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Published: March 9th 2012
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Several extremely long bus rides and a border crossing later, we have made it into the town of Leon in Nicaragua. Supposedly a little colonial town, it seemed very much like a normal little city to me, with odd bits of European-looking architecture here and there and the requisite opulent cathedrals/churches dotted around the city.
By the time we got in there wasn’t much time to do anything other than discuss the next day’s activities and a small orientation walk prior to heading out for dinner. Despite having only sat on a variety of buses all day, we were all wrecked and hit the sack early in preparation for the next day.
A majority of the group headed off to climb one of the nearby volcanoes and then “volcano-board” down it using a type of wooden toboggan/sled. It sounded very cool but considering my previous attempt/failure at volcano hiking and the rather high price, I decided to give it a miss.
Instead, Chrissy, Amy and I headed off to visit the ruins of Old Leon, the site where the city was originally founded by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba (whom the Nicaraguan currency is named after). We had a very entertaining
Francisco de Cordoba
His remains were found buried next to his murderer's which were exhumed and placed inside the statue guide, who we nicknamed Danni as we couldn’t pronounce his full name, and enjoyed a morning of the history behind the city – quite bloody really as the Spanish came over and basically enslaved and slaughtered the natives. One of the photos is of a statue commemorating the native clan chiefs which the Spanish executed by setting vicious dogs on them and forcing them to fight for their lives. There aren’t too many buildings left as many were destroyed in the eruption of the Momotombo volcano and what currently stands has been excavated, so the tour was relatively short but very interesting nonetheless.
Afterwards, Danni took us for a quick look around the local village (and when I say quick, I mean it took us about 5 minutes) and then we stopped in at a local eatery to taste some of the local cuisine – quesillos and a drink I believe was called horchata. A quesillo (kay-see-yo) is literally a chunk of quesillo cheese and onions wrapped in a soft tortilla and doused in cream. I made it through about half of it before it got too much for me. The drink was much more interesting – its made from
the seeds of a pod from a local tree which Danny called a “nin tree”. I’m sure I’ve got it wrong or its spelt differently but that’s my translation anyway. It comes out looking a bit like weak chocolate milk and is very VERY sweet but slightly nutty tasting. It was lovely to try although I can’t say I would be able to drink it regularly. There is a photo of me with them somewhere on this page.
Post-quesilla and horchata, we drove back to Leon where Chrissy headed off for a city tour and Amy and I went for a meader around the streets, past the big cathedral (pretty much like any other cathedral you’ve ever seen) and through some markets. All around the city there are murals depicting all different kinds of political/moral/social scenes. I was only able to take a photo of one (also on this page somewhere) but as you can see, they are a bit odd and difficult to interpret. We think the one in my photo is about the freedom of education for young Nicaraguans or something like that, based on what we could pick up on the wording around the mural.
Our
day concluded with some dinner and drinks, and watching Ben flog the local champion in a game of pool (he actually lost based on a technicality of the Nicaraguan rules that you have to call the pocket before you sink the 8 ball which they didn’t bother to mention to him, but he still won in our eyes).
Next day, we were up and off again to Granada, the rival town of Leon. Although quite touristy, I really love it there – it had a big central park filled with market stalls and lined with horse-drawn carriages, lots of brightly coloured buildings and a big pedestrian strip of cafes, bars, shops and stalls that led down to the shore of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America.
Lots of activities were available to us here and as Amy and I were feeling like we’d been missing out on the adventure scene, we signed up for a morning of kayaking around the “isletas”, and an afternoon of zip-lining.
The retired British couple Trevor and Anne joined us for our morning paddle and we set off for the shores of the lake. Arriving at the kayak hire company, we stared
in horror at the choppy waves which we would have no hope of combating for the 2 hour duration of our tour. Luckily, the guys decide to load up the car and dropped us down the end of the road where it was more like a mangrove canal system that led out into the lake and allowed us to navigate on calmer waters.
We paddled out to the old fort located on a tiny island about 45 mins around the shoreline. The photo I have included is literally all there is to it and our guide couldn’t speak English so I don’t even have any information about it but we still poked around for a while and enjoyed the views of the lake. The paddle back was leisurely and we saw trees full of hanging birds’ nests which I had never seen before but sadly, no monkeys which we had hoped for.
A quick lunch and stroll through town then it was time for zip-lining. They geared us up and drove us up to the first launch point. The whole course was about 11 separate zip lines and several suspended bridges. I was a little nervous based on my
last experience where I burnt my finger through the glove but we had much better equipment this time and only had to brake ourselves a couple of times so no problems there. We had 3 guys with us, one of which was our designated photographer! He took our cameras and took photos and videos of us on the lines so we have some great photos of the afternoon.
Amy was also quite nervous as she is not great with the whole heights thing but she had so much fun she completely forgot about it in the end. The guys started us out with a couple of standard lines where you just sit in the harness and then they broke out the tricks – one was the Superman where we were basically laying down with our legs hooked around their waist and arms out like we were flying. Very fun and not scary at all! Next time was upside down – again we went with one of the guys, legs hooked around the waist and bent backwards to hang upside down, no hands! I loved it so much the second time I did it my guide grabbed my legs and started
flinging me around – great great GREAT fun!
The last time we went it was in a normal seated position but they tugged on the line so you bounced up and down all the way to the end. It was a really fantastic afternoon and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it – the Momotombo Express.
That was it for our time in Granada and we took off the next morning in a couple of chicken buses to make our way to the ferry to Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua. These were much more civilised than the ones in Guatemala and I actually felt relatively safe in them.
Despite it raining and being cloudy the entire day, I managed to get sunburnt on the ferry ride across to the island – right on the place on my shoulders where my backpack straps sit.... OUCH!
Ometepe means “two hills” in the native language, referring to the twin volcanoes which sit on either end of the island. None of the activities appealed to me here, so I took the day to chill out and nurse my sunburn which turned out to the best option as the group that headed out for the
4hour hike up the “easy” volcano got caught in a storm which turned 4 hours into 10 hours without them ever reaching the peak. They all came home exhausted, filthy, and irritated for having lost money on such a crap day, which assuaged my guilt over having done nothing special on the island.
Another early night for another early start in the morning to make the crossing back to the mainland, and then the crossing into Costa Rica. After Honduras, Nicaragua was a pleasure!
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