The city of Leon

Wednesday, June 20^th

Today was our final day in Leon and we spent it exploring some of the city. We took a self-guided tour of the Cathedral (Basilica de la Asuncion). This cathedral is the pride of Leon and Nicaragua and is one of the largest in all of Latin America. It is legend that the plans for the cathedral, on which construction began in 1747, were accidentally switched with plans from another country. This would explain why such a small country has such a large cathedral, but this is more legend than truth. Either way, the Latin American baroque structure is very different from the colonial structure in Granada. The Leon cathedral shows signs of damage from fire, hurricanes, earthquakes and war while the Granada cathedral has a fresh coat of paint. Still the Leon cathedral is both majestic and gritty, like the country itself.

From there, we went to visit the Museum of the poet, Ruben Dario. The story of this man is novel to Americans. He is known as “El Leon de Nicaragua” (The “lion of Nicaragua”). Born in a small village, he was raised by his mother and his aunt in Leon after his mother left his abusive father back in Honduras. He was a brilliant young boy and the poetry he wrote is among the most celebrated in the entire Spanish language. His face is on the 100 cordoba bill, everyone knows his name and he is a national hero. I can’t think of any poets in our culture who garner the same kind of fame and respect. And yet, prior to coming to this country, I had never heard his name. How can that be? The museum was a look into his life, with excerpts of his poetry everywhere. I purchased some small copies of verses of his in the hopes that I might use them to work on my Spanish. Regardless, I won’t forget this lion – a poet with the status of a hero.

We will leave this town for Granada tomorrow. At first glance, Leon appears to be quite similar to Granada, but it has a very different feel. We will remember it for its more assertive political nature and its vibrant university culture. Less of a tourist destination, Leon offers us a different view into Nicaragua than Granada does.

Also, it is much more clear here what the sentiment is about our

country (and our president in particular).

I am very glad we came.

A side trip to Leon

Tuesday, June 19^th

We thought this was going to be a quiet day without event, maybe just exploring the city of Leon again. Instead, Colin invited us to go see his other property which is on a semi-deserted island off the northwest coast of Nicaragua. It was quite an adventure just getting there.

We headed out from Leon toward Chinandega and beyond. After another half hour, we turned onto a dirt road and headed toward a village named Alemania (“Germany”), which is a tiny fishing village, not a tourist destination. We hired some of the locals to take us across the estuary on one of their fishing boats. Once we got off the boat, we had to cross a make-shift bridge across a swamp, hike through a bit of jungle until…Voila! A beautiful beach on the Pacific Ocean. Victor (I believe that was his name), who was our guide across the estuary and on the island, told us that he had lived there his whole life and that the place is “pure happiness”. The breeze from the pacific, the warm waters and the friendly people served to prove his point.

We swam in the ocean then wandered up the beach toward a home that is only occupied some of the time. It felt a bit like Gilligan’s Island or perhaps an abandoned resort. The caretaker and his family showed us around while we lounged on the grass-roofed veranda. His son chopped up some coconuts for us to drink which was an odd sensation – nothing like the coconut I am used to. Everywhere we go, we feel welcome. Unlike in the states, where people are very protective of their stuff, it did not seem like trespassing or intruding to sit on this property and enjoy the place while the owner was away.

The trek back through the jungle and to the boat meant getting bit by a thousand mosquitoes. Heidi bore the brunt of the attack and, because the fear of malaria and dengue fever are real, this always puts a bit of a cloud over our experiences. Fortunately, it does not appear that any of us are going to get sick. Aside from that mild intrusion into our experience, it was a delightful day on a serene beach with friendly Nicas treating us like family.

A tranquil day on the lake

Sunday, June 17^th

Today, after sleeping in and recovering from our Mombacho adventure, we headed out to see Colin’s land. He has a property out by Lago Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua) that will eventually be the site where the students stay on our Travel to Learn trips (www.itraveltolearn.com). It’s a remote place out in the jungle, guarded by “Don Chico”, a very elderly man who watches the place in exchange for a place to live and a few bucks a month. He flashed us a toothless grin when we arrived, then hung out on his hammock while we toured the place. The open-air cabins are nice. It will be like sleeping in a tree house. Eventually, they will build a terraced garden and multiple lookouts with views of Mombacho and the lake. Pretty sweet.

