catinthehat
12/30/2016 14:13 EST
hello! i'm here because i am planning to visit nicaragua sometime this year (hopefully before june) to see if i could make it my retirement home. i'd love to live by the ocean, and am hoping to find a spot with a lively expat social scene. can anyone recommend any towns or cities? i'd also be looking to rent a one bedroom, and am wondering if someone can tell me a price range of what i can expect to pay. thank you, catherine
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feliceb
12/31/2016 17:59 EST
san juan del sur is undoubtedly the most lively town on the coast for ex-pats if you are seeking lots of activity!
It is like tamarind 15 years ago and perhaps better.
You can find whatever level of living quarters and shopping you will need- restaurants and clubs and they never stop!
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novato1953
12/31/2016 19:13 EST
Nice studio apartments exist at $150US and lousy ones exist at $1,400US. You have to go kick the tires. Decent, clean hotels start at about $20US a night for a place to rest your head while you're not out beating the bushes for the place of your dreams. But lively is not the word I'd pick to describe San Juan. There are residents there whose eyes grow misty year-round, daydreaming about the raw excitement of the January octopus run.
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johnchip
1/4/2017 23:11 EST
You need to travel a bit more. Expat communities are not what you think. . This is not a golf club retirement communty Most are nuts or hiding something. You need to find a place you like for yourself and by yourself.., not a 'community', they will fail your expectations. Nicaragua may be great if you are indepedent or have a family with you here.., but Costa Rica or Panama may be your bettleast a year before investing in a cher social choice if you need companionship. Spend at
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johnchip
1/4/2017 23:29 EST
Sadlways y this site does not allowe me to delete or edit. The end of my message should read; you need to spenld a year
in Mexico, Costa Rica or Panama if ive family. you want companionship not Nicaragua. You need here to develop your own private family. Nicaragua is a small poor private socialist Christian society . And here, you will always be 'the gringo'. Great place
to live if you know why you are here.
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iguanalover
1/5/2017 09:37 EST
Good advice johnchip. Expat life in small places is for independent people who know what they want to do. We are watching some not so independent people become dringos -- drunk gringos -- and many leave because they are bored. Living in Nicaland is much more complicated than saving a few dollars on groceries. Check out your possibilities very carefully and be honest about what you want.
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elduendegrande
1/5/2017 10:42 EST
Seems to be a change about. When I came here the expats were missionaries, closet lefties, nature lovers, cheapaholics and rogue males.
Now it is shifting to married couples (who may or may not stay married here), upscale beach types, surfers, The fiesbuk crowd seem like Sun City South types, I wonder how they will survive on the long haul in the jungle.
By all means, know thyself and figure out what you want do. We are all essentially in the same boat: we will be here till we get bored, run out of money, or get sick/dead.
I think the ones who can;t afford it here will figure it out in the first year, the ones who come to "learn a new culture" will burn out shortly thereafter.
If I didn't have family, dawgs, and a garden I would have been long gone, but even so travel helps me get away from the retirement rat race.
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catinthehat
1/5/2017 11:34 EST
perhaps i came across too idealistically. i am not interested in living in my neighbour's back pocket, i simply wanted to know if people are amenable to forming friendships for card parties, pot lucks, etc. and if their was a community, of sorts, set up to welcome new comers. it sounds as though people lead rather insular lives, with folks "hiding" something from others. i have difficulty understanding this.
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atz111
1/5/2017 12:05 EST
I am not sure people have anything to hide, However, the ex-pat community hear is not particularly vibrant compared to other places I've been and seen. Not sure why. Maybe it's because a lot of people came down expecting to live on almost nothing, and when they find out they can't, not real happy and have not much to offer as companions. We also have a lot of part-time residents – – for more accurately called long term tourists. If you were coming down here with the principal reason to form social relationships, it's probably not a great place
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elduendegrande
1/6/2017 10:33 EST
Check out SJS and Leon, which is near the beach. Check out the relavant fiesbuk pages as they seem like happy campers looking for companionship.
Many expats I know have Nic. families or businesses which brings them into the Nic. rat race. They like some foreign company but often it is hard to arrange.
Also, be advised that Nic. can be a "private" society, where people keep to their own and their church, and this rubs off on the foreigners. If one doesn't have household employees, one also has to worry about guarding the house so only one spouse can go socialize at a time.
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atz111
1/6/2017 11:21 EST
The above post has been deemed subject to the 3 grain of salt rule...5 being pure BS and 1 being generally OK.
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atz111
1/6/2017 19:59 EST
Let's keep it civil Ricky. Or, we will make you go sit in the corner where you belong. Try to contribute something useful once in a while, rather than being, Or trying to be a wiseguy. You really can't do that, can you? Because you really don't know much about living here in this country. It shows. Believe me
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dalepues
2/4/2017 10:10 EST
Elduendegrande makes a good point regarding the church. In my experience, nearly ten years worth, Nicaraguans are the most fanatically religious people I have ever come across. It can be dangerous, ironically, to reveal to these christians a different view of the cosmos. When you greet a Nicaraguan with "How are you", invariably you will be answered with, "Bien, Gracias a Dios." They mean it quite literally.
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johnchip
2/4/2017 10:34 EST
You will get advice on the variouus beach communities by those who live there. You can in addition check Encuentra24.com/nicaragua which is like the MLS and Craig's List of Nicaragua.
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feliceb
2/4/2017 11:43 EST
Granada has a very active ex-pat group, but you will not have the ocean. San Juan del Sur is about the liveliest town. A better ex-pat active life is either in panama or Costa rica since they have so many years ahead of Nicaragua. Look before leaping and look carefully.
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novato1953
2/4/2017 12:04 EST
I'm not really sure what you're asking. There aren't any clubhouses for gringos, but don't make too big a deal about this. You can leave in the morning from many places in North America and watch the sunset that afternoon in San Juan del Sur, and sometimes you can do it for only a couple hundred US. Just come down and check it out. Good selection of comfortable hotels ranging around $25US a night and way up. Foreigners meet up ad hoc for drinks or coffee every day, like humans will, often to vent about some aspect of local conditions. At least as many Canadians as North Americans, and they generally at least agree it's not like it was back when beans were 13 Cordobas a kilo.
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