[www.gaianicaragua.org...] -- Kurt Neufeld and Jonathan Stuckey are spending their days (and some nights) helping with reforestation and fauna monitoring projects at nearby Laguna de Apoyo, a nature reserve in the crater of an extinct volcano.

Each day begins very early with a 45-minute hike from their host families' houses down to the Estación Biológica inside the crater. From there Kurt and Jonathan are likely to be sent on another hike into the forest to plant baby mango trees, monitor bat traps, or even catch butterflies.

Midway through the day they usually take a break to swim in one of the cleanest, deepest and warmest lakes in Nicaragua if not all of Central America. After lunch they head back into the forest for more planting, catching and/or monitoring. Before dinner they might jump back into the laguna if it's not raining (which it does often these days), and then they climb up´the side of the crater again to their host families and an early bedtime.

Because the research station also hosts a Spanish language school, Kurt and Jonathan regularly meet travelers from all over the U.S. and Europe. In addition to the international cameraderie, they get to eavesdrop on Spanish lessons while hanging out at the station.