Nica By Nature

On 1,300 acres filled with howler monkeys and organic gardens, a Central American philanthropist has built one of the region’s most luxurious eco-resorts.

- Eleni N. Gage

How do you like your gallo pinto in the morning?” Don Alfredo Pellas Jr. asked me over dinner my first night at Nekupe. This is not your usual small talk. The national dish of Nicaragua, gallo pinto is a ubiquitous rice-and-beans combo that comes however a cook makes it; it’s not something you order according to taste, like sunny-side-up eggs. But this was not my first Nicaraguan breakfast rodeo— I married a Nicaraguan coffee trader; we once lived in the country and now visit often. To my surprise, I realized I did have a preference: “Crispy.”

“Excellent,” Don Alfredo replied. “We’ll tell the chef that tomorrow you’ll have it bien tostado, but also to prepare a bowl that’s a little softer, and maybe one with bacon. A gallo pinto tasting.”

Also not usual: the fact that one of the most prominent philanthropists in Nicaragua, part of a long line of sugar barons and bankers, was mulling over my gallo pinto preferences. But Nekupe is the realization of a long-held dream for Don Alfredo and his wife, Doña Theresa, and this level of personalization—down to the rice and beans— is what they want their guests to expect. It begins 10 days before you get there with an e-mail that includes a suggested itinerary of activities (Cooking class? Yoga with a view of the volcano?) as well as a detailed list of questions (How do you take your coffee?). As the general manager, Silvia, told me, “If a guest always has pistachio ice cream at home, they should have it here, too.” When my husband, Emilio, and I arrived at our villa, there was a photo of my family from when we lived in Nicaragua on the bedside table—the management had found it on my website. And when the honeymooners who arrived right after us checked in, they found a gift from their registry waiting in their room.