Information wanted on living in the San Juan del Sur area

Submitted by David Schneider on 26 November, 2004 - 09:09.

My wife and I are 95% sure we will be moving to the Riva area, hopefully not far from the beach. We have lived in South America a lot of years, currently in Tarija, Bolivia, so there are probably no surprises (a friend recommended visiting Nicaragua first, but I told him I've lived in a lot of pretty ugly places before and no prob, so why the expense of visiting...). We mostly need to know if there are simple places available to rent; also, what the cost and reliability is of internet, since that is our means of income. Thanks in advance.

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Rivas residency?

Submitted by marie28 on 23 August, 2006 - 11:21.

Are you interested in the entire departamento of Rivas or the city of San Juan del Sur specifically? There are lots of cheap hospedajes in Rivas, fewer in SJdS (it's smaller after all). If you stay in those, you'd need to access the Internet in Cyber Cafes which are fairly cheap. To provide you more specific information, I'd need to know your plans more "specifically." Right now, I'm imagining that you're looking for cheap places to stay so that you can look around and decide if you really want to live in this area?

SJD

Submitted by Flaco on 25 December, 2004 - 18:59.

What a shit hole it is. Over priced, shitty surf, Nicaragua has much more to offer, take the time and explore. Looking for a good place to hang your hat for a while go to Las Salinas area, cheap cabina's - many to choose from. La Tica #2 is my favorite, tell them Flaco sent you. Have fun, be safe and treat the locals with respect and don't drop in on me (LOL).

Flaco

Really?

Submitted by cjtowerman on 26 December, 2004 - 21:13.

Pretty sure request was for info for living there, not for info on NOT living there! If this city is a "shit hole" then without a doubt 95% of this whole country is a shit hole (which I do not believe). It aint any worse than most any other place - hands down (I been there off an on for 21 years). Hotels there are the same price they are in Leon or Esteli or etc. -and usually better- so not overpriced by those standards, least not for a city with decent food. Surf is bad? Wow, must have missed the surf analysis concerns in the original post. Only one type of people chose a city based on its "surf"; most of the rest, which is most of the rest of the world population, dont much give a you-know-what. The city is well-regarded by Ticos, Nicas and foreighers for good reason. It is a nice base, and a nice place to live. True, the best beaches are a short drive from the beaches in front of the gringo diners, but so what? Try to find people who run internet-based businesses off the beaten path in rural Nicaragua (more rural than San Juan). When you develop a list of 10-20 successful ones, please post their website addresses here...Just love to see that...

Aaaah, Bolivia. Are you sure

Submitted by carina_cisneros on 21 December, 2004 - 02:02.

Aaaah, Bolivia. Are you sure you want to leave? Just joking (sort of). I loved Bolivia. Anyway, San Juan is tiny. Seriously. Your selection will be small, really small. Internet is notoriously expensive and unreliable in San Juan (maybe 200-300% the cost I paid in a small beach town in Honduras). Nicaragua telephone service is overpriced, and less than mediocre. Even calling there from neighboring countries is expensive, even if done via the www (from Honduras to the U.S., via www, I pay $0.09 per minutes, but it is $1.15 per minute to Nicaragua!). Calling out can be worse. If you need this for your business, expect to pay good bit, and though you might get decent service in terms of speed, downtime might be measurable. You probably know this, but here is a good link : www.sanjuandelsur.org.ni Many places in San Juan offer internet. You might be able to get prices/providers from them. Rentals? Depends on what you want, and the time of year (January-March is tourist time). If you expect a lot, ask at the gringo places like Ricardos or Big Wave Dave's, or one of the Spanish schools. If you might live like the local people, try the post office and the grocery store. There usually wont be classifieds or any advertising. If you want a traditional apaprtment/house of a certain size, there could well be only a few options in the whole city. Rivas is one option for you if San Juan comes up short on apartments.

Yeahhh, Bolivia is a really nice place, but...

Submitted by David Schneider on 25 December, 2004 - 13:53.

we are really missing the beach and have been here three years. Really, the two places we have lived here, Cochabamba and Tarija, are about the nicest places we've live in South America. 'Course we have lived in some pretty ugly places...but got to like them anyway!!

I (Dad) will probably go to Nicaragua a couple of weeks early to see what's what, we thought Rivas might be more solid with our situation, but we don't have much info on it.

Since we have almost always lived near the ocean, we don't want to be too far. Daughter Kelsey was born on the Big Island in Hawaii. Me in Lima, Peru. I met Lin in San Diego County California. I started surfing in high school, living in Los Gatos, CA, and lived 10 years in Santa Cruz, if you know where that is, then Hawaii for eight years, Washington 2, Ecuador 6 years, North Carolina 4 years, here 3 years.

It sounds like you are Latina...verdad o no? Thanks for the info, I had the site you mentioned, but just now sent an email to see what they had to say about the internet...

Well, if I get there and "no me caye bien" I'll just tell me wife to meet in Peru or Ecuador or points unknown at this time.

We are Jehovah's Witnesses, so know a lot of people in many places, but unfortunately no one in San Juan del Sur or Rivas...yes in Las Salinas to the north of San Juan, but apparently no internet there...

In Boliva, but miss the beach...

Submitted by mjt on 26 December, 2004 - 12:00.

If you miss the beach, have you considered Arica, Chile? Direct bus from La Paz, and practically from Lima or Santiago (though a monster ride at that). Great city. Good food. Decent beaches. Safe. Good infrastructure. Good technology. A bus ride from the free-trade zone of Iquiquie, Chile (another great city, slightly larger though -but with some of the problems port cities usually have). Isolated, yes, but has a University, and a research center or two. And, how many places can boast a Church and Train Station designed by Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel - who must have really angered someone to get sent to Tacna, Peru!). Anyway, this city is just a lame blurb in many travel books, but a great little place. Better beach town than anywhere in Peru, in my opinion. P.S., Cochabamba probably is one of the better cities in which to live, in South America. So, too, is Sucre. Many people visit Boliva for weeks or even months, and for whatever reason do not end up in Cochabama, Sucre, and especially Tarija. Good luck.

All three beach cities there are nice

Submitted by carina_cisneros on 26 December, 2004 - 13:31.

Arica is a wonderful little place. So is Iquiqiue, but so is Antofagasta (though these two are hardly "little"). The northern desert cities are often greatly under-rated. The cost goes up, as you move south. Good architecture in the latter two, too. One thing about most of Chile is the infrastructure, of which nothing in Central America can compare, except Panama City. Once you get south of Iquiquie, the costs go up though. Arica is comparable to Peru, in many ways, but not the other places. All would cost more than most any Nicaraguan beach town. I am not sure the places are really all that comparable. Reasons for living in Chile are perhaps very different from reasons for living in Nicaragua.

Trade info?

Submitted by fyl on 26 November, 2004 - 12:22.

While I don't plan to move any time soon, I am very interested in Bolivia and want to get more info about it.

As for SJdS, it is a little beach town that has a fair amount of "rich" places and a lot of "poor" places. I would say more so than most other areas because it is really a little fishing town with some pretty high-end tourist places.

But, "near the beach" should be no problem. There is a ridge in back of town and once the ocean view goes away, so do the prices. For example, I have an almost 3/4 acre lot with, sorta, water and power, and a road in that cost $7k that is about a 2km drive to the middle of town and a 100m walk to ocean view.

I don't know of any rentals available but little local chatter and I expect you will be able to find something relatively cheap.

HI, Thanks for the info. I w

Submitted by David Schneider on 28 November, 2004 - 05:30.

HI, Thanks for the info. I would be happy to share info on Bolivia, which is a beautiful place to live... Questions?

David