From Granada we drive to the city of Rivas, the capital of the Rivas department. There are about 150,000 people living in Rivas. After a short pit stop we head towards Rancho Santana.
Rancho Santana is one of several developments on the pacific coast of Nicaragua, and probably the most advanced from all of the other developments. The developers of Rancho Santana bought the 1,700 Acres around 1999 and ever since they invest in it while selling properties in it.
Reaching Ranco Santana takes about 20 minutes ride on a decant dirt road from Rivas that leads west towards the Pacific. When me and the group I’m with reach the gates of the development we enter the welcome center and get a short brief about Rancho Santana. Marc, the salesman of the development, promises that this would be the last sales pitch we would hear and that the development would do the rest of the “selling”.
The welcome center has a nice maquette of the development where we can see the different “neighborhoods”, main club house, the surfing beaches, diving beaches, and the “natural reserve” area.
– 21-Feb-2010
From the welcome center we drive down to the club house down at the beach. The club house serves as a hub for the people who live at Rancho Santana. It has a restaurant, a pool, lounge, bar and some guest rooms. Near it is the SPA, stables and local convenience store.
I’m eager to see the available lots and sign to join the first tour around the development.
I drive around the development with Marc. We stop here and there to get some views of the place. It’s stunning! The whole area is hilltops and Pacific beaches. Few houses are build here and there, but there is tons of open land in between. The views are breath taking.
– 19-Feb-2010
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– 19-Feb-2010
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– 19-Feb-2010
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One of the lots we see catches my attention immediately. Lot M25 is a 1.7 dunam (about half an acre) lot on top of a high cliff. Most of it is sloped sharply towards the ocean and doesn’t allow much space for the house but the location is absolutely stunning. Full panoramic view to the west offers an unobstructed view of the Pacific ocean, with an amazing sunset just in front.
M25 – Look to south-south-west – 22-Feb-2010
After that Marc shows me the small condominiums project they built. It’s 6 buildings, each with two 3 bedroom and two4 bedrooms apartments located literally on the beach. They are on last stages of construction and some of them are already populated by owners and renters.
– 19-Feb-2010
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– 19-Feb-2010
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– 19-Feb-2010
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– 19-Feb-2010
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The beach right outside of these windows is Santana beach – a world class surfing beach. Marc, a self proclaimed surf fanatic, can hardly take his eyes of the waves. I begin to understand what he meant by that… The apartments are well build in top class utilities including central propane, electricity and water. The kitchens are well equipped to US standards and the whole feeling is of a great comfortable place to stay.
In the evening we enjoy cocktails with some of the local owners. Later I retire to sleep in one of the houses in the development.
