A 2,000-square-foot open-air structure rises above a modest brick base on Nicaragua's Pacific coast. Below, the ground floor is plain and understated. Above, the whole thing opens to the sky. This is John Eames' Tropical Treehouse in El Gigante — a place where the estuary, the mangroves and the broad face of Pie de Gigante fill every sightline you care to look at.

El Gigante is a small surf town, unhurried and largely uncrowded. Eames first arrived here in 2005, drawn by the waves and something harder to name. He found a one-storey brick house sitting between the estuary and a curve of beach and saw immediately what it could become. With a background in building as well as surfing, he constructed the upper level himself — obsessing over every joint and plank until the result was something genuinely his own.

The architecture reflects that personal investment. There are no glass walls and no sealed rooms cutting you off from the outside. Open sides let the afternoon wind roll in from the valley, and the filtered tropical light shifts through the structure all day. The bedrooms face outward too, so the ocean breeze moves through while you sleep. The scale feels generous without feeling hotel-like — more like a well-loved home that happens to sit above the treetops.

The sensory peak of the stay is the freestanding bathtub, a large and deliberately positioned feature on the upper level. From it, the view takes in the estuary, the Pacific horizon and the distant mass of Pie de Gigante. Eames is characteristically wry about it — calling it a little decadent while clearly delighting in what it offers. It is hard to argue with the placement.

Timing your visit rewards some thought. The dry season from December through April brings reliable Pacific sunshine, low humidity and calm ocean conditions — the clearest period for both surfing and open-air living at altitude. May and June stay warm and lush, with brief tropical showers that cool the air and sharpen the colours. The rainy months from July through October bring dramatic skies and vivid green surroundings, though afternoon storms can limit beach time. November settles into a comfortable balance: clearing skies, refreshed landscapes and far fewer visitors than the high season that follows.

El Gigante itself is not a resort destination. It suits travellers who want proximity to surf breaks, mangrove channels and quiet Pacific evenings rather than pools and beach bars. The treehouse fits that character entirely. It is owner-designed, open to the elements and specific in a way that a purpose-built rental rarely manages to be.

What Eames built is less a conventional accommodation and more a long argument for a particular way of spending time — slowly, with good air movement and an unobstructed view of where the estuary meets the sea.