Travel

About this time last year, Nicaragua was well on its way to a tourism renaissance. It was Costa Rica before Costa Rica went all Costa Rica. The long-impoverished people of the rural countryside were welcoming thousands of visitors, drawn by the world-class surfing, unspoiled beaches, and thick, tropical jungles. And they were buying things like houses, cars, and new clothes with the money rolling in.

Then the political unrest of April happened, and the world was effectively scared off. Though most of that trouble was relegated to the capital of Managua, people still stayed away. And just like that, it was back to square one for one of the most beautiful countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Today, the unrest is over for the most part, and regardless of your opinion on the government, the country is as safe as it’s ever been. Hiking through the steep mountains near Rancho Santana on the southern Pacific coast, you’d never know the country was under a tourism warning. Hotels are trying to lure people back with steep discounts, with some resorts offering rooms at literally half of what they were a year ago. For the country’s sake, we hope the world wakes up and realizes it’s safe to go back to Nicaragua. But until that happens, you can visit this country that’s still on the verge of making it big-time, for a steeply discounted price.