From Leon
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2007
1
18
33
Trip End
Ongoing
Leon,
Nicaragua
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Leon is politically and socially liberal according to the Lonely Planet, but has been radical in its past. It was the home of the Sandinista revolution and remains one of the few areas that votes for the Sandinista party now. Memorials to the revolution in the form of plaques, murals and museums are prominent. Graffiti accuses Bush of genocide. One notable monument close to the cathedral honours fallen Sandinista generals and honours Leon as the 'primera ciudad de la revolucion'.
I thought Leon was interesting, but it was also a shock. The first impression of Nicaragua is that we had dropped another level or two in prosperity. From the rutted dirt roads, the starving dogs and some emaciated people, to the run down city and horse and carts plying the streets, Nicaragua oozes poverty.
It is apparent the minute you cross the border
Church (la merced)
. You cannot imagine skinnier dogs than the one I saw roaming passport control (admittedly, on the Honduran side but others actually over the border were almost as bad). Her hips were so pronounced that there was only the barest covering of skin over them, and they looked like they might poke through at any time. The road from the border was unpaved and pitted and horses wandered untethered (and skinny). The houses are a bizarre combination of cement block and tin, with stick and thatch extensions. Eventually you reach paved roads, and Leon itself is a fairly attractive city in a declining kind of way, but the whole scene is a little depressing. It was not uncommon to see horses pulling cartloads of products, or people, on the central streets. They were certainly well outnumbered by the cars but they appear to remain an important part of local transport.We reached Leon in a downpour but it soon stopped and we ate at what would have been a nice restaurant (I really enjoyed the stew that claimed to be a traditional Nicaraguan dish), but for the volume of the live band (our fault for eating so late), and the fainting stranger. We have a doctor and two nurses in our group who responded like sharks at the first sign of trouble, and at the cost of having cold dinners.
The next morning I had wanted to go to visit Leon Viejo, the original Spanish settlement that was interred by an eruption in 1543(?)
Clash of eras
. I was dissuaded by assurances that it would be very difficult to get there by bus on a Saturday, and I still regret that. Apparently there is not much to see yet as it has not been excavated beyond the first 12 inches, but I still think it would have been interesting. We skipped the main attraction of Leon, but it was not our choice. This is to hike up a volcano and then ride a board like a slimmed down toboggan down the the volcanic sand slope. Apparently it is a lot of fun, but space is limited and we were too slow.Instead, Nancy and I wandered the new town, looking at cathedrals etc. Leon is, appropriately, fond of the lion image in its architecture and the main cathedral (catedral de la asuncion) is guarded by prowling lions and houses the tomb of Ruben Dario, a famous poet, underneath a sculpture of a very expressive sleeping lion. Other lions are found around the fountain. Our destination was a catholic church that reputedly has a 'astonishing' image of the sun, in an attempt to attract indigenous converts (so it is speculated) in the centre of the original native settlement of Subiata. However, it was closed, and all we saw was the dilapidated facade.
But we were very pleased to be able to replace our cheese supply with fresh local cheese from a very friendly shop called 'casa de queso' (house of cheese) where many locals were shopping
La merced
. They let us sample various cheeses to see which we liked and we chose a mild spongy white cheese, with maggots. We didn't know about the maggots until later when Nancy found them squirming in her sandwich. I removed all the maggots and determined that I would eat the cheese anyway, as I had already eaten some (cheese, not maggots), so if I was going to get sick it was probably too late anyway. But reason (or squeamishness) prevailed and I didn't. I gave most of it to a starving dog in Granada, who wouldn't eat avocado but seemed quite fond of the cheese, and probably wouldn't even have minded the maggots. But it just goes to show - this was a nice clean shop with plenty of customers, everything suggested that it should have been fine.In the afternoon we went to the beach and saw the Pacific Ocean from the other side of the world. It looks pretty much the same. It was nice and warm with some good waves for playing in, and I even had a go at surfing. There is obviously no career for me in that direction, but it was fun.
