My mom visited us late last month, and upon her return home sent a short epistle to her friends detailing her observations of San Juan del Sur and Nicaragua in general. Here are some of her observations:
It was 1987 the last time I was in Nicaragua. At that time the U.S.A. was still supporting the Contra, the people that were against the Sandinista government that had taken control and ousted the long lasting and very corrupt Somosa regime. So much energy and money had to be spent protecting the country from the Contra. Those forces (terrorists) would come at night into the villages and destroy hospitals, schools and people.
You may remember that a couple of years earlier John [my father] had been a member of a farmers group that went to help the people. The Canadian farmers were helping the Nicaraguan ones in the maintenance of farm machinery. In 1987 he, his cousin, and Sandy drove to Nicaragua and it was then that I flew down to join them. At that time the infrastructure was, well, most of it was not. There were next to no means of transportation, there were shortages of nearly everything. The people, who under Somosa had been very poor, still were, but there was hope that things would improve once the Contra gave up. I saw so many changes. The city of Managua which had suffered a devastating earth quake prior to ’87 still had blocks of rubble which is now all cleaned up and parks and new buildings are in place there. There is also an area that is a shantytown inhabited by those who are landless and unemployed.
The city is full of new vehicles, trucks, SUV’s, cars, nice taxis and motorbikes.There are also small bicycle taxis and small three wheeled vehicles for hire. Naturally the common folk do not have cars but they now have options. I was not on any buses but Sandy tells me that they are often, regular, well used and quite acceptable except for Americano’s Norte folk with long legs
Sandy and Aaste have been living in a small town of 5 – 6 thousand people. San Juan del Sur is on the south west coast and about 3 hours away from Managua. That depends on the roads and some of them; perhaps a lot of them are in very bad condition. I arrived in San Juan on Easter Sat. and the population was perhaps about 20,000 people. Easter and Semana Santa (the week before Easter) are the biggest holiday throughout Latin America and San Juan, being close to Managua was filled and overflowing.
There were trucks for all sort of food cooking. Whether you wanted chicken or ribs or tortilla’s they and other foods were available. There were two discos’ that had been brought in on trucks and set up on the beach. They were huge, probably held 3 thousand or more people. One wonders how it can be cost effective to set up such places for a short while until I stopped and remembered that labour is so inexpensive. Every ‘booth’ had a boom box going at full volume so the sound was overwhelming and could be heard in the apartment at night.
Mon. was a lovely day. Most of the visitors had left the town and the streets were being cleaned and swept and things were back to normal. San Juan is the windiest place I have ever been and being raised in southern Sask. that is saying something so the cleaning was a good way to try and keep the dust from landing on every surface in the house.
Sandy and Aaste had a very nice new and clean two-bedroom apartment one block off the beach, just around one corner to a fun bar and around the other corner a very good coffee shop and bookstore. They were in class from 8 – 10 and then we would meet at the coffee shop after which they again studied until noon. One afternoon we drove to another beach. On the way a woman was hitch hiking and in Nicaragua if you have space you never pass a person by. I remember in ’87 when our car would have as many people as it could hold, and I don’t mean as in how many seat belts. The beach was lovely as most beaches are but it was the drive down through the hills and farming country that I enjoyed the most.
There is quite a large ex-pat community in San Juan and Tues. all are welcome to a potluck, poker and or Black Jack evening. That was fun and informative finding out how and why folk have left the north and moved there. Various reasons. Some retired and of course their money goes so much further there. Some have started a business but all are past the child rearing age, at least the ones I met.
The drive back to Managua was interesting as Sandy chose a route that took us through a series of villages. One was all furniture building, another garden centre’s another ceramics and so on. Nothing like that when I was there before. Lovely to see the creativity of the citizen’s emerging.
Would I recommend a visit to Nicaragua? If you are of an adventurous bent, are aware of the poverty of the people and how rich we look even without gold and silver on our bodies, don’t mind driving your rental car over very rough roads, love gorgeous beaches and spectacular scenery then go for it.
