Shameless Self-Promotion!

K and I are spending a quiet week at our place in Rancho Santana after a very busy week in Cancun with 40+ members of our extended family. I mentioned on Aug. 11 that we call these biannual events Cousin Camps because, when we started them, about 30 years ago, they were meant less to reunite our coevals but to give our children and nieces and nephews the chance to develop close bonds – something my childhood lacked.

Cancun was a blast, a party. Rancho Santana is a recovery zone – quiet, peaceful, luxurious.

J, my editor, is growing impatient with my continued pieces about Rancho Santana. She sees them as shameless plugs, and perhaps they are. But I have no personal ambition to sell any more property here. I write about this place because when I come down here, I continue to be blown away by it.

This is especially relevant for me now because a small group of property owners have objected to the resort’s increased fees. They are doing their best to get us to lower fees across the board or make exemptions for them. That’s not going to happen. Not only because the increase was correctly done, but because the higher fees are still much lower than they would be in any other resort of this quality anywhere in the world.

About ten years ago, when I was running Rancho Santana, it was, at best, a 3-star resort. But then two of my partners took over the management and initiated a master plan to turn it into what it is today: an award-winning 5-star resort.

It cost the development partners tens of millions more dollars than the tens of millions we had already invested. And while the investment hasn’t been paid back yet, we are more than happy with the result. We now have one of the 100 best resort hotels in the world, and probably the number one resort in Central America.

Here are a few reasons why:

* The property is vast at 2,800 acres. (It takes about 20 minutes to drive through.) And it is beautiful, consisting of hills and valleys, cliffs and beaches, forests and flatland, and two rivers, one on either end.

* The property has five beaches, including a tree-shaded cove, a beach that stretches out from a 30-foot sand dune, two long beaches that are perfect for surfing, and one, perhaps the prettiest one, that you cannot find without a guide. It’s called Escondido (Hidden) Beach.

* Rancho Santana offers visitors a range of housing options – from 18 ocean-view rooms in an elegant seaside inn at the heart of the community, to 60 luxury apartments, also looking at the sea, to several dozen beautifully decorated private residences with million-dollar views.

* The resort offers every sort of recreational activity one could hope for, including horseback, hiking, and mountain bike trails; tennis and pickleball courts; ocean swimming, surfing, and snorkeling; boating and fishing; nature walks; yoga on top of a hill overlooking a forest and onto the beach; a 5-star spa; bocce ball, horseshoe, and cornhole courts by the main pool and outdoor bar.

Residents and guests can also use the sports center at FunLimón, which includes a soccer field, a baseball field, a full court basketball facility, a fully equipped gym, and a martial arts dojo.

* The maintenance of the resort is full-service, fast, and invisible. Everything is taken care of automatically and discreetly. You rarely run into workers, and yet they are working day and night. (In this respect, Rancho Santana remind me of Disneyland!)

* Rancho Santana has three restaurants – formal dining at the Club House, a tapas restaurant atop a beautiful small cove, and a taqueria on the family-oriented beach at its southern border. If you prefer to eat at home, you can order meals from the main restaurant, or you can purchase food and drinks at the “tienda,” which is also stocked with everything else you could possibly need.

All of these amenities are of a quality you’d expect from a Four Seasons Resort in Switzerland or Paris. In addition, Rancho Santana offers something in abundance that is not as prevalent in other 5-star resorts. I’m talking about the demeanor of the staff. Nicaraguans are, by nature and/or culture, warm and welcoming.

What else?

Did I mention that Rancho Santana is safe? Very safe. It is located in the midst of a string of small beachside towns and hamlets that are as safe as any small town in the US. Plus, the resort has a sophisticated electronic security system, as well as dozens of guards and security personnel that, like the maintenance folks that keep everything functioning smoothly, seem to do their jobs invisibly.

K and I have been to dozens of 5-star vacation resorts all over the world, but I think Rancho Santana must be the best. As I said, every time I come here, I am blown away by how great this place is. How big. How beautiful. How easy, friendly, luxurious, and safe. And the cost – whether you are a guest or a property owner – is cheap compared to any resort that is remotely as good.

For more information about Rancho Santana, click here.