MOON LIVING ABROAD IN NICARAGUA

If you've ever imagined yourself living in Nicaragua, now you can make it happen. Authors Randall Wood and Joshua Berman left their life in the United States to make a home abroad. With their expertise, you'll have all the tools you need to get started.

Moon Living Abroad in Nicaragua
1st Edition
Randall Wood and Joshua Berman
1-56691-987-8
$17.95

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An agronomist and engineer by training, Randall Wood first set foot in Nicaragua in 1998 as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching soil conservation in the remote hillside farming villages of San Diego and El Hato, Estelí. When Hurricane Mitch swept away 70 percent of the road infrastructure and nearly swept away two of the nation’s dams, he was able to put his engineer training to use in a unique way as the in-country manager of a two-million-dollar engineering program. During that time he fell in love and married his Nicaraguan wife, Ericka. He’s lived part-time in Nicaragua ever since.

Randall personally went through all the experiences in this book in the five years he has lived in Nicaragua, from getting a driver’s license and exporting a vehicle to opening a bank account, from purchasing a Nicaraguan home to battling with the authorities for residency, and from hooking up cable television to getting a land line installed at his house. He has dealt with the police, immigration, and many government officials. This book is a unique opportunity for him to help smooth the way for other foreigners interested in calling Nicaragua their next home, while sharing a bit of his love for Nicaragua.

Randall completed a master’s degree in international development economics in 2005, and currently works with the Millennium Challenge Account, a development organization with programs world-wide. He has worked in Bolivia, Mozambique, and Benin. He continues to write extensively about Nicaragua. His writing has appeared in SAIS Perspectives, the SAIS Review, the BC Journal, and Between the Waves magazine. His website showcases much of that work and more: www.therandymon.com.

Joshua Berman’s original two-year assignment in Nicaragua — as an Environmental Education Volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps—also served as a catalyst for his transformation into a full-time freelance writer. In addition to writing numerous travel columns and articles during his two-year tour, Joshua teamed up with fellow volunteer Randall Wood, first as coeditors of their quarterly Peace Corps magazine and later as coauthors of Moon Handbooks Nicaragua.

Although Joshua has been traveling, essentially non-stop, for more than a decade since graduating from Brown University, he has taken several long, relaxed respites throughout Nicaragua, where he has lived off and on since 1998. His adopted Nicaraguan homes—where he has spent extended lengths of time and been adopted into various Nicaraguan families —include San Ramón, Matagalpa; Pio Doce, Masatepe; La Trinidad, Estelí; and Managua. In addition, he has traveled extensively—and repeatedly—throughout the country, for both work and pleasure.

Joshua’s other travels include a six-month tour of the American West as a rookie firefighter with the National Park Service in 2003, and, most recently, a 16-month, round-the-world honeymoon with his wife, Sutay. This trip involved extended stays and/or volunteering assignments in Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, and Africa.

In addition to Moon Living Abroad in Nicaragua and Moon Handbooks Nicaragua (both written with Randall Wood), Joshua is the coauthor of Moon Handbooks Belize, winner of the 2005 Lowell Thomas Travel Writing Bronze Award in the Best Guidebook category. His articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, Transitions Abroad, Outside Traveler, Yoga Journal, and Hooked on the Outdoors magazines. Joshua’s website is www.joshuaberman.net.

Read more from Randall and Joshua at www.gotonicaragua.com.