Want to spend time with locals?  Take a ‘listening tour’

I met this woman on a recent trip to Nicaragua. She’s a coffee farmer and is active with an organization called La FEM — an all-women’s NGO in northern Nicaragua that promotes ideological, economic and political empowerment of rural women.

If you really want to meet local people when you travel and learn a little about their lives, I highly recommend a “listening tour” — a trip arranged and facilitated by someone who lives there or by an organization. It usually includes an element of education or volunteer activity along the way.

This trip was arranged by a U.S.-based fair trade coffee company called Just Coffee. They called it a Delegation, and it offered a chance to meet the women of the La FEM coffee co-ops, to learn about coffee and about what La FEM is doing to improve the lives of women.

This kind of trip gives a much deeper experience than just traveling around as a tourist. Not to knock tourist travel — after a week with the Just Coffee group, my travel companion and I spent a few days of luxury just chilling at the beach!