Our hotel is family owned and managed (by a Danish-Nicaraguan couple), and we live in the neighboring house, sharing our garden and swimming pool with the hotel. We decided to build this hotel in 2010, when we bought the neighboring house. We have designed it ourselves, trying to respect the colonial style in the town, and we are quite proud of the result. We opened in March 2013 and we have since every year been nominated number one in León by our customers on Tripadvisor.

We call our hotel an ecohotel, because we have done a big effort to reduce the footprint: 

1. We are doing our outmost to be energy efficient, and on average 80% of the energy we do use comes from solar:

• We have 180 solar panels installed with a nominal capacity of 50 kW. We store the excess energy during daytime in a 144 kWh battery bank (120 Nickel Iron batteries) and use it during the night.
  
• All our hot water is produced by solar heating panels and stored in three hot water tanks.
• All our ligths are energy saving LEDs.
• We have automatic interrupters in the rooms and apartments, which cut off electricity when our guests leave the rooms.
• The Air Conditioners are  energy efficient inverter models.
  

2. We are doing what we can to reduce the quantity of waste that the hotel produces:

• All organic waste is collected and one of our employees uses it for feeding her pigs
• Plastic bottles are collected for recycling
• We use real cups, glasses etc. instead of disposable items
• For the few situations where we do use disposable items (mainly conferences and food to take away), we have now started using compostable cups and glasses. It is a bit complicated and expensive as we have to import it ourselves, so it is still an experiment.
• We are also experimenting with compostable garbage bags as substitute for the traditional plastic bags

3. We are collecting rainwater from the roofs and recycling it for flushing the toilets. This obviously only works in the rainy season, but then the reduction in water use is considerable.

4..Our swimming pool is using a low chlorine system, with a very efficient filter and ozone and copper ion injection. For safety reasons we still use some chlorine but the level is so low you shouldn't be able to sense it.

You can read more details about our solar system by clicking here.

And why the name "Cacique Adiact"? León was founded in 1524 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and was originally located on the shores of the Xolotlán lake, close to the emblematic Momotombo Volcano, where the ruins can still be seen (León Viejo). For different reasons this location was given up in 1610 (volcano eruptions, earth quakes and local infighting among the colonialists) and the Spanish wanted to settle instead close to the indigenous settlement of Sutiaba (they were in permanent need of work force). At that moment, Adiact was the Chief ("Cacique") of the Sutiaba people. Tradition has it he accepted the presence of the Spanish, at least until they found another place for their town. But he was later accused of treason by the Spanish colonizers and hanged in the big Tamarind Tree in Sutiaba ("el Tamarindón"). Legend tells that his beautiful daughter, Xochilt, threw herself into an abyss to avoid being captured by the Spanish.

Cacique Adiact is therefore by many considered to be a symbol for the resistance of the indigenous population to foreign occupation.