Hotel Con Corazon

Hotel Con Corazon is a “Hotel on a Mission.”

Located across the street from our SWB Office here in Granada, our friends at the Hotel work to support the sustainable development of Nicaragua by investing a portion of their profits into education and employment initiatives.

Marcel Zuidhof and Onno Oostveen arrived in Nicaragua in 2006 with the dream of opening their “Hotel With a Heart” and one and a half years later, happily greeted their first guests.

In addition to employing exclusively Nicaraguan hotel staff, purchasing native products, working with local suppliers, and encouraging hotel employees to go back to school, the Hotel sponsors a Foundation which aims to subsidize the education of 300 children living in the rural Laguna area outside Granada by year’s end.

On July 3, 2009, four of Fútbol Sin Fronteras’ youth leaders took a “field trip” with the Hotel, arming themselves with a bag of balls and Pugg goals to run a soccer clinic for the children the Hotel supports.

That initial clinic became the basis for what is now the Hotel’s after-school recreational program. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, FSF youth leaders travel by truck up to the small pueblos 5km from the Laguna de Apoyo and work with the children from 2pm-6pm. At schools where resources are scarce and most children don’t have adequate access to food, water, or basic hygiene, the soccer clinics are a welcome recess from the problems many of them face on a daily basis.

On October 3, the Hotel celebrated its first anniversary by inviting all of the children from the Laguna schools for a fiesta in the city. Of course, FSF was there to help greet the children. An entire city block was roped off to create mini-soccer fields for the kids to play their new favorite game.

The children celebrated from 1pm-4pm; they played soccer in the streets, got their faces painted (pintacara), received string bracelet making lessons from some of our artistic FSF youth leaders, decorated bottles, and relaxed in the Hotel’s free Reading Room sponsored by the local library.

In between all of the fun, groups of children were herded over to the Lavar Mis Dientes (Brush My Teeth) Station, where they had their soon-to-be-pearly-whites properly cleaned by volunteers and received a tube of paste and brush.

When the busloads of kids were on their way back home, the Hotel quickly began cleaning up to prepare for the weekend’s next activity. The entire city of Granada was invited to celebrate their first anniversary that evening with promises of Free Toῆas (Nicaragua’s National beer), celebrity DJ appearances, raffles, and dance competitions.

Cesar, one of our youth leaders, won a 2 night stay in the Hotel, which he will dutifully share with his madre. I, on the other hand, was dragged on-stage against my will to participate in the night’s Female Dance Competition.

Now, when I say “against my will”, I mean to say that I was literally grabbed underneath the armpits by a number of strange men, hoisted up like a marionette, and left standing bewildered in front of a crowd of hundreds of Nicas to “show what I got” on the dance floor. It was fight or flight.

I managed to survive a slight faux paus during contestant introductions. When asked by the DJ where I lived and I mindlessly responded “En la casa de Doῆa Chilo”. The room instantly erupted with laughter. Apparently, the name of my barrio (neighborhood), el 17 de julio (17th of July), would have been a more acceptable answer instead of my house mom’s actual name. I guesstimate the population of Doῆa Chilos in Granada to be in the neighborhood of 20,000 (keep in mind, this figure is based on no formal research).

Nevertheless, I got through my act. While some might claim it was blonde hair, not dancing prowess, that contributed to my victory that night, I continue to bask in the glory of victory (after all, Suyen, la Nica, was another competitor).

That night, it was the Gringa who prevailed in a dance-off against a Nica and an Isrealite.

I like to think there’s still hope for us on the dance floor.