It’s not surprising that last fall’s presidential election (and last week’s inauguration) of Sandinista caudillo-wannabe Daniel Ortega has sparked minor headlines around the world; what is astounding is the sheer number of articles about tourism and living abroad in Nicaragua throughout the mainstream press, a degree of international attention unheard of in several decades. Start with this morning’s New York Newsday: “Purchasing paradise: More Americans choose to live in Nicaragua, as locals question the loss of their homeland” by Letta Tayler, in which she reports “Eventually, there will be nonstop, five-hour flights from New York to Managua.”
I’m quoted in this UK Guardian piece: “Ortega banks on tourism to beat poverty,” by Rory Carroll, which states that the new presidente “hopes to accelerate a boom which has brought hordes of backpackers, surfers and retired Americans to Nicaragua’s beaches and colonial towns.”
Last week, a reporter from USA Today called me with questions about her upcoming research trip to Granada and San Juan del Sur; and then there were the New York Times and Washington Post Travel Section features a few weeks ago.
