Globe Trotting Sisters at Home and in Business in Granada

Terry Leary and her sister, Nancy Bergman, have been all over the world but when they came to Nicaragua, they knew they were home. The owner/operators of Casa San Francisco Hotel and Restaurant and the nearby Casa San Francisco Annex have found their niche as owner operators of the 14-room hotel and restaurant located near the Convent San Francisco, Nicaragua’s oldest church, and near many of Granada’s historical and tourist attractions.

“Our guests are the nicest guests in the world,” Terry says. “It’s a pleasure to be around them. My job is to ensure that people have wonderful vacations. I love what I do.”

The Granada of today – streets bustling with foreigners and tourists from other countries as well as from within Nicaragua, a wide assortment of tours, restaurants, pubs, and hotels – is a million miles from the one Terry and Nancy were greeted by when they first came to Granada by bus from Costa Rica in January, 2002.

They arrived late at night. There were very few available hotel rooms. They stayed at a ‘horrible’ place with 13 rooms, one bathroom to serve them all, and cockroaches on the walls. Despite this, when the women wandered the town the next morning, they met a man peddling land on the street. The sisters looked at the land, then each other, and gave a resounding ‘yes’.

Terry and Nancy grew up in Menlo Park, California, and served in the Peace Corp. Terry volunteered in Sierra Leon from 1986 to 1988. Nancy and her husband, John, served as Peace Corp volunteers in Suriname from 1997-1999

“I never went home after the Peace Corp,” Terry says. She received her Master’s degree in International Administration from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont and then set off to travel the globe in pursuit of her calling, international training and development.

Some of her work included providing training to Afghanistan refugees and writing grants for agricultural projects while working in Pakistan; working with Peace Corp volunteers in Kirabit, located in the central Pacific between the Marshall Islands and Australia; running a medical program in Somalia; serving as a country representative for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); implementing civil society programs for Belarus and the Ukraine; assisting to create non-blood diamond policy as a country representative to USAID in Sierra Leone; developing and delivering educational programs for nomads in Ethiopia; and a host of other projects in countries such as Chad and Sudan.

“I loved the work,” Terry says. “I worked with people in times of crisis. The feeling that you get working with people in really dangerous situations is like nothing you could imagine. You develop such close ties to these folks.”

She says she will still take short assignments for overseas projects, but no longer will take on work that keeps her away from Granada for a year.

Nancy was also busy professionally. She is an entrepreneur at heart and is a world-class flamenco dancer who lived in Spain to master this art form. She also owned a flower shop in Tiburon, welded metal miniatures, was a real estate broker in the United States, and retired from United Airlines as a flight attendant. Here in Granada, she oversaw the reconstruction and remodel of Casa San Francisco Hotel and the Annex. She also started a property management business in Granada and sold that after four years so that she could concentrate on her real estate business. Her office is across the street from Casa San Francisco Hotel and is called Casa Granada Properties.

Nancy says, “I´ve loved properties and houses since I was a little girl when I used to accompany my grandfather, a carpenter, to his worksites.”

The latest project Nancy and her husband have undertaken is an eco-resort called San Simian on Lake Apoyo, a short 25-minute drive from Granada. It features Balinese-style cabanas on Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve.

“It´s the most wonderful place to swim, relax and enjoy the wildlife such as birds and monkeys,” Nancy says. “For excitement you can sail the volcano crater in the Hobie Cat.”

Terry recently recalled the sisters’ transition from visitor to Nicaragua to well-known businesswomen. She says that she was planning to get some dental work performed in Costa Rica and Nancy had agreed to meet her there. That’s when they took the bus to Granada and had the bad tourism experience. The day after they arrived in Granada, despite the previous night’s experience, they purchased the property and began concurrent reconstruction of both the current Casa Francisco and the Annex. Casa San Francisco had been a private residence owned by the Barbarena family, a prominent family in Granada. Beyond that, the sisters don’t know much about the history of the adobe home. They do know, however, that it was in disrepair and in dire need of updating.

