Ana Maria Pellecer opened her inn only four years ago, but her family traces its ancestry back to the conquistadors. Eva Robbins traded Hong Kong for an overlooked stretch of Mexican beach and the chance to turn guests into friends. It's the ladies who make the difference in our top selections for Central American overnights. The choice of Bill Clinton when he became, in 1999, the first U.S. president to spend a night on Guatemalan soil, Posada del Angel was created by a world traveler from Texas, Mary Sue Morris. An elegant residence in the tiny Guatemalan town of Antigua, this colonial inn shines through its decoration, a testament to Morris' worldwide collecting.
Every suite has a wood-burning fireplace, and the inner atrium holds a heated lap swimming pool.
Both owner Morris and Manager, Ivonne Anzueto, are known as gracious and expert entertainers, and guests often become part of one of their frequent parties. You have to cross a river and take an unpaved road to get to the hacienda from the famed Copan Ruins, a mile away, to claim one of the two guest rooms and the chance to learn how to make tortillas and cheese in the indigenous manner. Though in the heart of town, the hotel offers a view from the terrace and upper story that stretches over traditional tiled roofs to the volcanoes that surround Antigua. Elegantly outfitted with colonial-era antiques, the inn has an inner courtyard filled with lush, tropical greenery which overflows to corridors, or breezeways, typical to colonial houses, where guests can take breakfast or cocktails. In 1996, Eva Robbins and Jim Garrity quit their jobs and headed south in search of paradise.