San Juan del Sur

Image taken from the Christ of Mercy
San Juan Del Sur
Municipality

The beach at San Juan del Sur taken from the Christ of the Mercy.
San Juan Del Sur

Location in Nicaragua

Coordinates: NI 11°15′N 85°52′W / 11.250°N 85.867°W / 11.250; -85.867Coordinates: NI 11°15′N 85°52′W / 11.250°N 85.867°W / 11.250; -85.867
Country  Nicaragua
Department Rivas Department
Area
 • Municipality 411 km2 (159 sq mi)
Population (2005)
 • Municipality 15,553
 • Urban 7,220
Time zone Nicaragua Standard Time (UTC-6)

San Juan del Sur is a municipality and coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in the Rivas department in southwest Nicaragua. It is located 140 kilometres (87 mi) south of Managua. San Juan del Sur is popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists.

Its population is approximately 15,553, consisting largely of families engaged in fishing or the tourism industry and foreigners from the United States, Canada and Europe. While the local economy was, for many years, based on fishing and shipping, it has shifted towards tourism in the last 20 years. In October 2002, to mark the city's 150th anniversary, it was formally designated the "Port of San Juan del Sur" and a "Tourism City of Nicaragua."[1]

San Juan del Sur, set beside 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.

A statue of the Christ of the Mercy sits above town on the northern end of the bay.

The town is near the site where Survivor: Nicaragua and Survivor: Redemption Island were filmed.[2] Those seasons aired in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The 29th U.S. Survivor season, Survivor: San Juan del Sur (2014), was also filmed there,[3] as was Season 30, Survivor: Worlds Apart, which aired in 2015.

Nicaragua Canal

San Juan del Sur is the port on the Pacific that has been focus of many historic and modern day Nicaragua Canal proposals because of its location on the narrow isthmus of Rivas between the Pacific Ocean and Lake Nicaragua.

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.[4][5]

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.

Geography

Climate

Tropical savanna climates have monthly mean temperature above 18 °C (64 °F) in every month of the year and typically a pronounced dry season, with the driest month having precipitation less than 60 mm (2.36 in) of precipitation. The Köppen Climate Classification[6] subtype for this climate is "Aw". (Tropical Savanna Climate).

Climate data for San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 26
(79)		 28
(82)		 29
(84)		 28
(82)		 28
(82)		 26
(79)		 27
(81)		 28
(82)		 27
(81)		 27
(81)		 27
(81)		 27
(81)		 27.3
(81.3)
Average low °C (°F) 22
(72)		 23
(73)		 23
(73)		 23
(73)		 23
(73)		 22
(72)		 23
(73)		 24
(75)		 22
(72)		 23
(73)		 23
(73)		 23
(73)		 22.8
(72.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 15
(0.6)		 3
(0.1)		 0
(0)		 10
(0.4)		 130
(5.1)		 267
(10.5)		 183
(7.2)		 198
(7.8)		 300
(12)		 460
(18)		 112
(4.4)		 28
(1.1)		 1,706
(67.2)
Source: Weatherbase [7]

International relations

The Barrio Planta Project school is supported by a US-based 501(c)(3) organization.[8]

Twin towns – Sister cities

San Juan del Sur is twinned with:

References

  1. ↑ Romero, Bayardo (January 2012). "San Juan del Sur Celebrates 490 Yrs. of its Discovery, 160 Years as a City and 10 Years as an Official Tourism City". Del Sur News.
  2. ↑ "'Nicaragua to host two seasons of hit TV series Survivor". PR Log. May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  3. ↑ http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/05/21/survivor-san-juan-del-sur-blood-vs-water-jeff-probst/
  4. ↑ "International Court of Justice, CASE PARAMILITARY ACTIVITIES IN AND AGAINST NICARAGUA (NICARAGUA v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)".
  5. ↑ "CIA Employes Fought Nicaraguans; 2 Gunfire Exchanges Reported in Support Of Commandos", The Washington Post, December 20, 1984, p. A24.
  6. ↑ Climate Summary for San Juan del Sur
  7. ↑ "Weatherbase.com". Weatherbase. 2013. Retrieved on May 9, 2013.
  8. ↑ Colgan, Laura (2011-03-30). "Community development, education and arts school plans fundraiser". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
  9. ↑ "Gießen: Städtepartnerschaften" [Giessen: Twin towns] (in German). Stadt Gießen. Archived from the original on 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  10. ↑ "2003 US-Nicaragua Sister Cities Directory" (PDF). Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  11. ↑ Newton-San Juan del Sur Sister City Project. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  12. ↑ Norwegian Delegation Visits San Juan del Sur.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for San Juan del Sur.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.