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Chris BerryPiedras y Olas San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua Rooms 25 villas, 5 cabins, 3 rooms Price $120–$290/night Luxury 3 stars Specialties Surfing, sailing Contact piedrasyolas.com It takes a good dose of chutzpah to open a luxury resort as a means of funding your charitable foundation. But that’s just what Chris Berry, 53, has done with Piedras y Olas, located on 32 acres of jungle in the hills above San Juan del Sur, on Nicaragua’s Pacific coast. Profits from the hotel and villas fund the A. Jean Brugger Foundation (to the tune of $75,000 last year), which, among other aims, is dedicated to assisting the town’s children with school supplies and university scholarships. For Berry, a former labor lawyer from the San Francisco area, doing good is instinctive. In 1988, he left the U.S. with the intent of becoming an expat and sailed his 42-foot sailboat on a seven-month cruise to Nicaragua. Once he reached the fishing village of San Juan del Sur, he made his living chartering sailboats and acting as a fixer for NGOs like Doctors Without Borders. After becoming a Nicaraguan citizen in 1998, he made a commitment to give back to the town he has been calling home for nearly two decades by opening Piedras y Olas. At first glance, this 33-room Spanish colonial resort looks like just another pretty place to spend a tropical vacation by the sea. But where else can you sip a margarita in an infinity pool while you watch the sun set and know that your bar tab is helping make this part of Nicaragua a little better? That’s precisely the appeal Berry claims keeps people coming back. “What we’re doing here is part of a larger social goal,” he says. “When people come, they know they are not only visiting a beautiful place, they are helping to make a difference.” 
RESORT REPORTThe region around San Juan del Sur enjoys some of the finest manicured surf and a relatively cool climate, thanks to more than 300 days a year with an offshore breeze. The surf is most easily accessed by boat; Tom Eberly (nicasurfinternational.com) offers day trips from $150 per person. The resort is also notable for its animal life: Profits help fund a wildlife-rescue mission, called Stones & Waves, that uses the grounds at Piedras y Olas as a safe haven for endangered, sick, or injured fauna, including leopards, sea turtles, and spider monkeys. In addition to renting villas for vacation, Berry is also selling a few of the casitas on the property, with proceeds from the sales going to the foundation. Villas start at $175,000. Contact Piedras y Olas for more information. |
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