Our Vision
Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground, there are a thousand ways to go home again. |Rumi|
As recently featured on ABC News and DapperQ, Apogeo Collective is group that offers boutique hospitality experiences around the globe that center the experience of LGBTQIA2S+ and POC travelers, with our current main project and home base being Apogeo Guest House in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.
The name “Apogeo” serves as both an homage to Gioconda Belli— a Nicaraguan feminist poet, activist and author of the namesake collection of poems— as well as the culmination & meeting point of the founders’ individual work. With this space, our aim is to create open space for our guests to tap into apotheoses within themselves.
THE FIRST APOGEO ACTIVE SEASON IN WINTER 2020
Apogeo Guest House has two seasonal offerings: Active Season and Open Season. In Winter 2020, we hosted our first Active Season in a rented location with over 45 LGBTQIA2S+ and POC travelers (and some allies!) from all over the world joining us in San Juan del Sur during our three month pop-up experience!! It was a huge success.
But after COVID-19 hit, we decided to return back to New York while simultaneously working on purchasing a spot in Nicaragua that we could call our own to serve as a new home base. We hosted a successful crowdfunding campaign, and with your help, we were able to take over land previously inhabited by a white american man to use for our flagship space! While building out the flagship space, we hosted another Active Season from February - March 2021 and hosted travelers (with extensive COVID safety protocol in place) that felt safe enough to join us.
And now years later, after hosting several hundred guests so far at Apogeo Guest House, we continue to host both Active Seasons, Open Season, and various private retreats in the space. If you’d like to join us, you can reach out here for more information.
BUT WHY
As avid travelers, and as QPOC, we quite often have to make serious considerations when choosing a travel destination such as:
Can we be physically affectionate in public?
Will hotel staff + guests be prejudiced towards us because we're people of color?
Will our accessibility needs be met in the spaces we’re staying?
Will there be anyone at the hotel that looks like us or loves like us?
Will we feel comfortable being fully expressive during our vacation?
Unless you're a person of color, are gender non-conforming, identify on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, or are our ally— it's likely that you have never considered these questions when choosing a place to stay while traveling.
Apogeo Collective is working on creating spaces globally for our communities where we don't have to ask ourselves these questions— spaces to be open and expand in our creativity & wellness- all while feeling held, healthy, safe, and centered.
Spaces where we can cultivate joy, balance, rejuvenation and stability.
Space for us to play.
So let’s play!
“In all my creative actions, I want to be fully mindful of the spirit that is moving through me and compelling me. I want to yield to it, remain open and be present for it, and honor it with my gratitude rather than commanding, demanding and putting it to work for me. This is what I call play, the simple conscious joy of participating in the marooning movement of life, occurring on every scale, the infinitesimal and the universal.” |AlphaChanneling|
Only when we’re in safe and welcoming spaces can we truly allow ourselves moments to slow down, be present, and tap into the flow of sensuality and play around us. And only when we do that, can we fully explore our purpose and understand why we’re here.
Take time at one of our Apogeo Collective-hosted experiences, and come visit us at Apogeo Guest House, to lean into relaxation, to lean into rejuvenation— to lean into your Self.