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Top 5 Eco-Resorts in Central America, Morgan’s Rock Hacienda & Ecolodge, Nicaragua

Nicaragua has the largest area of primary-growth rainforest north of the Amazon, hundreds of beaches, six active volcanoes, and plenty of sleepy surf towns. Since 2002, the government has created 76 national parks to protect the country’s wildlife. Think of it as Costa Rica, 20 years, ago before the Pacific coast was built up. One of the best places to spend your money, especially if you want to support the people of San Juan de Oriente and the education efforts of the neighboring rural towns, is to book your cabin at Morgan’s Rock Hacienda & Ecolodge. Located about two hours southwest of Managua, near the surf town, San Juan del Sur, Morgan’s Rock features 15 hardwood cottages overlooking a private beach. Their 4400-acre property includes an organic farm, which supplies the necessary produce to the restaurant and its unique blend of Nicaraguan, French, and Asian cuisine. If you can tear yourself away from the soft white sand, the resort offers excursions to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ometepe, an island formed by two volcanoes that rise dramatically out of Lake Nicaragua. There’s also the chance to hike along the coast, go horseback riding, sea kayak through estuaries, zipline, and get lost in a jungle of sloths and monkeys. Also be on the lookout for yoga retreats, often led by one of LA’s best-known yoga instructors, Sara Ivanhoe.
 

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Bike Into the Maine Canvas

The rugged and raw beauty of Maine has been a lure to many of America’s foremost landscape artists. Man versus the chaotic forces of nature, particularly fishermen struggling against powerful nor’easters, kept Winslow Homer busy on the boulder-strewn shores of Prouts Neck for more than two decades. Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, George Bellows, and Rockwell Kent all painted Monhegan Island’s 160-foot cliffs, meadows, and quaint fishing communities in their own distinctive styles like the bold black and white woodcuts by Kent. Monhegan is also a favorite subject of Jamie Wyeth, whose father Andrew Wyeth and grandfather N.C. Wyeth all summered on the Maine coast. Indeed, Andrew met his wife and her best friend Christina Olson in Maine. Olson is the woman lying down in the tall grass of Wyeth’s iconic painting, Christina’s World. 

 
Summer Feet Cycling is taking full advantage of Maine’s stunning scenery and rich art history to present two guided weeklong trips this summer. Not only will you visit Prouts Neck, Monhegan Island, and the Olson House, but you’ll stop at 7 art museums in the state, including two of my favorites, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland. Cost is $2,595 per person and includes 6 nights lodging at iconic properties like The Black Point Inn in Prouts Neck, The Island Inn on Monhegan Island, and the Inns at Blackberry Common in Camden. Most meals, bike, and guides with van are all part of the package. 
 
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What’s Doing in Nairobi

First-time visitors to the Kenya have misconceptions that Nairobi will be some dusty backwater where narrow streets are filled with destitute people ready to pounce on your wallet.  Much of this stems from an outbreak of thievery that occurred in the late 90s, earning the city the nickname, “Nairobbery.” Today, especially now that the post-election violence of January 2007 is in the rear view mirror, Nairobi is a relatively safe and cosmopolitan hub of 3.5 million people in East Africa. The poor, who flood out of their shanties every morning to walk to nearby factories, merge with a growing middle and upper class, whose gated estates in the western suburbs of Karen and Langata have far more in common with Boca Raton than Bogota. Travelers are starting to realize that Nairobi is worthy of more than a one-night stopover on the way to safari. At the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, west of the city centre in Langata, baby elephants whose parents have been killed by poachers are raised by workers who actually sleep in their stalls to comfort the young. When they’re old enough, they’ll be brought back to the wild. The suburb of Karen was named after Out of Africa author Karen Blixen, who wrote under the pen name Isak Dineson. Visit the estate she lived in from 1913 to 1931, now home to the Karen Blixen Museum. The grounds, dotted with the prehistoric looking candelabra cacti, overlook the Ngong Hills, and are worth the price of admission alone.
 

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Biking Niagara on the Lake

A mere hour outside of Toronto, just past Hamilton on the QEW, you spot a sign that reads, “Entering the Greenbelt.” Vineyards pop up on either side of the road, and just beyond those vineyards on the left, is mighty Lake Ontario. Welcome to the Niagara on the Lake region. Yesterday, Butterfield & Robinson’s Kathy Stewart designed and led us on a wonderful 35-mile ride through this fertile breadbasket. We started in the small village of Jordan, grabbed our bikes and were soon riding up the 300-foot Niagara Escarpment that makes this place so special (I’ll delve into this further when discussing the distinctive Niagara wine and terroir later this week). Soon we were riding on relatively level backcountry roads past vineyard after vineyard, lilacs and azaleas in full bloom, peach trees, and signs for rhubarb and asparagus for sale. 

