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Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America, occupying
120,254 square kilometers (about the same size as England or
New York state). It is located in the heart of the Central
American isthmus, between the Caribbean Sea on the east and
the Pacific Ocean on the west. Nicaragua is bordered by
Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south.
Nicaragua is divided into three distinct geographical regions: the
Pacific lowlands (Rivas, Carazo, Granada, Masaya, Managua and
León); the north-central highlands (Matagalpa, Jinotega Estelí
and Nueva Segovia); and the Caribbean flatlands, also known as
the Mosquito Coast or Mosquitia.
More than 65% of Nicaragua's 5.3 million inhabitants live on the
narrow umbilical strip of west-coast land between the Pacific
Ocean and the country's two largest lakes (Lake Nicaragua and
Lake Managua). North of Lake Managua, the Pacific lowlands
are further divided by a ridge of 10 volcanoes (of the country's






NICARAGUA
- GENERAL INFORMATION
Capital
Managua
Population
5.3 million ( 1.97% growth rate)
Size
129,494 sq km (total land and water)
Quality of Life
Good(affordable, slower-paced)
Languages
Spanish (official), some Indian dialects
Political System
(Constitutional Democracy)
Currency
Córdoba
Investment Climate
Excellent-many opportunities
Official Religion
Roman Catholic 85% , Protestant 5%
People
69% mestizo, 17% white,
9% black, Indigenous 5%
Foreign Population
Over 5,000 (U.S.)
Longevity
male 68, female 72
Literacy
65.7%
Time
Central Standard (U.S.)
58 total) of which Momotombo and San Cristóbal are the largest
and most imposing.
The agricultural north-central highlands, famous for its shade-
grown coffee, are cooler due to the altitude. The northern part of
the country is often plagued by extreme conditions of nature,
whether it be floods or droughts.
The Caribbean side of Nicaragua is divided into two
autonomous regions known as the North Atlantic Autonomous
Region and South Atlantic Autonomous Region, or the RAAN
and RAAS. This is the largest and least populated part of the
country, accounting for less than 10% of the population and 60%
of the land.
Infrastructure is almost non-existent in most of the jungled
RAAN and RAAS. There are only two poorly maintained roads
connecting the Atlantic region to the rest of the country, and only
about 30% of the homes have electricity, mostly in the larger
cities such as Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas.
Perhaps Nicaragua's most prominent geographic feature is Lake
Nicaragua (also known as Lake Cocibolca). With a surface area
of 8,264 km2, Lake Nicaragua is the largest freshwater lake in
Central America, and second-biggest in Latin America. The lake
extends from two miles north of the Costa Rican border to the
colonial city of Granada, and is bordered by five municipalities.
The lake connects to the Rio San Juan, and for centuries was
used by explorers, traders and pirates, who in the 17th and 18th
Centuries repeatedly sacked Granada by traveling up the 120-
kilometer river and across the lake.
EcoCanal, a project that seeks to reestablish this historical trade
route, was granted an exploratory concession in 2002 to build ashallow-draft river-barge canal connecting Granada to the
Caribbean Sea via the Río San Juan.
Lake Nicaragua is also considered the future source of drinking
water for Nicaragua, and perhaps all of Central America. The
municipal government of Granada has recognized the
importance of the lake as a future potable-water source, and
prioritized efforts to conserve it. A new project to modernize the
city's sewage system in 2005, promises to dramatically reduce
contamination into the lake.
Lake Nicaragua also holds the distinction of being home to the
world's only fresh-water sharks (a species related to the bull
shark). The shark population has been depleted in the last half-
century, although they are still spotted from time to time near the
mouth of the Río San Juan. Mostly the sharks stay out of
people's way, feasting on the river's endless supply of fish and
trying to avoid motorboats.
Lake Managua (also known as Lake Xolotlán) is the country's
other major lake, located on the northern shore of the capital.
Tragically, the lake is heavily polluted to the point where it could
almost be considered a fire hazard. There appears to be new
political will in Managua to clean up the lake and turn it into a
tourist attraction, but don't expect that to happen anytime soon.
Efforts have started to clean up downtown Managua's Lake
Tiscapa, which former Mayor Herty Lewites identified as a
priority for his government. The lake has been cleaned up
considerably as an attempt to make it a center-of-town tourist
attracting, complete with zipline canopy tour. Lewites
demonstrated how successful cleanup efforts had been in Tiscapa
by taking a swim in lake in December '04. At press time he was
still alive.


In the municipality of Masaya, Laguna Masaya is another sad
example of a body of water that has incredible tourism and
development potential if someone were to clean it. Nearby
Laguna de Apoyo is still clean enough for swimming and water
sports, although residents are already starting to grumble that
development in the area is threatening that lake's future as well.