Story and photos by Bridget O´Brian

Hidden beneath the surface of a small lake in Northern Nicaragua lives a king. His underwater kingdom may not be huge, but it boasts beautiful gardens and a wide range of fruit trees. Once a year, the king rises to the surface with seven fair maidens and leaves a branch of flowers floating in the middle of the lake to prove to us land-dwellers he exists.

Ask a local about the Laguna de Miraflor and that’s the story you’ll probably get first. Other legends about the lake involve a giant serpent, underwater passageways to the nearby Laguna de Lodo, and possible volcanic activity.

The Laguna de Miraflor (whose name translates to “flower view”) is part of the 206-square-kilometer Miraflor Reserve and is not nearly as impressive as the rest of what the reserve has to offer.

by Benny Raíces

Charles Southwell has been a real estate agent based out of Granada, with an office in San Juan del Sur, for seven years. After being a general contractor in California, he sold property in Costa Rica for seven years before moving to Nicaragua “to find a new frontier. If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much room.” He is as wildly enthusiastic about Nicaragua as any one you’ll meet. He talks about his experiences here.

by Mike Sabine

And the water flows

A man came to my door the other day to announce that my water service, even though the water still flowed when I turned the tap, was cut off. 

 So I gave my loyal housekeeper Flor a hundred córdobas and a copy of the electric bill to identify the landlord’s name which the account was under and off she marched to restore my uninterrupted service. She returned to announce that this account couldn’t be found.

So I rifled through the series of manila envelopes in a Corona Beer box that serve as this publication’s filing system and found the last two water bills I paid. See, I said, same name. No, she pointed out rather exasperatedly, they’re reversed.  Like John Smith and Smith, John. No wonder they couldn’t find it.

by James Spencer

The 120-mile long Rio San Juan River in Nicaragua is one of the most history-laden rivers in the world. For more than 500 hundred years this turbid tropical marine highway has been the route and battleground of pirates, adventurers and conquerors from Spain, Britain, Costa Rica, France, the United States and in recent times even involved battles between CIA backed forces and Russian and Cuban backed communists. Among the many stories the San Juan has to tell is its heyday as a major transit route in the golden age of steamships and Mark Twain’s voyage through Nicaragua aboard one of them.

by J. Hanson

Lacking the colonial charms of Granada and the ocean views of San Juan del Sur, Managua is well off the tourist trail where expatriate entrepreneurs tend to set up shop.  Located atop a cluster of geological fault lines and consisting of a confusing maze of nameless streets and addresses that often begin with “de donde fue…”  (referring to a landmark that no longer exists, and was possibly destroyed in the 1972 earthquake), Managua is like no other city in the world.   

The sprawling capital city is home to over one million Nicaraguans, and a sizable chunk of the foreign expatriate residents who work for embassies, development cooperation agencies, and non-governmental organizations.  It’s also the country’s nerve center for government, commerce, finance, media, international relations, and higher education.  In short, Managua contains some deep pockets and cosmopolitan consumers eager for new options, presenting a ripening opportunity for entrepreneurs in the dining and entertainment business.  What does it take to make it in the big city, especially as a foreigner?  Three expatriate owner-operators of successful small businesses – a bar and two restaurants – share their experiences, insights and advice.

by Juan Carlos and Oscar
as told to Waves Magazine

Two young men… two stories of difficult pasts, a stable present, and a promising future.

Twenty year old Juan Carlos Mejia Valle  and Oscar Arnulfo Lopez, age 17, never knew each other during their young lives on the streets, drug addicted and allied with gangs. But each found his separate way to a small project called Café Chavalos where they now experience a new “high”…the joy of cooking and the pride of serving the public.

CafeChavalos is more than a restaurant. As one student says, “It’s a family of brothers.”