Former Somoza Estate Calls Tourists, but Only A Few Echos Are Heard Series: It Would Take the Equivalent of a Month's Salary for a Local Minimum-Wage Earner to Stay in Dictator Anastasio Somoza's Former Home, and Foreign Tourists Aren't Exactly Flocking Here, 2) the Resort's Sedate, Lime-Green Tropical Mansion Overlooks the Beach. PHOTOS BY HOWARD LAFRANCHI

Howard LaFranchi, writer of The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor

With its soothing coconut-palm groves, expansive beach, widely dispersed bungalows, and a sedate, lime-green tropical mansion, Nicaragua's Montelimar beach resort hardly looks like a scary place.

Still, that's what Juan Marques Morera worries about as he reviews the less-than-satisfactory occupancy figures for the one-time Somoza family estate he's managed as a sun-and-splash vacation spot since 1993.

"When someone says they're thinking about vacationing in Nicaragua," he laments, "people still become a little shaky." As a recent visit suggested, however, there's little cause for the weak knees. Despite the minor clashes that still occur sporadically …

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Publication information: Article title: Former Somoza Estate Calls Tourists, but Only A Few Echos Are Heard Series: It Would Take the Equivalent of a Month's Salary for a Local Minimum-Wage Earner to Stay in Dictator Anastasio Somoza's Former Home, and Foreign Tourists Aren't Exactly Flocking Here, 2) the Resort's Sedate, Lime-Green Tropical Mansion Overlooks the Beach. PHOTOS BY HOWARD LAFRANCHI. Contributors: Howard LaFranchi, writer of The Christian Science Monitor - Author. Newspaper title: The Christian Science Monitor. Publication date: January 22, 1997. Page number: 15. © 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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