Nicaragua Has Become The Major
Hot Spot of Central American
Tourism
BY ARTHUR FROMMER, King Features
Of all the nations of Central
America, Nicaragua is generally
regarded as the safest for
tourism -- with less street
crime and violence, and less
pick-pocketing and robberies
than even Costa Rica.
And yet, though its tourism is
growing rapidly in a percentage
sense, Nicaragua still receives
the fewest tourists of any
Central America nation.
The civil war between
''Sandinistas'' and ''Contras''
that ended about 20 years ago
and a devastating earthquake
that leveled the capital city of
Managua are usually cited as the
reasons why Nicaragua's tourist
industry is still in its
infancy.
Which creates an opportunity for
a certain type of American
traveler -- an adventurous sort
who seeks ''the Caribbean as it
once was.''
Someone who values the emptiness
of Nicaragua's beaches and rain
forests, delights in the tiny,
10-room lodgings that make up
the great bulk of Nicaragua's
''hotels'' and who enjoys an
intimate contact with a people
who are gracious to a fault.
In one of the small hotels on
Little Corn Island, about 30
miles off the Caribbean coast of
Nicaragua, dinner is served at 7
p.m. sharp and consists of a
plate of fish (caught that
morning) with two sides washed
down by beer, and served
uniformly to both the staff of
the hotel and its guests, who
all eat at the same long table.
If that's the kind of Caribbean
vacation you desire, you find it
in Nicaragua.
The other reason for Nicaragua's
growing tourism is less pleasant
to discuss: The country suffers
from abject poverty, and its
price structure is absurdly low.
A devastating article in the
June 12 issue of The New York
Review of Books pointed out that
80 percent of the country's
population subsist on less than
$2 a day. Twenty-seven percent
of the population is
"undernourished.''
Abandoned by the United States
after our successful defeat of
the Sandinista movement and left
to drift without substantial aid
or investment, Nicaragua is
governed by a president (Daniel
Ortega) who hasn't the slightest
knowledge of economics or a plan
to improve his nation's economy.
He survives only because of
essentially free oil shipments
from Venezuela.
The United States, preoccupied
with the Middle East, pays
little attention to a nation
that once worried us a great
deal.
And because everything in
Nicaragua is dirt cheap, the
country is awash with real
estate speculators throwing up
retirement homes for elderly
Americans, and additional hotels
for tourists seeking a vacation
in an area near the equator
where the weather is hot in
every month of the year.
For the tourist interested in
culture, the colonial capital of
Granada shows the high aesthetic
standards of the conquistadores,
who left glorious structures
that have been well-preserved
and reflect the art and
architecture of 17th and 18th
century Spain. Several of those
buildings have been converted
into high-quality hotels. The
Nicaraguan city of Leon is of
similar but lesser interest.
Among the beach areas, the Corn
Islands are one of two popular
coastal draws. You get there
either by plane from Managua
(about $175 round-trip) or via a
daylong trip by bus and ferry
from other cities. Once there,
you find yourself in a different
world of backpacker-like
tourists living in extremely
modest lodgings and enjoying
nature and a laid-back form of
life, to put it mildly. In
addition to enjoying a pristine
tropical innocence, you snorkel
and scuba-dive or simply enjoy
the outdoors, to which you walk
on tiny Little Corn Island
(where there are no cars) or hop
a taxi on Big Corn Island,
paying $1 as your fare to any
point on the Island.
The other tourist magnet is San
Juan del Sur on the Pacific
Coast, the site of considerable
construction and development.
Surfing is the chief draw here
and surfers are a special type
of visitor whose presence may or
may not enthrall you.
Surprisingly, the surfers are
joined by growing numbers of
elderly U.S. retirees, drawn by
the claim that $15 a week can
hire a sleep-in maid/cook and
$20 a week a gardener who
doubles as a chauffeur, enabling
Americans to live ''like kings''
on their Social Security income.
I have been both horrified and
offended by these sales pitches,
and they highlight the ethical
dilemmas posed by economies like
Nicaragua's. To live off another
person's poverty is a frequent
decision in travel, justified on
the grounds that you are
creating a livelihood for the
less fortunate. If you're made
comfortable by that rationale
(I'm conflicted), then you'll
want to consider Nicaragua for
your next vacation. |
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