What is the history of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?

As far as I know San Juan Del Sur was basically the main Pacific port town before the Panama Canal was built.  In the 1800s, when there was a gold rush in California, a lot of the people would travel from the east cost of the US to the Caribbean side of Nicaragua.  From there, they would travel the relatively short distance to Lake Nicaragua, and then, from Lake Nicaragua to San Juan Del Sur on the Pacific side, it’s only around 15 miles.  After that, San Juan Del...

As far as I know San Juan Del Sur was basically the main Pacific port town before the Panama Canal was built.  In the 1800s, when there was a gold rush in California, a lot of the people would travel from the east cost of the US to the Caribbean side of Nicaragua.  From there, they would travel the relatively short distance to Lake Nicaragua, and then, from Lake Nicaragua to San Juan Del Sur on the Pacific side, it’s only around 15 miles.  After that, San Juan Del Sur became the principle hub of Nicaragua on the Pacific side and a tourist town.

 

San Juan del Sur historically has been a fishing village as well.  There are several fishing villages up and down the coast but what made San Juan Del Sur stand out compared to the other fishing villages is how it historically was used as the end point of transit between the Caribbean and the Pacific.  Commercial fishing has always been a part of it but I don’t think that was the main reason that it got put on the map. 

 

These days, San Juan del Sur is known for tourism, and as an expat destination or not really.  it’s got a little bit of everything. It’s kind of a party town. For Easter Week (“Semana Santa”) it’s the main spot for the whole country to go.  On the beachfront, there are tons of restaurants in the beach and tons of bars. It’s kind of like the central spot for restaurant activities but they also have everything else right there—access to all types of other activities as well. 

 

(Traditional Mestizaje costume on Nicaraguan women, pictured.)

The history of San Juan del Sur goes way back in the gold rush days, when people from the east of the US would take ships down, come through the river into the lake, and then cross over the Pacific side and take the railroad or a ship to get all the way up. San Juan del Sur was a crossing point. As you can expect, there were lots of interesting goings on for people traveling to find riches. Once that ended, things slowed down for quite a while and it was a little bit more of a sleepy...

The history of San Juan del Sur goes way back in the gold rush days, when people from the east of the US would take ships down, come through the river into the lake, and then cross over the Pacific side and take the railroad or a ship to get all the way up. San Juan del Sur was a crossing point. As you can expect, there were lots of interesting goings on for people traveling to find riches. Once that ended, things slowed down for quite a while and it was a little bit more of a sleepy fishing town. Tourism started to pick up and it’s slowly getting back on track. There are more things that we get in San Juan del Sur because of tourism. 

 

San Juan del Sur has been getting tourism growth of about 12% every year for the last five or six years. It’s sustainable- not going out of control, but there’s definite growth. There are shops that are carrying things that only an expat would buy that you wouldn’t find in San Juan del Sur five years ago.

 

San Juan del Sur can’t really grow in size- there are mountains on its three sides and then the ocean. What is here has changed. Since we’ve been here, a lot of homes have added a second level to add rental revenue for locals. There have been a lot of homes that have been converted to storefronts and businesses. There are some three-story buildings that have been put up in town. On the edge of town there are vacation rentals that are put up on the hills or overlooking the bay.

 

In the last ten years, a lot has been going on In San Juan del Sur. San Juan del Sur is really just starting to be a place where people feel going to is usual. Before, Nicaragua was not on anyone’s radar.

 

For the future, what I hope is that San Juan del Sur continues this 10-12% growth a year so that the city can change as it needs to slowly and plan for improvements on roads, electricity, water, and infrastructure- things that we need so that locals have a chance to do things like add a second floor on their house so that they can get extra income.

 

There are still more products coming to San Juan del Sur that are unique to what North America would like, but to still hold true to the fishing surf town that it’s been, it’s still a relaxed, easy, cool vibe that everyone loves with just a few different products and services.

 

(Thai restaurant, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, pictured.)