Profile information
Host rating
75 %
Last replied
26 Apr 2024
Reply rate
99.2 %
Usually responds within 89 days
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Details
Description
We are a new beachside eco surf retreat located at Nicaragua’s premier surf spot for beginner and intermediate surfers with 300+ days a year offshore winds.
Our founding vision is to promote low-carbon living & building while creating a community of true nature-loving surfers. We hope to inspire other entrepreneurs to do the same and show an alternative to the trend towards pure capital growth-driven development of prime coastal land and the often overlooked burden it places on the environment and local infrastructure without recycling income back into the local economy. In this regard, our retreat offers a rare combination of quality prime beachfront accommodations at a price most surfers can still afford.
We have invested substantial capital in building quality accommodations using recycled materials, local labor and wind-cooled designs. These are maintained to a high standard using 4 local part-time cleaners and handymen. Our goal is to get past negative cashflow, reach sustainability, then gradually expand and provide additional services and opportunities to local workers in a wider range of skills. Also, as the only hotel in the area, we already support several local businesses (restaurants, bars, surf shops and instructors) by attracting guests to the beach and providing them with customers.
We are a caring, respectful, polite, kind, experienced, intelligent, mature, and international married couple. We treat our guests, staff and workawayers with respect and dignity. We provide a safe environment with clear processes and policies for all, that protect our guests, staff and work exchangers. This enables everyone to relax, know their boundaries will be respected by everyone, and enjoy the beauty, learning, and stoke of what we have to offer.
We offer surfers unique access to one of the most consistent surf breaks in the world. Work exchangers can sleep to sounds of waves and wake to the songs of birds of every color. Families of monkeys often pass through our majestic trees. All can be viewed from our rooms, balconies and a yoga sky deck. Restaurants, bars, and a friendly social surf scene are steps away on the beach. Low-price lessons and board rentals also are available on the beach, and for a soul-surfer experience, more advanced virgin breaks are a short hike away.
This is our second experiment in accepting work exchangers. In our first, some work exchangers loved what offer, while others wanted something different. Therefore we learned that we need to more carefully define filters and set accurate expectations. Perhaps it would help if we clarify what we are not:
1. We are not a party hostel. This is important because there are many party hostels and consequently, some work exchangers assume it is the default norm, and expect that social engagement will be prioritized over structure. There will be opportunities to have fun with others, but we cannot adapt routine hotel operations to maximize work exchanger opportunities for fun.
2. We can only entertain work exchangers who are able to fully and happily accept our need for a pre-defined schedule. While this may sound inflexible, we simply don’t have the human resources or bandwidth to manage exceptions and variations. That would defeat one an important purpose of the work exchange program: to provide relief to management (not increase their workload).
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We offer Work exchanger:
1. A unique opportunity to surf one of the most reliable surf breaks in the world with 300+ days of offshore winds and north and south swells, on a beautiful beach just steps away, while maintaining your own online digital work, studies or personal growth.
2. A unique opportunity to experience a true soul-surfer experience at a virgin unspoiled intermediate beach nearby. Normally to experience this would require a 4-wheel drive and camping, but here it's just a 20-minute beautiful cliff-side hike away from your room.
3. Meet interesting people. We do attract some interesting people: travelers with extensive world experiences, highly independent soul-seekers, and couples with a shared passion for surfing. Though we are not a party hostel and maintain a very peaceful restful atmosphere that visitor depend on, friendships naturally form between guests and volunteers, who sometimes surf together, cook together, play chess or cards together, etc.
4. Learn about sustainable building with recycled materials. See up close, how a wind-cooled steel framework is designed & built.
5. From your room, hike an hour along a beautiful coastal path with dramatic views of waves and diving pelicans to the free beach entrance of a national park that normally costs money to access by car, often voted the most beautiful beach in Nicaragua.
Help
We need help with the following:
1. Help with general hospitality operations. Support our local cleaners with constructive guidance, language assistance, and filling in for them when they cannot make it to work due to flooding or family events and family problem. Take care of arriving and departing guests. Ensuring house rules are observed. Checking work and providing supervision. Following back up power, water and security protocols.
Emotional & psychological maturity, wisdom, and self-control are important for this position. It requires presence on the property most of the time, occupying more of a supervisory and stand-by role in hotel operations. However, this role does provide regular surf times and time for personal interests.
2. Join a team of distributed surfer geeks building web apps that will help local providers, facilitate life design, and promote ecology.
a) Full-stack javascript web app developer. Experience with React ideal.
b) Front-end developer with experience in Figma
c) Back-end developer with any combination of python+math (especially statistics), web crawling, data aggregation & cleansing, business process modeling, and writing to API’s.
3. We also have a position for massage therapist and yoga instructor. Later, we may also entertain social media marketing and eCommerce.
Roles 2 and 3 are more project-based, with focussed hours followed by time off with no requirement to be on property.
Languages spoken
Cebuano: Fluent
English: Fluent
Tagalog: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Spanish: Beginner
Accommodation
Depending on the number of workawayers present and the length of commitment, we offer an ensuite dorm bed or a private ensuite room.
At this time, volunteers cook their own food using the guests kitchen. We provide free bottled drinking (best available in Nicaragua) and high-speed wifi. A local fruit and vegetable shop provides free delivery, and another delivery service provides delivery of other groceries for a small delivery fee. For those who wish to shop themselves, a $5 roundtrip local shuttle is available, or a taxi for $10-$15. When we have guests, they are often long-term and some have transportation. They are often very friendly and open to surfing, shopping, and cooking meals together.
If we succeed, we may add a locally-staffed cafe and provide workawayers food as well, but at this time have too few guests to budget for the expansion.
What else ...
We can provide you lots of local information for your onward travels in Nicaragua and Costa Rica
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
Our fibre account is 200 Mbps at the router, and various speed depending on location in the property. We have a back up generator, a back up mobile data provider, and back up water supply.
Space for parking camper vans
Good parking for any size camper van
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Varies depending on role - ranging from being on property most of the time in a supervisory stand-by role, to working 5 hours a day, then being off with no requirement to be on property. 2 days off
Feedback (1)
- Able to assume complete responsibility for the entire property, security, infrastructure, hotel operations, and volunteer program, enabling us to walk away relaxed knowing it was in good hands.
- 100% reliable, responsible and accountable, never once… read more
Feedback
- Able to assume complete responsibility for the entire property, security, infrastructure, hotel operations, and volunteer program, enabling us to walk away relaxed knowing it was in good hands.
- 100% reliable, responsible and accountable, never once… read more
