Category Archives: Newspapers

The Rediscovery of Nicaragua

December 17, 2006

LOLL in one of the pools at Pelican Eyes, a new development above the town of San Juan del Sur, on Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast: a tranquil breeze blows up the hillside from the perfect bay below, the pool’s disappearing edge merges with sea and sky, and the only sound is the rhythmic tapping of the bricklayers who are building the place — a compound of whitewashed, tile-roofed houses amid lush greenery and looking out to perfect sunset views. At the bottom is an airy palm-thatched restaurant, where cheerful waiters serve strong drinks and the patrons sit in the warm night air and talk about real estate.

This is Nicaragua as the Next Costa Rica, the sort of hopeful real estate appellation signaling that gentrification may now begin in earnest. In the last few years, as Americans on the prowl for second homes, or just an investment, have found places like the Last Costa Rica already overrun by their own kind, a boom has started in the country just to its north.

Read the rest on the NYT site…

Posted in New York Times, Newspapers

Fair to the Last Drop?

< class="date">October 22, 2006

Dean’s Beans, a coffee company in the rolling woods of Orange, north of the Quabbin Reservoir, comes across like a hyperactive little international development organization: The company shares profits with farmers and funds reforestation initiatives, health programs, and women’s loan projects from Nicaragua to Ethiopia. Its 10 employees enjoy profit sharing and full retirement plans and the company contributes to programs for the disabled and the homeless across the state.

But first and foremost, Dean’s Beans sells only coffee that has been bought directly from family farmers according to internationally-recognized “fair trade” practices. (more…)

Posted in Boston Globe, Newspapers

Affordable San Francisco

Oct 15, 2006

AS befits a city that is both a major tourist and business destination, and one that draws lots of families in for a visit — 65 percent of its population was born outside California — San Francisco’s range of hotels is at once profuse and varied. The city has more than 32,000 hotel rooms, ranging from $12,500-dollar-a-night suites that are more like mansions to bedbug-infested S.R.O.’s that have always held a certain Bukowskian charm better read about than experienced.

While it’s easy to come here and spend $60 for a cellblock out by the airport, it’s also totally unnecessary: with a little planning, you can find a hotel that is affordable yet also embodies the eclectic charm that has always been San Francisco’s appeal. (more…)

Posted in New York Times, Newspapers