We stayed at Las Palmas for one week at the end of February.
We had picked SJDS because after a difficult year, my husband and I needed to get away, relax and forget about our busy lives in New York.
Well, what can I say.....the moment we set foot inside Las Palmas and took a look at that wonderful view, we knew we were in for a treat.
We stayed at the king size bedroom, it was amazing. Every night we slept with the french doors opened (screen closed), we would get a soothing breeze and could hear the waves crashing in the distance. We had such a peaceful sleep every night! And the every morning we would wake up to the beautiful view.
We would get coffee while our delicious breakfast was being prepared (home cooking from scratch!), as we enjoy conversations with Steve and Yasmin. They were great hosts, they would give us planty of advise that would help us plan our day, they would even call and make reservations for us.
Steve and Yaz went way out of their way to make us feel confortable and get the best out of our time in SJDS. They even took us on a tour of Granada that included volcanoes Mombacho and Masaya and a boat ride around the Isletas; we had a great time and we would have never been able to cover so much territory on our own.
We rented a car for a coople of days, Las Palmas has an enclosed area to keep the car overnight, and Juan, their ground's keeper, was always ready to open the door for us as soon as we arrived.
On the days that we didn't have a car, Yaz and Steve would give as a ride into town or we would walk (it was only about a 15 minute walk). A couple of nights, we ran into Steve & Yaz in town and they gave us a ride back, the other days we took a short cab ride.
Steve & Yaz' home is beautiful, clean, comfortable and peaceful. We throughly enjoy our stay and hope we can stay with them again in the future.

Our review of four night stay at Las Palmas:

TRANSPORTATION:
We had arranged through Steve and Yasmin for a taxi to pick us up at our hotel in Granada. The taxi arrived an hour and a half early for some reason, luckily we were still there and not out for lunch. The drive was pleasant and we’re glad they arranged the pick up as it was difficult to find Las Palmas because there’s no signage.

ENTRANCE/ARRIVAL:
We walked through a large steel door which was the driveway and past that were steps with a view of the pool, the gardens and SJDS. We were greeted by Yaz and Steve and offered a drink. Their care-taker brought our luggage up to the King Bedroom while Steve and Yaz showed us around. We then changed into our suits and lounged by the pool and Yaz offered us a nice chocolate smoothie.

COMMON AREA:
There’s plenty of rocking chairs to enjoy the view of the bay at anytime of day. There were at least two hammocks to lounge in, the pool area always had one spot that had some shade to retreat to, and the pool temperature was perfect! There are a few cushions to lay on, a couple of chairs to sit on, but what’s really missing are loungers.

DINING AREA:
Large open air dining area to sit at with a great view of the garden and the bay in the distance. Plenty of seating and elbow room at the table as well.

ROOM:
Room was clean, had a great view of the bay from our room. The bathroom is a bit dated, but it serves its purpose, and the shower had ample hot water. The water system in SJDS apparently can’t handle toilet paper, so TP has to go in the garbage instead of the toilet. The bed was comfortable, ceiling fan provided a nice breeze at night and we didn’t turn the air conditioner on once. There’s also a tv and movies available if desired.

FOOD:
Never an issue. Breakfast every morning was both tasty and plentiful. Two of our four mornings we had egg quesadilla’s and both times we were offered more. I think one day I had three! There was plenty of fresh fruit, juice, and always enough coffee. The only day there wasn’t any coffee ready when we woke up was because of a power failure, but Steve made sure there was some instant (at least I think that’s what it was), and even then he made sure there was more than enough for the four people drinking it. Yaz invited us to have lunch with them one day, which was Taco day. If you’re offered this, don’t pass it up. It was only $5 a plate and the tacos (and rice and beans) were awesome! It saved us from having to walk into town just for lunch. Oh, and Yaz makes sure you try some local cuisine by serving up some tasty nacatamales.

