Ideal place to retire or start a business, the municipality of San Juan del Sur, located on the Pacific coast 140 km south of Managua and close to the border with Costa Rica, is the main tourist center of the country, with an impressive bay and beautiful beaches.

“I like the Nicaraguan lifestyle in general,” American Christina Alty told AFP. .

Amid international condemnation of President Daniel Ortega for his authoritarian turn and contested re-elections since 2007, outsiders live content in this quiet neighborhood that offers beaches, restaurants, bars, whale watching, boardwalks and scenery.

Many foreigners have “moved” their lives, including telecommuting, colorful establishments and small beach houses. (AFP)

“There are plenty of options here for people who enjoy the outdoor lifestyle,” adds Alty, 37, a mother of two who attends a bilingual school in the town of nearly 17,000.

“My clients are probably from all over the world. Many of them are American or Canadian, and they also enjoy a different way of life (…). The pace of life is much slower here than where from where they come,” he adds.

While Alty walks along the beach, some tourists rest on chairs, others lie on the sand, play sports or swim in the sea.

“They play in the street”

Foreigners educate their children in two bilingual schools that combine formal education in classrooms with natural open spaces.

“We are in a very natural environment, we are four kilometers from the center of San Juan del Sur, we are around mango trees, almond trees and jocotes”, explained to AFP the director of the Adelante school, American Jaime Lynn Hunter.

“And I think parents like to put their kids here because they don’t feel confined, they have enough space to stretch and run around and be kids,” adds the 38-year-old teacher, who lives in this place for 13 years. .

This school, which has 170 kindergarten and primary students, was created in 2016 to teach English to children in the region with the support of American NGOs and Japanese cooperation.

The students, 30% of whom are foreigners, take lessons for eight hours and receive instruction according to the program of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, one week in Spanish and the other in English.

A teacher teaches national and foreign children at the Adelante bilingual school. The photo is dated April 25, 2023. (AFP)

“We are happy that our children are safe here and that they can study in an environment like the outdoors, not with closed doors and doors, and that they do not have to fear more serious things like shootings, which are seen a lot today” in American schools, says Hunter.

She came to work as an English teacher in 2010, fell in love with a Nicaraguan, married him and has two children growing up in contact with nature.

“What I like here is that they’re still playing in the street, they’re still going to the park; the kids here, I think, are even more kids and that reminds me of when I was a kid, that I would go out to play until it was dark”, write.

The other bilingual school, the San Juan del Sur Day School, has 175 students, 43% of whom come from 17 countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia and Costa Rica, among others.

Jamie Lynn Hunter, executive director of the Adelante bilingual school, who came to teach English in 2010, fell in love with a Nicaraguan and also with the city. Today the family is completed by the couple’s two children, born in Nicaragua. (AFP)

“Perfect Weather”

About 30 cruise ships from the United States, Canada and Europe dock at the port of San Juan del Sur each year, according to the Tourism Institute.

In the middle of the 19th century, this city was part of the route of Americans who, attracted by the gold rush, traveled from the east coast of their country to California. Others did it via Panama.

Thousands of Americans traveled by boat to the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and after traveling up the San Juan River and Lake Cocibolca, they arrived in San Juan del Sur to embark on San Francisco.

One of them was writer Mark Twain, who shares a monument in a town square with Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío.

“I like coastal towns, I also like the ocean a lot, here everything is beautiful and cheap and the people are lovely,” British tourist Mark Guitler told AFP.

“I like to surf and there are several beaches nearby […]. It’s a very beautiful country, the weather is perfect, I love the people, I love the ocean, I mean, what more could you ask for?