The project occurred in three phases. It began with the roof and adobe walls in the front of the property being torn apart. Beautiful cedar wood was discovered buried under many layers of paint and was returned to its former glory. A mezzanine, bar and reception were built using the same type of cedar wood, which is indigenous to Nicaragua. Of course all the electric and plumbing systems had to be updated and expanded. The second phase involved rehabilitating the newer construction that existed on the property, which while more modern, was not in the style they desired.

“We wanted to transform the structure to a colonial elegance,” Nancy recalls. At the end of the second phase work, the kitchen, visitor lavatories and four guest rooms were completed.

Terry recalls that the builders didn’t understand some of the concepts the sisters wanted to incorporate, such as flower pots, hanging lights, or niches that showcase hand carved saints. Each room had a private bath and balcony or patio. At this juncture in the renovation, the hotel opened to the public while the patio was closed off so phase three, which consisted of the addition of five more rooms and the pool area, could begin.

When the hotel first opened, Nancy was managing the hotel and John was running the restaurant.

“There were many long days and nights but there was excitement in the challenge,” Nancy recalls.

The reconstruction was successfully completed in December 2003 and now the hotel and Annex are full of guests so often Terry and Nancy are considering adding more rooms. Terry currently lives in the Annex, where there are also rooms for rent to guests, while she builds a Tuscan villa style home for herself in Granada.

Terry boasts of the current chef, Octavio Gomez Suazo, who now leases the restaurant and dazzles guests with his international cuisine. Octavio worked under a master chef in Costa Rica for eight years before returning to his native Nicaragua. Octavio works with his wife, Alma Rosa, who oversees the details of running the dining room. The restaurant at Casa San Francisco is called Los Chocoyitos because there are many small green parrots, which are called chocoyitos, that live in the garden. There is live Nicaraguan music every week at the restaurant. Other amenities at Casa San Francisco and the Annex include swimming pools, air conditioning, color television and cable, continental breakfast, wireless internet and a computer terminal for guests, airport transportation and tour planning.

While Terry may be switching professional gears, she hasn’t strayed very far from helping people help themselves.

“We are here to promote Nicaraguans,” she says. “We want them to succeed and to grow professionally and not depend on us.”

To help them reach this goal, Terry and Nancy have provided training for all their staff members. They’ve helped them get bank accounts. It appears to be appreciated, too, as is demonstrated by the fact that some 80 percent of the staff have been with them since the beginning.

“Guests always comment about the friendliness and helpfulness of our staff,” Nancy says. Casa San Francisco employs 15 people, while Nancy’s real estate office and San Simian each employ 6.

While Terry and Nancy have been in Granada only a few years, they’ve already witnessed much change. For instance, a few years ago people either didn’t know about Nicaragua or thought it was an uncivilized country. Now people are saying the country is a hot spot to go. The clientele has morphed from backpackers and adventure travelers to many more families who come to experience this wonderful, welcoming country. People are realizing that the medical care at Vivian Pellas Metropolitan Hospital is top notch and affordable. Many people have been grabbed, as Leary calls it, by Granada’s and Nicaragua’ allure.

“There are no friendlier people than the Nicaraguans,” Nancy says .”We see folks moving here from North America and Europe.”

Terry estimates that a very large percentage of the foreigners living in Granada are volunteering and investing in their community. They work on such initiatives as a library, a school for the mentally challenged, and a veterinary clinic, to name a few.

“There are all these things going on and everyone wants to help,” she says.

Nancy agrees with her sister, Terry, when she says, “It’s an exciting time to be here.”.

For more information about Casa San Francisco Hotel and Restaurant please visit their web site at www.csf-hotel-granada.com or www.casasanfrancisco.com.

For more information about Casa Granada Properties please visit their web site at www.casagranada.info.

For more information about San Simian on Lake Apoyo please visit their web site at www.sansimian.com

RETURN TO AUGUST ISSUE INDEX