The Russians are coming
It is quite a long way from St. Petersburg to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. So it took us a bit by surprise when we realized that most of the traffic to our website was from Russia.
In a one-week span in December we received almost 900 views from Russia and just 65 from the United States in the same time period.
So what does it mean? Are Russians seriously looking at Nicaragua as a tourist destination or is it a Russian troll who loves photo tours in Central America?
It could very well be that Russians are interested in Nicaragua, and for a few reasons. Russians travel a lot and their main destination – Turkey – has been cut off due to sanctions.
It is freezing in Russia and warm here. Russia is expensive and Nicaragua is cheap. Surprisingly, however, one Russian Ruble is only worth .49 Cordoba.
But there is also a lot of leftover Cold War friendship. The last time I got pulled over the police were driving a Lada.
And lately that friendship has been on display. Russia is building a new embassy complex, anti-drug training center and satellite station in Nicaragua this year. That's on top of providing new military equipment to the former Cold War ally.
It is safe to say that Putin’s government, which is using Nicaragua to make inroads into the Western Hemisphere, has not been shy about building up Nicaragua’s image to its citizens.
As Nicaragua continues to vie for a larger piece of the Central American tourism pie this might be something worth looking into. I, for one, met a Russian surfer a couple of weeks ago.
If they start showing up in larger numbers just remember to say Nostrovia!
-- Kevin
