FP Escapes: Inside Maderas

Get a glimpse inside this lush village retreat, and home to our June FP Escapes event

Do you long to do nothing, except for, say, an uninterrupted therapy session with the beach and listen to the trees blow in the wind? To sleep all day, until one of your friends wakes you for dinner with your own private chef? To surf, swim,and take in a yoga class before lunch? At Maderas Village in Nicaragua, any and all of that is possible. With FP Escapes giving you six nights and seven days to explore, how you spend your days is entirely up to you. Still on the fence about whether or not to make the trip there with us in June? Read below to see our conversation with Matt Dickinson, Founder of Maderas; Bill Quinn, General Manager for Maderas; Allison VanCleave, Director of Guest Services; and Caroline Copley, Yoga and Group Retreat Coordinator; and let them tell you why it’s worth it.

We love this quote on your site, “What began as a quest to create a place for friends and family to congregate has evolved into an idyllic boutique resort just off the beaten path in the Pacific coastal hills of Nicaragua.” What drew you to this place even then? And how did you facilitate its growth?

MD: Our goal with Maderas was to create various properties around the world that would all share similar atmospheres and familiar elements. The energy, culture, and legends surrounding Nicaragua made it a good place to start and coming from Toronto, NYC, and Belgium, respectively; my partners and I all wanted to do our first project in a place where there was sun, surf, beaches, and easy living. From the beginning we treated Maderas as a collaborative project, looking for feedback from our guests, staff, and friends to help shape the vision of what we were building and to help drive growth through word of mouth. In this way it has really always been a hotel for friends, by friends.

10 words that capture the essence of Maderas?

BQ: 

Kindred, vibrant, soft, companion, ambitious, extroverted, introverted, impulsive, charismatic, authentic.

If Maderas had (or has) a spirit animal, what would it be?

BQ: It’s more of a plant. Like an ancient tree you see around these parts, yet young.

Your most memorable moment here?

AV: I will never forget one particular night… we had crystal clear skies and brought out the telescope. That was the first time I saw with my own eyes the rings of Saturn, the great red spot on Jupiter, and four of Jupiter’s many moons. It was life-changing. And it was my favorite moment because I was sharing this experience with all of our guests, who were also seeing these planets for the first time… in the middle of the jungle…. on a Tuesday night.

Can you share with us some of the things that our Escapes guests will be privy to? Workshops/classes/etc?

AV: A Thai massage is a great way to expedite mental relaxation and put you straight into vacation mode. Your body is twisted and adjusted and pulled releasing all of this clogged energy built up from day-to-day stress.

Sustainability plays a huge part in your daily operations. How do you ensure that you tread lightly?

CC: Running the day-to-day operations here, you see just how much effort goes into each shower you take, dish you wash, device you plug in, etc. Consciously being aware and appreciative every time you do something that the environment is generously providing for, and living simply, is vital to daily treading lightly.

Words to live by/your mantra?

AV: “Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.” – Yehuda Berg

What does the word free mean to you?

AV: Free to me is the opportunity to create, explore, grow, and thrive to the beat of my own metronome.

+ Want to learn more about FP Escapes? Check out our past retreats here

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I think it’s great that they’re conscious about the environment. The retreat sounds super relaxing!

Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com

6 years ago

Wow love this!

x
StephC

http://sstephcc.blogspot.com/

6 years ago

Vibes! Absolutely love it!

Laura
6 years ago

Could the retreat perhaps incorporate volunteer or humanitarian efforts during their time spent in Nicaragua. It is such a beautiful spot for vacation, yoga, reflection and stillness but is also a severely very poor country and there are many volunteer opportunities. Perhaps you could have guests bring supplies to donate to an organization. After heavy mudslides on Ometepe Island a couple years back school supplies and medicine was in high demand.

Blessings.