Really Nice Vacations

Destinations: San Juan del Sur

I really didn’t know much San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua until one of my friends talked non-stop about it after a trip there. if What do you know of SJDS? If you are in for a brief history lesson, here’s what you need to know in a nutshell: The Pacific Coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. Free elections in 1990, 1996, and again in 2001 saw the Sandinistas defeated. The country has slowly rebuilt its economy during the 1990s, but was hard hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Not too long ago, SJDJ was a small, quiet fishermen village. Now, it is famed as a tourist hot spot in Nicaragua because of it’s perfectly shaped bay and beautiful pristine beaches. During Holy Week (or Semana Santa in Spanish), the beach will be dotted with Nicaraguans who congregate there to celebrate the single most important vacation week of the year. Well, sooner or later, the beach will be dotted by non-locals. Tourism has picked up over the last few years with more and more cruise ships calling and docking at the small harbor of SJDJ. With tourism blooming, more and more hotels and vacation houses are being built as many tourists - especially Americans - like to swim, surf, suntan and fish there. And many of the retirees decided to extend their vacations. Many stayed at SJDS for months.

I couldn’t remember which blog I read but there was this American couple who talked about their stay at one San Juan del Sur Hotel, nicknamed The Blue Inn. Their recommendation is to pick a small boutique size hotel by the beach instead of rough it out at a rented room hosted by the locals. They explained that one will enjoy privacy and the niceties of a hotel yet still enjoy the family-like hospitality of the locals. I guess it makes sense for lots of city dwellers who don’t like the back-packer holidaying. Honestly, I don’t suppose I want to rough it out when I have only 2 miserable weeks for my annual leave! Perhaps sometime next year, I will check in one of these beach-front Nicaragua hotels and forget all the impossible deadlines and endless meetings for 10 days or so … …