Mail Services and Nicaraguan Addresses
Packages and Mail
The importance of mail has certainly diminished in the age of the Internet but credit cards are still mailed out and some industries require a signed document to be returned.
You’re in another country so forget about getting letters in three days from the states. Having said that, we have had generally good experiences with regular letters using our Nica street address (see the below section on Nicaraguan addresses). Mail usually gets here within two weeks from the states. We have sent out many letters via the Nica postal service and I’m not aware of anything getting lost going to the states. We have had less luck with sending letters within the country to another Nica address. Half of our Christmas cards to Nica addresses did not get there.
Many of the expats here use the Nica-Box by Trans-Express. This gives you a P.O. box in Miami the contents of which is then periodically brought to Nicaragua. Fed-Ex and Aeros Casillas offer similar services. People think they are sending to a regular Miami address and the postage is much less in this manner. We use Aerocasillas which gives you a P.O. in Miami for letters and a street address for packages since packages usually can not be sent to a P.O. Box. For example, before Kindles and IPads we ordered a lot of books from Amazon and they offer free shipping on orders over $25. The Aerocasillas service costs us around $25-30 a month and I believe we can receive up to 12 pounds of mail a month. Overages are charged to you. There are some companies in the USA we would prefer not knowing we are in Nicaragua and this method takes care of it.
Customs looks at all packages coming into Nicaragua. We have had no problems with letters, magazines and used clothes. Almost everything else may be heavily taxed and never try to send any electronics, CDs, DVDs, computer programs, jewelry, medicine, supplements or almost anything of value by any method. By regular mail, the risk is high it will not be received and by any other method you may pay taxes of 100% or higher. If you do not follow this advice, always remember to have an invoice included with the shipment. If you become a resident you receive a $500 exemption from duties every six months. Unfortunately they just changed the rules that you can only use the exemption once per six months. This means if you use the exemption for a $200 camera you lose the other $300 exemption for that six month period.
For example, my wife almost received five pounds of her favorite Wisconsin candy raisins from her father. Customs wanted $85 so we said they could keep the candy and two weeks later the candy showed up anyway. Another time I bought an artist easel to surprise my wife and customs charged me $100 in taxes and fees even though the easel was only $69 with a proper invoice.
The best way to get things is to have friends bring them with them when they visit. Also, don’t forget you can get most things here. Even computers and televisions have started dropping to a price similar to the states. For example, HP netbook computers are around $300.
Addresses in Nicaragua
Nicaragua is determined to ensure there will never be an automated mail system because many times the streets are not named and if they are, they are not used for the address. Numbers on houses are rare, there are no zip codes and the equivalent of states are departments but no matter, Nicas don’t use them in their addresses anyway. In a world where fewer things are sent physically this may not be a great deal but it makes it interesting finding a business, store or a residence. The Nicas seem to be unbothered by this issue.
Nicas usually use reference points from where they start describing a certain address. This can be another business, a church, some known location and that reference point may not exist anymore. This is especially interesting in Managua which had a major earthquake which destroyed many reference points but no problem, the address may still refer to one of them. Next, the address will state the number of blocks (cuadras) from that reference point.
Example: Robert’s Office Machines
From the Esso Gas Station, 1 block south, half a block east
Managua, Nicaragua
A little strange but not too bad and kind of quaint. Like the old days when we had a party line for a telephone. It goes downhill from here, though. First of all, the language is Spanish and directions are often given in relation to the sun. Instead of east and west or their Spanish equivalents, the words “arriba”and “abajo” may be used. Arriba, which means up or above signifies the direction from which the sun comes up: east. Abajo means the direction the sun goes down or below and it is used instead of west. The regular directions of oriente (east) and poniente (west) are other substitutes that are sometimes used.
The address may reference a direction such as: al lago. This means to the lake, and it is used in cities like Managua and Granada which border a lake. In this scenario it will be most helpful to know what direction the lake is.
I could relate some interesting conversations where I have called a business and asked where they are located only to be told they do not know since they grew up close to the business and they just walk two blocks to get there. Still, the most interesting instance is when they refer to a building that no longer exists. Using a map will not help much since many of the roads are not named or a native tells you to take the old or new road to León and the new road was built in 1978. Many addresses are given as kilometer markers and some towns actually have the markers on the highways.
Since the address may not be at the corner of a block, more specific distances may be used. Instead of meters, Nicaraguans use the old Spanish unit of length, the “vara”. The length of a vara was officially set at around 83.59 centimeters in 1801. Be careful with varas since it is a different length in most Latin American countries.
