Strongest Month

After the slow period of May and June we were happy to confirm that with the start of the holiday season in Europe and America there is a marked improvement in occupancy. July has been our strongest month thusfar with occupancy in the private lodges averaging 79%. Bookings for August are also looking decent with more enquiries coming in on a daily basis.

Traffic to the dormitory is also up but there is still room for improvement there. Martijn made a second promotional trip last week, this time to Leon, where he distributed our poster to all the hostals, tour operators and information points. He was also lucky to meet the Moon Handbook writer for Nicaragua who will be sending a colleague to TOTOCO in September in time for the next edition which comes out in the fall of 2010. The Moon Handbook is the second most popular travel guide book after Lonely Planet.

Painting has started in Luxury Lodge #3 and all the construction materials and debris are being removed to allow for landscaping to begin next week. The pictures show the two cabins under construction. This year's tree planting on the rest of the property is nearing completion and should be finished during the current phase of the lunar cycle. Trees are ideally planted while the moon is waxing which is when its roots are less delicate.