The Land: Nicaragua is located in Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Honduras and Costa Rica.  It covers an area slightly smaller than the state of New York.  The climate is tropical in the lowlands and temperate in the highlands.  Extensive Atlantic coastal plains rise to central interior mountains with a narrow Pacific coastal plain dotted by volcanoes.  Natural resources include gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, fish and timber.*

The People: Over 5.3 million people live in Nicaragua.  Spanish is the official language, but English and Ameridian-speaking minorities may be found along the Atlantic coast.  The ethnic make-up of the country is: Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white 69%), white (17%), black (9%), and Amerindian (5%).  The two main religious groups are Roman Catholic (85%) and Protestant (5%).  Nicaragua is a divided land with distinct geographic, cultural, racial, ethnic and religious zones.  The west-coast region containing 90% of the population is Mestizo, Catholic and Latino.  The east coast is a sharp contrast with its scattered population and multiplicity of Indian, Creole and Latino groups.

The Government: The Sandinistas seized power in 1979 and attempted to unify the country.  Policies of regional autonomy put in place in 1982 indicate that the Sandinista government recognized the regional differences that must be respected.  While the Sandinistas made great strides in literacy, health and nutrition, they could not successfully reconstruct an economy in shambles, particularly while under an embargo from the US for their leftist policies.  In addition, the Contras military force, supported by the US, also hampered economic growth.  Armed conflict ended in 1990 and the Sandinistas lost the election that year.  Now-a-days, diverse points of views are freely and openly discussed in the media with a broad range of ideas presented on the radio, the most important source of news in Nicaragua.*

Tourism:  In the last 15 years or so, the tourism sector has seen an economic boom, positively affecting the Nicaraguan life and economy.  Since 2001, $600 million dollars have been invested in tourism, most of them coming from Nicarguan and American investors.  The country is mostly famous for landscapes, flora and fauna, culture, beaches and of course, its lakes and volcanoes.  According to the Ministry of Tourism of Nicaragua, the colonial city of Granada, is the preferred spot for tourists.  Also, the cities of Leon, Masaya, Rivas, and the likes of San Jaun del Sur, San Juan River, Ometepe, Mombacho Volcano, Corn Island and Little Corn Island, and others are main tourists attractions.  In addition, ecotourism and surfing attract many tourists to Nicaragua.  The economic benefits which can be derived from tourism cannot be disputed; today, tourism constitutes around 10% of the Nicaraguan income.  More investment and support from the government is expected after the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement was signed*

*Information gathered in part from wikopedia.com