The hotel with the secret ruins

Nicaragua is having their presidential elections tomorrow, and you can't buy a single drop of booze all weekend long. As of 6 PM yesterday, all alcohol sales were suspended.

I'm staying at my favorite place- the hotel across from the airport- and since everyone has been cut off, I've been walking around the hotel grounds instead. There's actually a group of Russians staying here too. (They planned ahead and bought drinks before sales ended.)


Here are three cool things about this hotel... and one secret.


1) The airport is 300 feet from the hotel. Flights to Managua often land at night, and it's much easier to walk across the street than try to go somewhere in a taxi in the dark.

Street in front of the hotel.

2) A buffet breakfast is included with your stay (which is usually around $90 USD). It's typical fare- gallo pinto, fried plaintains, fresh fruit- but there's also an omelet bar, cereal, and pastries.

3) Instead of being a single giant building, the hotel has its own walled campus. There are 174 rooms here, all spread out in neat rows and connected by covered walkways.

Most of my stays here were before/after language homestays, so they went something like go crazy over the AC (like this) -> sleep -> wake -> eat -> go. This time I'm spending a whole day here to keep up with work while the internet connection is good. I put 10,000 steps on the fitbit walking all over the campus and waiting for the thunderstorm to start.

But here's something you won't find advertised on the website-

Just beyond an altar with baby/fully-grown Jesus, there's this.

-the ghost town.

Ruins. Rows and rows of half-built rooms claimed by weeds. What happened here? There's surely a simple answer- money- but it's easy to imagine something more sinister. A curse? A horror story?

Hola, bathroom of my nightmares :/

Someone put serious money in it at some point. The walls have outlets. The bathrooms have mirrors and tiles, even toilets.

So there it is, the secret hidden away on what's otherwise a perfect campus. It was pretty creepy even in daylight.

And then, back to the landscaping and swept floors and new paint.

Have you ever stayed at a hotel with a secret? Do tell!