After venturing around the place, we headed to Manuel’s, a fishing spot on the beach of the lake and he hired some locals to take us on a tour of Las Isletas in the lake. Lake Nicaragua is huge, the second largest lake in Latin America (note: I had earlier posted that it was bigger than the Great Lakes, but I was given incorrect information. It's nearly as big as Titicaca though.). It would take about 15-18 hours to cross. But on the Granada side of the lake there is a string of small islands that were created by volcanic activity thousands of years ago. Some are totally deserted, some have amazing homes. One small island is the home of a family of monkeys. We got close to the island and one monkey hopped on for a ride and a snack. She was very docile and didn’t mind us petting her. Heidi was enamored, so much so that she got almost close enough to give the girl a kiss but the monkey wasn’t interested. Heidi really is an anomaly. She is concerned with whether or not the people making our food are washing their hands properly and if there are flies too close to our meals, but she wouldn’t have hesitated to give a big smooch to a wild monkey, had said Monkey shown the least bit of interest.

The boat ride was amazing. Muy tranquilo as Colin would say. Taking the leisurely tour gave us an excellent opportunity to experience one of the many amazing things Granada has to offer. We finished off the day with a meal at a “fritanga” which is basically an open-air grill and fried-food stand. It’s the best chicken I’ve ever had and I am sure it is the flavor that El Pollo Asado is trying to emulate. It’s amazing what a chicken tastes like when it isn’t injected with hormones and pesticides and other chemicals.

Another beautiful day to add to the catalog of memories.

More coming soon...I promise

Hey folks,

We decided to take a trip away from Granada to Leon, the other major colonial city of Nicaragua, for a few days. Unfortunately, where we are staying has sketchy internet availability and no ability to upload photos.

This city is similar to Granada, but there are some distinctions. It is a university town, so there is more young, intellectual energy here. Also, there was more fighting here between the Sandanistas and the Contras (and the Somoza government before that) and the people of this city are still living with those memories. Not as much tourism has come to this town, so there has not been the influx of dollars and the subsequent revitalization we saw in Granada. However, it is still a beautiful town with lovely people.

The cathedral is one of (if not the) largest in Latin America. When I can upload some photos, I will. In its current form, it is about 150 years old, but construction on this building started over a hundred years before that. Beautiful.

There is much to tell...

More about the zip line tour we took. The town of Leon. And the visit to a nearly deserted island to see Colin's land that he purchased right on the beach. All that, and a short tale about a monkey eating one of our Zone bars when I return.

Which should be tomorrow (Thursday) when we get "home" to Granada.

Love and peace all,
Lance

Volcan Mombacho

What was once an active volcano - 20,000 years ago - is now an amazing natural preserve. Five different ecosystems on one mountain. Hundreds of different species of plants. Dozens of different orchids alone, some as small as the head of a pin, some large beautiful blooms. Tons of insects, reptiles and howler monkeys. We saw one tree that had 35 different species of plants living on that tree. Near the heart of the planet, life still abounds. It amazes me that loggers and ranchers and other companies are mowing down a football-size section of rain forest every second.

We had a great guide, David, who took us on a two-hour hike through the cloud forest of Volcan Mombacho. He narrated our hike in Spanish, insisting that this was a continuation of our schooling, but he was careful to speak very slowly and clearly. It was fantastic. From different vantage points, we could see all of Granada, Laguna de Apoyo (see blog from a couple days ago) and Lago Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua - the second largest lake in Latin America). Truly stunning.

The truck ride up the mountain took us through several coffee plantations. We got to stop and try a sample of fresh-roasted coffee from Cafe de Flores. Forget Starbucks. This small cup of coffee was amazing. I added a small amount of sugar (no cream was offered) and it tasted so smooth. Delicioso!

Nicaragua has much to offer in the way of natural beauty. But we really wanted to experience the canopy of the rain forest / cloud forest from the perspective of the creatures living there, so we took a zip-line tour about half-way down the mountain. This was one of the highlights of the trip so far.