Nicaraguan EcoTourism Project - A Return Home

We invite you to contribute to our dear Nicaraguan friend, Fernando Valle's, project of building an eco-tourism site on the volcanic island of Ometepe, Nicaragua! (See more photos below.)

In 2022 Fernando Valle took off on his motorcycle to begin his long-held dream of building and managing an eco-friendly guest house in his native country of Nicaragua. As a teenager, Valle left his native Nicaragua, which was then in the grips of a US and Russian-funded civil war. Exiled by war, Fernando arrived in Vermont as a teenager through a Catholic sanctuary program. A surrogate family in Barre, Vermont sponsored him then and enfolded him into their home life.

Valle’s eco-tourism project with guest houses will be located on Nicaragua's Lake Ometepe, an island formed by two volcanoes. Fernando chose the island of Ometepe for its breathtaking natural beauty, rich indigenous history and archaeological sites, diverse ecology, designation as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and farming potential.

Having learned English in the US, Fernando has spent most of his adult life working in the hospitality industry in neighboring Costa Rica, working for US-based corporate hotel chains, first as a bellboy and later moving up into management. His career enabled him to build a home in San Jose, Costa Rica and raise his three children there, but he always dreamt of returning to his native country of Nicaragua

Most recently, Fernando honed his hotel management skills as the manager at Tranquilidad Resort on Palo Seco Beach in Costa Rica where he earned the loyalty of many guests. Some of these guests look forward to visiting Nicaragua and sharing more time with Fernando at the place he has named “Valle de Volcanes” where they can stay in the valley between the two volcanoes of Ometepe Island. Fernando’s attentiveness, warmth, and deep local knowledge make him the perfect person to introduce you to Nicaragua.

Fernando has poured his life savings into the Ometepe project. Several years have gone into launching his vision, starting with the purchase of land on the island. With these hard-earned funds and a donation from a Tranquilidad guest and friend, he began construction in earnest in 2022. Due to inflation and the hefty expense of transporting materials by boat to an island, construction costs are high. Nicaragua is a country still recovering from years of war, yet construction costs are higher there than in the US. Without outside support, it will take a long time for Fernando's dream to come to fruition. We, his friends and family, want to see that he can accomplish what he has set out to do. Your investment in this project will secure you a place to stay any time you wish to come to Nicaragua.

If you cannot donate money, Fernando welcomes you to join him in Nicaragua to work beside him on projects. Let us know if you are interested in working on the project; we will put you in touch with Fernando.

With gratitude,

Coleen O'Connell, Damara Luce, and Kathleen Grady (with input from Fernando Valle)