Nicaragua
Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, second only to Haiti.
In Nicaragua approximately 30% of the population lives on less than $2 a day, most families live in extreme poverty.
Only about 70% of children attend Elementary School.
Poverty forces children away from school and in the work labor
Until recently, there was no road access to Bluefields from the west coast of Nicaragua. There is now a highway from Nueva Guinea with a regular bus service. The road was completed in May 2019 and was financed with loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.
Visitors usually either fly into Bluefields Airport or take a bus from Managua and other cities or take a Panga down the Rio Escondido from the city of El Rama, which itself is accessible from Managua by bus. Car ownership is very limited in Bluefields. The municipal government does not provide all the necessary services, so additional services related to water, energy, and sanitation are provided by non-governmental organizations BlueEnergy.
Bluefields is Nicaragua’s chief Caribbean port, from which hardwood, seafood, shrimp, and lobster are exported.
Bluefield has a population of 87,000 and inhabitants are mostly Mestizo. Minority groups include Afro-descendant Creoles, and indigenous Miskitu, as well as smaller communities of Garifuna, Caucasians,
Chinese, Mayangnas, Ulwas and Ramas; that is the reason why English is the most spoken language in the urban area. Bluefields is Nicaragua chief Caribbean port, from which hardwood, seafood, shrimp, and lobster are exported. Bluefields remain a deeply impoverished city with extremely high rates of unemployment. Bluefields features a trade-wind tropical rainforest climate. There is a drier period from February to April. Rain still falls frequently during this period. For the rest of the year when tropical low pressure dominates rainfall is extremely heavy. The average rainy days in a month are 23. Bluefields consist of 17 Barrios (neighborhoods) and 40 or more surrounding communities.