The importance of mail has certainly diminished in the age of the Internet but credit cards are still mailed out and some industries require a signed document to be returned.
You’re in another country so forget about getting letters in three days from the states. Having said that, we have had generally good experiences with regular letters using our Nica street address (see the below section on Nicaraguan addresses). Mail usually gets here within two weeks from the states. We have sent out many letters via the Nica postal service and I’m not aware of anything getting lost going to the states. We have had less luck with sending letters within the country to another Nica address. Half of our Christmas cards to Nica addresses did not get there.
Many of the expats here use the Nica-Box by Trans-Express. This gives you a P.O. box in Miami the contents of which is then periodically brought to Nicaragua. Fed-Ex and Aeros Casillas offer similar services. People think they are sending to a regular Miami address and the postage is much less in this manner. We use Aerocasillas which gives you a P.O. in Miami for letters and a street address for packages since packages usually can not be sent to a P.O. Box. For example, before Kindles and IPads we ordered a lot of books from Amazon and they offer free shipping on orders over $25. The Aerocasillas service costs us around $25-30 a month and I believe we can receive up to 12 pounds of mail a month. Overages are charged to you. There are some companies in the USA we would prefer not knowing we are in Nicaragua and this method takes care of it.
Customs looks at all packages coming into Nicaragua. We have had no problems with letters, magazines and used clothes. Almost everything else may be heavily taxed and never try to send any electronics, CDs, DVDs, computer programs, jewelry, medicine, supplements or almost anything of value by any method. By regular mail, the risk is high it will not be received and by any other method you may pay taxes of 100% or higher. If you do not follow this advice, always remember to have an invoice included with the shipment. If you become a resident you receive a $500 exemption from duties every six months. Unfortunately they just changed the rules that you can only use the exemption once per six months. This means if you use the exemption for a $200 camera you lose the other $300 exemption for that six month period.
For example, my wife almost received five pounds of her favorite Wisconsin candy raisins from her father. Customs wanted $85 so we said they could keep the candy and two weeks later the candy showed up anyway. Another time I bought an artist easel to surprise my wife and customs charged me $100 in taxes and fees even though the easel was only $69 with a proper invoice.
The best way to get things is to have friends bring them with them when they visit. Also, don’t forget you can get most things here. Even computers and televisions have started dropping to a price similar to the states. For example, HP netbook computers are around $300.
Addresses in Nicaragua
Nicaragua is determined to ensure there will never be an automated mail system because many times the streets are not named and if they are, they are not used for the address. Numbers on houses are rare, there are no zip codes and the equivalent of states are departments but no matter, Nicas don’t use them in their addresses anyway. In a world where fewer things are sent physically this may not be a great deal but it makes it interesting finding a business, store or a residence. The Nicas seem to be unbothered by this issue.
Nicas usually use reference points from where they start describing a certain address. This can be another business, a church, some known location and that reference point may not exist anymore. This is especially interesting in Managua which had a major earthquake which destroyed many reference points but no problem, the address may still refer to one of them. Next, the address will state the number of blocks (cuadras) from that reference point.
Example: Robert’s Office Machines
From the Esso Gas Station, 1 block south, half a block east
Managua, Nicaragua
A little strange but not too bad and kind of quaint. Like the old days when we had a party line for a telephone. It goes downhill from here, though. First of all, the language is Spanish and directions are often given in relation to the sun. Instead of east and west or their Spanish equivalents, the words “arriba”and “abajo” may be used. Arriba, which means up or above signifies the direction from which the sun comes up: east. Abajo means the direction the sun goes down or below and it is used instead of west. The regular directions of oriente (east) and poniente (west) are other substitutes that are sometimes used.
The address may reference a direction such as: al lago. This means to the lake, and it is used in cities like Managua and Granada which border a lake. In this scenario it will be most helpful to know what direction the lake is.
I could relate some interesting conversations where I have called a business and asked where they are located only to be told they do not know since they grew up close to the business and they just walk two blocks to get there. Still, the most interesting instance is when they refer to a building that no longer exists. Using a map will not help much since many of the roads are not named or a native tells you to take the old or new road to León and the new road was built in 1978. Many addresses are given as kilometer markers and some towns actually have the markers on the highways.
Since the address may not be at the corner of a block, more specific distances may be used. Instead of meters, Nicaraguans use the old Spanish unit of length, the “vara”. The length of a vara was officially set at around 83.59 centimeters in 1801. Be careful with varas since it is a different length in most Latin American countries.