ON-SITE MANAGEMENT:
Steve and Yasmin (Yaz) are the homeowners and have been living in SJDS for six years, I believe. Yaz is amazing and very hospitable. She offered us drinks upon arrival, while we were relaxing at the pool, and even drove us to a secluded beach for some beers and sightseeing. She was a joy to talk to. We went to dinner with them our first night (Yaz drove again) and a few days later they had to go to town and Yaz drove us into town so we could catch a bus to Playa Medeira (roundtrip for $5, $10 board rental, $10 surf lesson available when you get there). Steve injured his arm prior to our arrival and had no use of his right arm but was still able to make sure we had coffee every morning at a minimum. In our opinion, he comes across a tad negative and is quite the talker; however, he provided much needed input regarding SJDS, Nica, and some of the problems the area/country has. It’s appreciated when someone doesn’t sugar-coat everything. There’s definitely room for improvement in their knowledge of prices for area tours/attractions. They weren’t sure what the exact costs were for a few of the things we wanted to do, it was always a ballpark number. Yaz did phone to confirm one of the costs for a bus though. Costs are pretty important info in our opinion, as we didn’t want to take more money than necessary. There were no brochures or binders of area tours and/or excursions (at least that we could see). They did, however, have the local newspaper/flyer readily available, which had ads for tours/attractions. It was a nice read with a morning coffee. Both Steve and Yaz were able to recommend places to eat as well – a must visit is El Colibri, located behind the church in town - amazing food and atmosphere.

LOCATION:
The Good: The house sits up on a hill overlooking the bay of SJDS. It’s an absolutely fantastic view. Because it’s out of the hustle and bustle of “downtown”, it’s much quieter; however, you may still hear some music at night coming from town on special occasions – just use earplugs, if you travel you should know to bring them.
The Bad (but not that bad): It’s a twenty minute walk from the house to town, mostly on a packed dirt road. We timed our walk one day – and we’re not out of shape by any means, so twenty minutes is bang on. You should take a taxi coming back at night because it is quite dark. Steve will also advise you to do this. We typically paid 100-120 Cords for the night time taxi ride for the two of us ($4-$5 USD).
As for security, I felt very at ease there. There’s two dogs; London and Atlas (aka Fat Head), gates to get in, locks on doors and Steve locks everything up at night as well. Don’t be cheap and take a taxi home if you’re coming from town at night. And know how to get back to the hotel via the roads. We had a taxi miss the turn to get back to Las Palmas but my wife realized this quickly and we pointed our taxi in the right direction.

OVERALL:
We really enjoyed our stay at Las Palmas. There was plenty of beer and bottled water (both for purchase) and the pool and view can’t be beat. The location was ideal for us because it was away from all the hostels and night life of SJDS. We were offered lunch, rides into town, dinner out with our hosts (separate bills of course). It isn’t five-star by any means, but for the options available in SJDS, it has to be one of the best. We should mention that during our visit there were VERY high winds, easily 80 km/h gusts, which was most likely the cause of a few power/brown outs and also affected our sleep.

Our stay of 3 days Feb 15-18, 2012 was a welcoming luxury in the middle of our Nicaragua exploration. We stayed upstairs in the king suite with a beautiful view of the bay. We used the pool each day after exploring up and down the coast. Steve and Yasmine are the perfect BB hosts, very warm and genial but not intrusive. They easly became new friends.

My only regret is that Yasmine had only one bag of her mother's coffee (which she will sell at a very reasonable price when she has it) and I had to give it up to a dear friend, very delicious.

A word of caution, it is a 10 minute walk into town but I'm sure they would call a taxi if you cannot do the walk.

Bonnie and Jim

My husband and I stayed in the king bedroom for 3 days and it was superb, a very comfortable bed, you could lay with the balcony doors open and listen to the waves hitting the beach. The views from the bedroom, verandah and pool are all great. The pool is a real highlight, I really enjoyed swimming in it (it is 44 feet long) and just sitting by it having a drink and taking in the view. The verandah is a great place to sit any time of day, providing shade and breezes. It was only a short walk down to San Juan, where we tried restaurants suggested by Steve and Yasmin. They kindly gave us a lift to one restuarant and we joined them another night at El Colibri ( a great restaurant). The breakfasts are the best we had, varied, tasty and filling, served by Marjorie with a smile. It is a very realxing spot but as others have said what realy makes it are Yasmin and Steve. They are great company and we enjoyed talking to them about a whole range of things and also laughing a lot! Go you will love it.