that completely cleans the water. The project is not finished yet but already working well.

FERRO~CEMENTO water tank construction

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS OF THIS PROJECT photos

For this project I would like to thank Chris Shank of Project Bona Fide ,Art Ludwig of Oasis Design and his book Water storage

Check our video in youtube: Finca El Zopilote: Ferro-Cement Water Tank

In 2008, after 6 years of suffering, we

decided to build a water tank big enough for our needs. I have a premise on watersystem of the community who would say lucky because there are sources of drinking water and rivers at the top of the volcano and there is no need for pumps. A foreign organization about a decade ago has made available to the community money and an engineer to get down the drinking water from the slopes of

the volcano Madera: The community has provided the workforce and once finished the project were crated committees to manage the liquid. Needless to say that the lack of money, lack of

knowledge, the struggles between different villages and the dramatic increase of the population both local and foreigners have done a good water system a mess. It is not uncommon to stay several days without receiving water during the dry season and the rainy season, for problems due to breakage, lack or excess of pressure, vandalism.

Our water supply consisted of some ROTOPLAST that could contain a total of about 5000 liters; during summer we had a range of about a day and a half and that was very little.With the aid provided by Chris of PROJECT BONAFIDE and a team of experienced local builders have designed a ferro-cement watertank that can hold 50,000 liters to assist us in the absence of water for 15 days and rationing even more.The work of construction is fast but for the preparation of all materials (sand, fine sand, cement, iron) needs time.When everything is in place we can start to build:

1) The foundation: concrete with an armature of iron round with a diameter of 5 metri.Needs 8 people with a day of work (I note that all jobs are done by hand without the use of any machine). Photos: 1 2 3

2) The reinforcement of the walls, all in iron bound with wire and attached with a steel mesh that is needed to support future cement (3 people, 7 / 10 working days).Photos: 1 2 3

3) The concrete walls and finishing: practically need to full the armature of iron with concrete and the work must be done in a day otherwise it dries the structure (14 people, 1 day of work).Photos 1 2 3

For about a month we s have kept wet the concrete using water several times a day without filling it. The end result is excellent, little cement is used, enough but not too much iron and have a super-strong structure and is durable.The concrete roof is recommended, but we covered with a net and in the rainy season can be filled with the rain. Inbound and outbound from the tank we placed filters.

Check our video in youtube: Finca El Zopilote: Ferro-Cement Water Tank