Community Life
Our next door neighbors
Getting updated news is almost impossible here. People will announce an event the same day it occurs or the day after.
Some people like solitude but most people eventually seek out like souls. When we first came to Nicaragua we were sure we wanted to live in San Juan del Sur but we quickly learned it was not for us. It's a nice community but definitely not our style at least at our age. Most people we meet that are moving here often state "we don't want to live in a gated community". They want to mingle with the locals and immerse themselves in the culture. There is nowhere you can live in Nicaragua without being immersed in the culture.
We moved here in 2006 after visiting for five years and we still cannot say we understand the thinking of our local neighbors. It is the culture shock you often read about though it softens after time when you begin to realize you are the odd one in another country and not them. And surprisingly, I find I don't understand the thinking of the majority of expats that move here. Often I feel I'm the only normal one here except my wife and I sometimes have doubts about her.
There are many people that move here that are highly critical of Nicaragua yet they stay which confuses me. There are so many reasons this is called the Land of Contrasts. Some of the people most critical of the country are those that have married local men or women. I have no idea why. We need a psychologist to look at the people here.
We believe community life is very important but not everyone agrees. We have been waiting for over 10 years and some of the developments are just getting to the point of having a sustainable community life. Regardless of what you read, there are relatively few expats in Nicaragua. The highest concentrations are in Granada, San Juan del Sur and Managua. Even in Granada the percentage of foreigners is way less than 1%. Statistics state there are 4,000 USA expats here but 39,000 in Ecuador.
Granada has reached the point of sustainable community life. There are many events held by expats from dinners to parties to excursions to other parts of Nicaragua. There are enough expats you will easily find kindred souls and many of us support various foundations doing good work.
Nicaragua is very liberal so very open minded and very accepting. The gay community is large and heavily mingled into the community unlike so many other places. There is little discrimination here especially in the area of age differences. One negative is that the low cost of living does not always attract the cream of the crop. We do have our undesirables which is the reason for the other name for Nicaragua as the Land of the Wanted and the Unwanted. They are referring to expats, not locals.
My rule of thumb is to avoid loud, vexing people and extremists of every ilk.
Some people like solitude but most people eventually seek out like souls. When we first came to Nicaragua we were sure we wanted to live in San Juan del Sur but we quickly learned it was not for us. It's a nice community but definitely not our style at least at our age. Most people we meet that are moving here often state "we don't want to live in a gated community". They want to mingle with the locals and immerse themselves in the culture. There is nowhere you can live in Nicaragua without being immersed in the culture.
We moved here in 2006 after visiting for five years and we still cannot say we understand the thinking of our local neighbors. It is the culture shock you often read about though it softens after time when you begin to realize you are the odd one in another country and not them. And surprisingly, I find I don't understand the thinking of the majority of expats that move here. Often I feel I'm the only normal one here except my wife and I sometimes have doubts about her.
There are many people that move here that are highly critical of Nicaragua yet they stay which confuses me. There are so many reasons this is called the Land of Contrasts. Some of the people most critical of the country are those that have married local men or women. I have no idea why. We need a psychologist to look at the people here.
We believe community life is very important but not everyone agrees. We have been waiting for over 10 years and some of the developments are just getting to the point of having a sustainable community life. Regardless of what you read, there are relatively few expats in Nicaragua. The highest concentrations are in Granada, San Juan del Sur and Managua. Even in Granada the percentage of foreigners is way less than 1%. Statistics state there are 4,000 USA expats here but 39,000 in Ecuador.
Granada has reached the point of sustainable community life. There are many events held by expats from dinners to parties to excursions to other parts of Nicaragua. There are enough expats you will easily find kindred souls and many of us support various foundations doing good work.
Nicaragua is very liberal so very open minded and very accepting. The gay community is large and heavily mingled into the community unlike so many other places. There is little discrimination here especially in the area of age differences. One negative is that the low cost of living does not always attract the cream of the crop. We do have our undesirables which is the reason for the other name for Nicaragua as the Land of the Wanted and the Unwanted. They are referring to expats, not locals.
My rule of thumb is to avoid loud, vexing people and extremists of every ilk.
