T H E   T E A M

Our Founders

We are Trevor and Rachael, an American couple that met in Guatemala in 2010. Trevor is a mechanical engineer from Portland, OR where he worked at Intel's Research and Development facility. Rachael is from Rhode Island but moved to Phoenix, AZ in the late 90s. While there she completed a degree in Interdisciplanary Arts but wound up working in sales to pay the bills. In 2010 they both decided they wanted more out of life than they were getting from their careers. Rachael left for Guatemala with the intent to travel and volunteer and hopefully find a non-profit organization with whom she wanted to stay with long term. Trevor went to Belize hoping to find some land to start an organic farm. Shortly into our respective journeys we met while studying Spanish at Lago Atitlan in Guatemala.  Finding our interests compatible we decided to travel together.​

Ten months later, we had visited Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize before arriving in Nicaragua where we found Ometepe. All through out our travels people had been telling us if we were interested in doing green building and sustainable farming the island was the place to be. Following the advice we had received from other successful ex-pat business owners we lived on the island for a while before we purchased our land. In March of 2013 our dream became a reality and we purchased what has become El Jardin de la Vida. After a year on the property we returned to the states to have our daughter Aurora. While there we bought a 40 ft school bus, converted it to a motorhome and then drove it from Rhode Island to Ometepe. When we returned we opened a hostel that had been successfully operating until April 2018. 
The current climate in Nicaragua has provide us the opportunity to reevaluate what our goals for living here are. Starting in January 2019 we will finally become the education and retreat center we have always dreamed of. ​

Trevor Perry

​I was raised in a rural area in near Portland, Oregon in the northwestern part of the United States. I attended a two room school house where kindergarten thru 3rd grade were in one room and 4th - 8th grade was in the other room. As a boy I dreamed big and wanted to move to the city and travel the world. I graduated Oregon State University in 2002 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and afterwards worked for Nikon at Intel's R&D facility in Portland, OR... read more 

Rachael Blasbalg Perry

I grew up in Rhode Island, the smallest of the 50 states in the US. In RI I studied theater and traditional two dimensional art forms- drawing, painting, charcoal and photography. In 1998 I moved from RI to Phoenix, AZ where I completed a degree in Interdisciplanary Arts and Performance. During this time I developed a passion to create interactive installations- complete immersive spaces where the viewer was able to interact with the exhibition. I was looking to break down the boundaries between the art and the viewer. I graduated with my degree in 2002 and headed off to grad school with the intent of creating bigger, more elaborate projects... read more
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