Learning Nicaraguan History in Leon

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After a great week with the women I had the weekend free to explore before meeting back up with Harold for our next round of meetings. I decided to spend the weekend in Leon where I was told I could learn a lot about the country's history and political situation. Leon is the second biggest city in Nicaragua with a population just over 600,000. While I found the temperature to be higher than I would like, this town has been my favorite yet for its blend of culture, architecture, and history. I went on several walking tours that taught me a lot about the past and current struggles of Nicaragua. At this time Nicagaura is somewhere between socialist and communist. Their closest allies are Russia, China, and Cuba. In November of 2021 after months of repression and the imprisonment of more than 40 democratic leaders, 7 of which were potential presidential candidates, opposition members, and journalists the Ortega-Murillo regime stole the election and denied Nicaraguans their ability to elect their own government. Interesting note: the Vice President, Rosario Murillo is the wife of the President Ortega. Seven of their eight children hold high ranking positions in the government. Following the election they closed over 500 NGOs and universities and still imprison over 180 political figures. With all of this said, even CEPAD will agree the government has done some good things for the people such as investments into programs for the poor and road improvements including to rural areas. Nicaragua does not celebrate Halloween, but they have several other events around this time. The first is Aguizotes where people dress up as scary characters. One of the others is a parade that pokes fun of the tall Spanish women coupling with the indigenous short men. This second parade was taking place right outside my casa so I had to wait for the parade to move on before I could leave for dinner. Early Monday morning I hit the road to Matagalpa, the cloud forest of Nicaragua, an area I am very excited to explore.

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