San Juan del Sur
Encyclopedia
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
and coastal town on the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, in the Rivas
Rivas (department)
Rivas is a department of the Republic of Nicaragua. It covers an area of 2,155 km² and has a population of 166,900 . The department's capital is the city of Rivas.-Overview:...
department
Departments of Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a unitary republic, and for administrative purposes, it is divided into 15 departments and two self-governing regions based on the Spanish model:-Zelaya Department:...
in south-west Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. San Juan del Sur is popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists.
Its population is approximately 18,500, consisting largely of families engaged in fishing and foreigners from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. While the local economy was, for many years, based on fishing and shipping,it has shifted towards tourism in the last 20 years.
San Juan del Sur, set aside a crescent-shaped bay, was a popular resting place for gold prospectors headed to California in the 1850s. Correspondingly, San Juan del Sur served as a hub for Cornelius Vanderbilt Lines.
The town is near the site of the filming of Survivor: Nicaragua
Survivor: Nicaragua
Survivor: Nicaragua is the 21st season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. It premiered on September 15, 2010 at 8:00pm, moving to the Wednesday timeslot for the first time since Survivor: Borneo....
and Survivor: Redemption Island
Survivor: Redemption Island
Survivor: Redemption Island is the twenty-second season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor, which premiered on February 16, 2011. Applications were due in January 2010, and filming lasted from August to September 2010. The season was filmed in the vicinity of San...
. The seasons aired in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Nicaragua Canal
San Juan del Sur is the port on the Pacific that has been focus of many historic and modern day Nicaragua CanalNicaragua Canal
The Inter-Oceanic Nicaragua Canal was a proposed waterway through Nicaragua to connect the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean...
proposals because of its proximity to the narrow isthmus of Rivas between the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada or is a vast freshwater lake in Nicaragua of tectonic origin. With an area of , it is the largest lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world and the 9th largest in the Americas. It is slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca. With an elevation...
.
U.S. Intervention in San Juan del Sur
U.S. backed forces engaged in armed conflict in San Juan del Sur on March 7, 1984.The 1992 Nicaraguan Tsunami
On September 2, 1992 a magnitude 7.0 earthquake off the central coast of Nicaragua generated a tsunami that devastated many communities along the Pacific Coast. Run-up values along the coast ranged from 2m in the north and south to up to 10m in some central locations. Run-up values in San Juan del Sur were approximately 5m. As a result of the tsunami an estimated 60% of homes in the community were destroyed, approximately 800 residents were displaced, and businesses and homes along the Malecón suffered severe damage.Voltz case
A local judicial court in nearby Rivas has received international media attention for the conviction, overturned on appeal, of American magazine publisher Eric VolzEric Volz
Eric Volz is an American man who was sentenced to a 30-year prison term in Nicaragua following his conviction for the November 2006 rape and murder of ex-girlfriend Doris Ivania Jiménez in San Juan del Sur....
, accused of raping and murdering his Nicaraguan ex-girlfriend in her dress shop in San Juan del Sur on November 21, 2006. After 11 months in prison, Voltz was released and left the country
External links
- List of Activities in San Juan del Sur -
- San Juan del Sur Portal - Use this portal to help you set up a ride, book a hotel, plan a meal or just inform yourself of what’s going on in town. Glide over the map with the mouse to find out more about the best places to eat, sleep, ride and more.
- San Juan del Sur Surfing - The Definitive Travel Guide for San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
- San Juan del Sur Guide - Online Travel Guide for San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
- Virtual Tour of San Juan del Sur
- -Nicaragua Earthquake/Tsunami Sep 1992 UNDHA Situation Reports 1 – 7
Satake, K., J. Bourgeois, K. Abe, K. Abe, Y. Tsuji, F. Imamura, Y. Iio, H. Katao, E. Noguera, and F. Estrada. 1993. Tsunami Field Survey of the 1992 Nicaragua Earthquake. Eos, 74:145-160.