“Caroline Phillips is a tenacious and skilful writer with a flair for high quality interviewing and a knack for making things work.”
All the best trips involve the possibility of dying. The first time this occurs to me is when three soldiers cock their rifles at us outside our hotel in Ataco, El Salvador. (It transpires that the hotel is opposite an army communications mast.) On another occasion, we’re accompanied on a sightseeing trip to Conchagua volcano by two policemen with guns: a precaution because machete-wielding locals once mugged some tourists.
For a country the size of England, Nicaragua has more than its fair share of volcanoes, says Caroline Phillips in The Independent.
Nicaraguan volcanoes are multi-functional. They don’t just stand around bubbling, burping and erupting. A local mayor and presidential candidate, the late Herty Lewites, once suggested that the Santiago crater of the mighty Masaya Volcano be used for rubbish. This to save on incinerating costs. His idea was vetoed.
The Quick Read: Accessible only by boat, Playa Nicuesa is an eco lodge set in a 165-acre private reserve in Costa Rica’s Golfo Dulce region, bordered by ocean and rainforest that leads onto a national park. The location is paradisiacal – an emerald coast with jade water in which dolphins play and turtles dive. It’s one of the most biologically diverse places in the world, with lush forestry, humongous leaves, three types of monkeys, iguanas, sloths, toucans – it’s like the Oscars for wildlife. There’s yoga and massage, but really you come for the wildlife. It’s perfect for hiking, snorkeling, fishing and jungle kayaking expeditions – though you can just meditate in a hammock. With a carbon footprint so small it’s almost a paw mark, the lodge has 5 leaves – the highest award for sustainability in tourism – but deserves an entire tree.
I’m suspended above the ground wearing a harness. Dangling over rain forest. I’ve already signed a waiver for death, dismemberment and suchlike. Now like some hybrid of monkey and horizontal parachutist, I’m rocketing past trees, rain forest and over coffee plantations. Jumping off the zip line at ceiba trees around which 60ft. high platforms have been built – there to ready myself to take the next leg of my treetop journey. Then careering off again as howler monkeys howl in the forest.
Almost nobody speaks English and we may be the country’s only tourists, as far as we can work out – which is a delight. Welcome to El Salvador. It is Central America’s least-visited country. Somewhere that has long struggled to gain tourists’ trust. A land perceived as dangerous and with gang killings, violence that has been going on since the 1990s. But if you don’t go into the shanty towns, you’re unlikely to be affected. Instead, we have a holiday in a little country with lots to offer… splendid wildlife and rich forests, colonial towns and beaches, vast mountain ranges and volcanoes. Above all, it’s never more than an hour to reach the city, sea or mountains by car from anywhere in El Salvador.
Aqua Wellness Resort in Redonda Bay, Nicaragua, is for the zen seeker who wants marshmallows on the campfire after her yoga session. Or a pizza night after her papaya body scrub.
When it comes to eco design, there’s little to beat high-end eco lodge Morgan’s Rock. It was built to showcase the beauty of the location – San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua – but with minimum impact on the environment. Owner Eric Poncon, said: “We wanted guests to remain connected to the most basic and fundamental elements of nature, be it the sound of the ocean, the uplifting feeling of the natural breeze, the refreshing smell of rain on unpaved soils, and the multiplicity of sounds of animals, small, medium and large, night and day!” This is fortunate, given that the lodge is surrounded by a nature reserve of 4000 acres of reforested land and dry rain forest, and fringed by a glorious mile-long stretch of beach.
Morgan’s Rock really rocks. The Ecolodge is set on one of Nicaragua’s most gobsmackingly gorgeous and deserted, private beaches….a bay of sugar-fine sand and gently lapping Pacific waves. Gallop along the mile-long stretch of beach on horseback – “giddy up Pirata” – or saunter along it to watch sea turtles laying their eggs. The Ecolodge itself comprises 15 wood and thatched bungalows – so eco they’re enough to make anyone weep recycled tears of joy – with simple local furnishings, almond tree floors and the grooviest of upcycled copper taps and shower fittings. There’s no air-conditioning – just the freshest of sea breezes, plus fans and views to beat those in Adam and Eve’s back yard.
The beautiful results of this grande Hollywood dame’s enhancement are seen in Suite 100. Its style is Marilyn Monroe – once a frequent hotel guest – meets Paul Williams, the original architect who designed the hotel’s ‘polo lounge’ and iconic pink-and-green colour scheme. The original palm-leaf wallpaper remains, as does the cheeky forties vibe – but the powder, bubble gum and candyfloss pink have been replaced with zingy citrus and furnishings in rich hues of green and blue. So much so that the new suite feels crisp, cool and de nos jours. It’s modern but still classic, with curved ceilings and walls, forests of black lacquer and about a zillion silk cushions.
Coronado Island in Southern California is the island Disney would have made, had he created one. There’s something unreal in its perfection. It’s palm-fringed, between bay and ocean. And its streets are clean enough to eat off – there are $1,000 fines for littering.
An exclusively Club Class flight to new York? It’s not big or clever. Actually, it really is.
Every week ‘The Week’ selects the best features from the world’s press
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