 
Smack dab between the escarpment and the lake, this area of the region is known as The Bench. Not nearly as flashy and well-known as the Niagara on the Lake wineries, these boutique wineries create a feeling of Sonoma to big brother Napa. We had tastings at Hidden Bench, Cave Spring Cellars, and Flat Rock Cellars, run by the passionate owner, Ed Madronich. The region is best known for their Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. Many of the Rieslings had a pleasing lemon/lime or grapefruit aftertaste, stemming from the limestone in the escarpment. It had a nice dry finish, not cloying in the least. At lunch at Inn on the Twenty, where we’re spending the night, we tried the Cave Spring Cellars Estate Riesling, perfectly paired with a just-picked fiddlehead and asparagus salad, and a main dish of scallops. I learned quickly that this wine tastes best when coupled with excellent food. 
 
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Join the Freelancers Union

These past several years have been tough on all of us. In the beginning of 2009, I lost many of my editors, who went down with the death of their magazine or were simply let go. The need for editorial content was reduced to a trickle because those sought after advertising dollars that the publishing world feeds on was gone. Yet, even though I was making very little, I couldn’t receive unemployment benefits because I was self-employed. Independent workers comprise one of the fastest growing sectors of the American economy, almost 1/3 of all workers, yet we’re still not recognized by the Department of Labor. When my freelance work started to pick up again, several publishers made me wait over six to seven months to be paid. Twice, I had to use the services of a good friend who’s a lawyer to make sure my check was forthcoming. We were lucky the first time when he realized that one of the investors in a website I wrote for does business with his law firm. One simple phone call to that investor and I was paid within the week. When a company’s employee is not paid, they can go to a state’s Department of Labor who can levy fines and impose jail time on that employer. All an independent contractor can do is ask repeatedly and then go to a small claims court.

So when I heard about the Freelancers Union that is now 150,000 members strong and growing quickly, one that has its own Political Action Committee to fight for the rights of the self-employed, I immediately joined. The union was started by Sara Horowitz 16 years ago and she has since received a MacArthur “genius” grant for her work. Based in New York, Horowitz graduated from Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, or ILR as it was dubbed when my brother, Jim, graduated. She then went on to get her law degree and work as a public defender, before spending a year at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. So far, IT professionals, television and film producers, advertising workers, and graphic designers make up the bulk of the union, but freelance writers and other self-employed workers would be wise to join the swelling ranks. The Freelancers Union has already opened an insurance company to help with health care, and is working diligently to create unemployment protection, fight against unpaid wages, and eliminate any punitive double taxes on independent workers, like the one in New York City that was recently thrown out. Please go to the Freelancers Union website and become a member.
 

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Winslow Homer’s Studio Will Open to the Public in September

Winslow Homer’s still-standing studio on Prouts Neck, Maine will finally open to the public next month. It has been closed for renovations since 2006, when the Portland Museum of Art acquired the studio where Homer lived and painted many of his masterpieces from 1883 until his death. Several years ago, I wrote an article for Yankee Magazine about Homer’s years in Prouts Neck. You can reserve tickets to the studio through the Portland Museum of Art. To further celebrate the opening, the Portland Museum of Art will display 35 major oils and watercolors painted during Homer’s time at Prouts Neck in a show titled Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine. The exhibition will run from September 22 to December 30, 2012. Stay at one of my favorite stopovers in southern Maine, the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, a 15-minute drive from both Portland and Prouts Neck. The Inn by the Sea is featuring a "Seascapes Package" to coincide with the exhibition and studio opening. For $632, you receive two nights in a one-bedroom suite, two rum cocktails named for the artist, two tickets to the Weatherbeaten exhibition, a catalogue from the show, and full breakfast for two each morning. They can also help to arrange tours of the studio, which cost an additional $55 per person. 
 
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Caribbean Comeback, Hotels Picks in Ireland, and MuseumHack in May ActiveTravels Newsletter

In a May 2nd travel story in the Boston Globe, writer Christopher Muther noted that due to the battering of hurricanes Irma and Maria, the Caribbean "lost nearly 1 million visitors and an estimated $900 million in tourism-related spending." He goes on to add that "the Caribbean could see losses totaling more than $3 billion during the next four years until visitor rates climb back." Thus the reason why it’s imperative to support the region now more than ever or thousands of jobs will be lost. Thankfully, many of the top properties have spent the year rebuilding and have announced opening dates for the upcoming winter season. Please consider staying at one of the resorts we mention in our May ActiveTravels Newsletter when thinking about escaping the cold this coming winter. Also in this month’s issue is a round-up of our clients’ preferred properties in Ireland and why Williamsburg, Virginia is far more than a historic hub. Please have a look! 

We’re off to Ithaca with the family to celebrate our son, Jake’s graduation from Cornell. Have a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend! We’ll be back next Wednesday. 
 

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