Nicaragua’s Tourist Highways Get a Makeover
Date: 11/13/2007
November 14, 2007
Managua, Nicaragua
I have to say that when I was in Nicaragua earlier this year, living in San Juan del Sur, I loved everything about Nicaragua…except the atrocious roads. Although there’s not much I wouldn’t do to visit a beautiful beach, swerving from side to side and into the ditch to avoid potholes lost its charm for me a long time ago.
Happily, Nicaragua’s bumpy tourist routes are about to get a lot smoother. And top on the list for repairs is the last stretch of highway into San Juan del Sur, which really is a charming Pacific coast village…which, of course, feels all the more relaxing after you navigate several miles of potholes.
A local construction company says that it will begin fixing the road this week, eventually making it a snap to reach some of the country’s best beaches and surf. Also being repaired this week is the highway that connects another stretch of beach to Diriamba, a quite northern town famous for its traditional Gueguense dance and giant clock tower.
The Ministry of Transportation announced grandiose plans earlier this year to rebuild some of the country’s most notoriously bumpy roads, but construction remained stalled after budget shortfalls. The new repairs demonstrate the importance of Nicaragua’s tourism industry, which can also benefit from efforts to fix highways destroyed by heavy rains
The National Assembly recently approved $2.8 million in emergency funds to repair some 1,860 miles of damaged roads in the northern highlands, home to thousands of small coffee farms.
In addition to ensuring that the country’s most lucrative crop arrives on store shelves, the soon-to-be-fixed roads also link up various retreats along the Ruta de Café (coffee route), where visitors can spend time learning how famous Nicaraguan coffee is made.
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