Interviewing Our Founders: Why Build in Northern Nicaragua?
By: Alauna Roby
Ever wonder how Still Salty Escape came to be? I sat down with the founders, Alix Tucker and Kayla Nielsen, to hear their story behind founding this little escape in Northern Nicaragua!
Running a Yoga and Surf retreat center is not something either of them had in mind for their lives before meeting. Kayla is an internationally recognized yoga teacher who has been leading yoga retreats all around the world in retreat centers owned by other people all over the world. Alix is a finance executive who has always had a dream to retire and open up a bed and breakfast somewhere remote in the world.
Alix and Kayla met at a surf camp here in Southern Nicaragua in December of 2019! They began just as friends, buying the land Still Salty Escape sits on today only 10 days after meeting. They decided on Northern Nicaragua instead of the south where they met because of the energy on the land and within the community. Their connection continued to grow stronger, and now they are not just married! If you want to hear about their full love story tune in to this podcast episode!
Their love hit right around the same time as The Pandemic, forcing them into captivity back in the States for an entire year. In this time, the two women decided to make their wildest dreams come true- as they pooled their collective life savings together, hired an architect & slowly worked on bringing Still Salty Escape to life. They combined their variety of skills and experiences, while leaning into their collective mission of protecting the environment, cultivating community & connecting through nature to create what you see today!
Sure Still Salty Escape is a beautiful place to host retreats, but the deeper why behind SSE is in the 5 pillars; Nature, Movement, Community, Service, and Connection.
