Todo Sobre Nicaragua

I've been alerted that I need to post more to keep my housemate entertained at work. All that's happening in my life right now is packing & generally running about, which means that I'm going to re-write the CIA World Factbook page on Nicaragua for you all. Enjoy!


A Brief History

• Nicaragua became its own country in 1838, and later was almost taken over by Crazy American William Walker but they killed him.
• The U.S. Marines were called in in the early 1900s to help settle unrest within the country and that is apparently the reason that baseball is insanely popular there.
• From 1934 till 1979 Nicaragua was under the rule of a military dictatorship.
• A huge earthquake in 1972 destroyed large parts of the capital, Managua.
• In 1979 Marxist Sandinistas overthrew the dictatorship and ruled until 1990. Free elections have taken place since then & the current president, Daniel Ortega, is the first Sandinista elected since.

Economy

• Nicaragua has widespread underemployment, one of the highest degrees of income inequality in the world, and the third lowest per capita income in the Western Hemisphere.
• They are part of CAFTA - Central American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.
• 48% of the population lives below the poverty line
• Agricultural products: coffee, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans; beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products; shrimp, lobsters
• I can't figure out where I read it, but I swear tourism is something like the 2nd largest sector of the economy!!!
  

Climate (copied from ViaNica)
A tropical climate can be observed in Nicaragua. Just as in the other Central American countries, there are two seasons: the dry and the raining season. During the dry season (January - June) there is virtually no rain and trees and plants start to dry out. Once the rains come around June, July, everything starts growing and the yellow plants and leafless trees turn green and start blossoming. In August and September it often rains once a day. Fortunately, it just rains for a short period of time and these are often spectacular, tropical downpours. In the eastern part of the country it rains more than in the west.

There are three temperature zones in Nicaragua. In the lowlands (Pacific and Atlantic coast) temperatures vary roughly between 72° F at night and 86° F at daytime (22° C - 30° C). Temperature can reach 100° F in May (38° C). The central part of the country is about 9° F (5° C) cooler, and in the mountains in the north it's about 18° F (10° C) cooler.

Other Interesting Facts

• Nicaragua's about the size of New York State
• The largest lake in Central America is located there, creatively named Lake Nicaragua
• The median age is 21.3 years old, compare that to the U.S. median of 36.6 & we're talking about a very young country!
• Race/Ethnicity
• 69% Mixed Amerindian & white
• 17% White
• 9% Black
• 5% Amerindian
  
• Catholic is the majority religion @ 72%
• While almost everyone speaks Spanish, there are some indigenous groups along the Atlantic coast that speak other languages

The Peace Corps in Nicaragua
Peace Corps first entered Nicaragua in 1969 but the program was suspended in 1978 due to the civil war that brought the Sandinistas to power. It was reestablished in 1990 and they've been there ever since. Volunteers serve in 5 areas: small business development, community health education, environmental education, agriculture, and teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). The TEFL program is the newest area, it was established in 2006 which makes my group the third to go in which is kinda cool since our experiences and feedback have the potential of the future of the program.

So there you have it! That's a fraction of the stuff I've read and I still feel like I have much to learn.