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My wife’s parents had seen the writing on the wall and left for Costa Rica just before the Sandinista Revolution in 1979. Though I met my wife in San Francisco in the mid-‘80s, we had each lived separately in Costa Rica prior to that, before the world rushed in. And so when I first visited Nicaragua on my honeymoon in 1987, I had a place to compare it to, and I found it nicer than Costa Rica—it still is. 

The difference is the people. The Nicaraguans are renowned for their sweetness and sincerity and for their ability to smile through even the very worst situations. The last generation saw a massive earthquake that destroyed Managua, a bloody decade-long civil war, a complete currency collapse, and, most recently, Hurricane Mitch, one of the deadliest storms ever.

Yet when you go to Nicaragua, you’ll be struck by the smiles and happiness on the faces of even the poorest people. I lived for some time in Austria—another country with a sad recent past—and the contrast between the grimness of those people and the Nicaraguans’ warmth was stark indeed. 

Back when I first explored Nicaragua, 12 years ago, it was still under Sandinista rule and was a very different place than it is today. There were few cars. Like everyone else, we caught rides in the back of passing Army trucks. After writing about runaway inflation for years, I finally saw it. At a restaurant in Granada (now a city regaining its colonial elegance, but then a sorry mess), we watched diners pay for their meals with foot-high stacks of nearly worthless paper currency. Once you see that, you never think about money and wealth in quite the same way again. 

Nicaragua started turning the corner less than three years later, in early 1990. Sandinista strongman Daniel Ortega was prevailed upon to hold an election. In the arrogance of power, he actually believed he would win it. When he didn’t, he surprised everyone and left office quietly. Perhaps it was with good grace…maybe he was just in shock. 

In any event, the way was cleared for a new Nicaragua. The first president, Violetta Chamorro, was a grandmotherly type who did much to heal old wounds. The next, Arnoldo Aleman, introduced free-market reforms. 

Much water has passed under the bridge since Ortega’s departure in 1990. The Sandinistas are still around, and they still organize the occasional student and worker protest. But as a real political force, they are spent. 

The country is peaceful because Nicaraguans are sick of political battles—they know too well the ruin they can bring. The Nicaragua of today is a dynamic place. Great building projects are under way throughout the country. Capital is welcomed after years of being shunned. (Most of it has come from the returning Nicaraguan exile community, but Europeans have also discovered the place.) There are vibrant communities of French, Germans, and Italians, and the cable TV system acknowledges them by carrying France 5, Deutsche Welle, and RAI in addition to CNBC, HBO, Showtime, PBS (from Denver), ABC (from Miami), NBC (from New York), and CBS (from Boston). 

But U.S. citizens are still fairly rare in Nicaragua. The average North American still thinks there is a civil war going on—if he thinks of the place at all. That’s too bad, because he’s missing out on a wonderful place. 

In the most desirable parts of Managua, where I have the most experience, property is no longer the absolute bargain it was several years ago. Houses bought or built in 1996 for $150,000 are now easily worth twice that, and they can be quickly rented to employees of banks or embassies for an after-tax- and-insurance return of around 20 percent per year on the original investment. But bargains are still to be had in outlying and up-and-coming areas of the city, as well as along the Pacific coast. 

Prices have been appreciating on the water—quarter-acre lots on the Pacific that sold for $13,000 two years ago are worth closer to $25,000 or $30,000 today. To put that in perspective: A comparable lot in neighboring Costa Rica would sell for $100,000 or more. So, despite the recent appreciation in property values, Nicaragua remains one of the best places in the world to invest in real estate. 

There is a need for modern office space in downtown Managua, and the returns are good right now. My mother-in-law is having a small office building constructed on land she recently reclaimed ownership of and already has tenants lined up and eagerly awaiting its December 1999 completion. The projected net annual return is 22 percent (admittedly not including the cost of the land, which in this case had been confiscated from the family and was recently returned). 

Because I had the extraordinary good fortune to marry into the place, my experience is perhaps not typical. Nevertheless, it’s not complicated for a foreigner to buy property here. And I predict you’ll like the country as much as I do. The time I spend living in Nicaragua—several weeks a year—is time to relax and recharge my batteries. I bring stacks of books, sit on a rocking chair on the porch, and look out over lakes and dormant volcanos. Every season brings a different set of delicious fruits, the likes of which you don’t find in neighboring Costa Rica, or, for that matter, anywhere else. And Nicaraguan beef is the best in the world except perhaps Argentina’s. And these delectables are brought out to me by smiling servants who are honestly happy to serve. (Their salaries, incidentally, run about $80 to $100 a month for live-in staff.) It is a very pleasurable life—and Managua is only a two-hour flight from Miami. If you’re fortunate enough to join International Living’s tour to Nicaragua in early November, you can be assured you’ll see all the highlights of a very beautiful corner of the world. I look forward to meeting you there.

Chris Weber was research director for the Oxford Club, International Living’s sister organization, from 1993 to 1996 and now edits the Fleet Street Letter. You can reach him at cweber0428@aol.com. He will be in Nicaragua to meet our Discovery Tour group traveling there November1-10. For details about the trip, contact Barbara Perriello by calling (800)926-6575 or (561)243-6276.

Healing old wounds
About a year after Ortega’s defeat, my wife’s parents moved back to Nicaragua from Costa Rica. They had owned some properties there before the Sandinistas took power, and while some had been confiscated, others they found out, had not—the inconsistency reveals much about the country. 

John Adams said of our own 1776 revolution that only one-third of the people supported it, one- third opposed it, and the last third stayed neutral (or, as Adams put it, “didn’t give a damn”).

Much of the same can be said about Nicaragua’s 1979-1990 experience. But there is a twist. The country had a “revolution in the family” (as New York Times reporter Shirly Christian put it). In nearly every family, you’d find Sandinistas, Contras, and the apolitical. 
My wife’s family was no exception. The apolitical ones were the ones who did the most to bind up the old wounds and bring the formerly warring factions back together. The nation’s transition has thus been made much easier than I suspect Cuba’s could be when Castro departs. In Cuba, families are usually either all for Castro or all against him. Further, Cubans have been kept rigidly apart from their exile community. This was not the case in Nicaragua under the Sandinistas. The apolitical family members were able to travel back  and forth between the family factions and maintain contact with everyone. (They also picked up tremendous property bargains. My wife’s cousins, civil engineers, bought houses from fleeing anti-Sandinistas for $10,000-$15,000—houses now worth easily 20 times that.)

My in-laws can thank the apolitical uncles who, in effect, kept places warm for them, ensuring that certain properties were not confiscated and given away to the Sandinistas.
 In the years since, many of the other properties have been restored—though it has taken time. But not all of them have been, and some may never be. It is not an easy thing to oust families who have bought confiscated homes from those who took them from their rightful owners. And Nicaragua’s attempts at land reform have foundered on just this issue.
--Chris Weber

"There is a need for modern office space in downtown Managua, and the returns are good now."

"The Nicaragua of today is a dynamic place. Great building projects are under way throughout the country. Capital is welcomed after years of being shunned."