Job Discussion Forums

[Brendita]

Hi,I've been hearing some good things about Nicaragua lately. That the political climate has settled down & is stable & demorcratic now. Have also heard the Nica's are welcoming foreigners to their country& making it easy in terms of investment & living there. I wonder if there would be teaching jobs there. We are driving to Mexico soon & are thinking of maybe just maybe of driving to Nicaragua to check it out. We drove to Costa Rica 9 years ago & lived there for a year so we know what to expect driving through all those countries. Just wondered if anyone has worked teaching in Nicaragua & what thier experience was.

[moonraven]

Nicaragua is still a very damaged country, in many senses--economically, spiritually, physically. The previous president looted the treasury, and is under house arrest (or maybe by now in a real jail.) There is still wreckage in Managua from the early 1970s earthquake. The Reagan years really took their toll on the country--the mining of the harbors, economic blockade, funding of the destabilizing paramilitaries (Contra), etc. Then came the corrupt regimes of the supposedly "democratic" period--from 1990 to the present.

Salaries, consequently, are very low. None of my Nicaraguan friends--campesinos dedicated to the production of coffee as well as university professors and researchers---are currently living in their country--they can't make is economically.

Lately there has been a rush of propaganda on expat sites from expats who have bought land there--it's designed to sell real estate to other potential expats, so they paint a glowing picture of how cheap and wonderful it is to live there. If you're retired, receiving a pension in dollars, it probably would be relatively cheap. If you are thinking of going there to work, it's a different story....Expect a salary of less than 400 dollars a month.

[moonraven]

Nicaragua is still a very damaged country, in many senses--economically, spiritually, physically. The previous president looted the treasury, and is under house arrest (or maybe by now in a real jail.) There is still wreckage in Managua from the early 1970s earthquake. The Reagan years really took their toll on the country--the mining of the harbors, economic blockade, funding of the destabilizing paramilitaries (Contra), etc. Then came the corrupt regimes of the supposedly "democratic" period--from 1990 to the present.

Salaries, consequently, are very low. None of my Nicaraguan friends--campesinos dedicated to the production of coffee as well as university professors and researchers---are currently living in their country--they can't make is economically.

Lately there has been a rush of propaganda on expat sites from expats who have bought land there--it's designed to sell real estate to other potential expats, so they paint a glowing picture of how cheap and wonderful it is to live there. If you're retired, receiving a pension in dollars, it probably would be relatively cheap. If you are thinking of going there to work, it's a different story....Expect a salary of less than 400 dollars a month--IF you can get a job there.

[Gringo Greg]

Enough liberal firebombing, only one post needed and it doesn't need to be political. Wouldn't it have been easier to say the 1980's rather than the Reagan years?

I have been tio Nicaragua, lived and taught in Honduras for a year. It would be a great expereince living there, but don't expect much money from teaching. There have been a few posters in the -past with experience in Nicaragua, I guess they have gone away but the general jist of their advice was that if your expenses are low, you can make a living as an English teacher there. A single person could easily live on $300 or $400 a month.

But I think you really need to want to live there and not go there because of what you heard on the web....

[Carina_Cisneros]

While true that Nicaragua is a "damaged country", in many respects it is no more damaged than say Honduras, which far from being the target of U.S. undermining in decades past, was actually a U.S. benefactor (though Hurricane Mitch undercut most benefits).

Not all of the pro-Nica data on the www and elsewhere is real estate driven, though you are bound to find this is any recovery place, especially one with a long history of U.S. influence. In recent year Nicaragua was listed near the top in polls and analysis for international relocation (the magazine "International Living" picked it as one of their top-three retirement destinations, though this seems a stretch), though most people participating North American, so the input might be less than diverse.

True, not all changes panned out (they needed the banking reform laws but probably could have done without the looting of the banks; they needed democratic accountability, and my dog could have done a better job than their last President!, etc.), but their reinvestment plans have many people eyeing them. There 306-Tourism-Investment law allows people from around the world to relocate there and start up a business, while delaying or avoidning most all taxes for years - and they can import the things they need without the killer IVA taxes.

In the end, what is great for a retiree on a pension or a Spanish-speaking entrepenuer, is not usually great for the vagabonding English tutor. There are countless jobs / opportunities, but at the local wage, or a bit more, or at that wage, maybe with a free apartment, but little else. One thing no one will argue is the point made above about salaries being low; if you go to Nicaragua for the experience, you probably will not be disapointed; if you go there to make/save money I almost guarantee to will be disapointed.

[moonraven]

Your dog could do a better job than the CURRENT president, too.

[JZer]

Can you break even in Nicaragua? I would like to go there for a year. I am just starting in Korea but really want to end up in South America.