Leon, Nicaragua

March 21-26, 2016

So the town of Leon isn't all that impressive itself.  Its not a cute colonial one.  Theres no big museums. But its a gritty kind of real, and I felt like I saw more of what Nicaragua is really like, than in a tourist-run town like Granada.

The one thing it does have, is the Basílica Catedral de la Asunción de León, the largest cathedral in South America.  As to why a small city like Leon merits such a cathedral, rumor has it that the baroque church was slated to be built in Lima, Peru but some error had it constructed in León by mistake. Other legend says one design draft was submitted for the church, and when it was actually built they just made it bigger without telling anyone. Either way, it is an impressive building.

The inside was equally impressive

Since its a little washed out, its hard to tell that the alcove was painted a wonderful pink

Because I was there during Semana Santa, there was a big party in the park in front of it, complete with kids toys and trampolines.

The smaller churches throughout the town didn't disappoint either.  They were full of lovely architecture and detail.

Iglesia de la Recolección

Close up on the columns which I thought were wonderful.

Iglesia La Merced

Superb detail

I'm not actually sure what building this is, it was on the edge of the main park

This was just on a house on the corner, but I liked it a lot.

You may have noticed the lion statues on either side of the Catedral in the first photo. You may not have. In any case, they're there, and they crack me up because they look like they're yelling at someone.

So I yelled back.

Unfortunately my photographer didn't tell me to move a step to my right so I wasn't yelling into that guy's head, but that's what mind-Photoshop is for.

That cracked me up too. It's the small things, right?

While the actual town of Leon may not have been a tourists dream, there are things to do while in town that are.  Those are coming up next.

Laguna de Apoyo

March 20, 2016

I was really looking forward to beating the heat at Laguna Apoyo, a volcanic lake just outside of Granada. I caught a morning bus towards Managua, and got dropped off at the Laguna turn off. From there I hitchhiked in a pickup up to the top of the crater and down to the lake.

There's a couple resorts that offer day passes, so for $6 I got to use their facilities.

Funny little kayak boats.  Like a paddle boat, but you´re peddling a bike instead.

I paddled around in a kayak, and lay on it in the sun for a while, jumping overboard every 15 minutes to cool off and wet myself again.

Back on land I napped in a hammock for a bit, and enjoyed the granola bars, cookies and water I had with me.

View from my hammock

I paddled around once more in the water, using a lifejacket as a floaty toy. I could sit sideways on it and the panels acted as chair and backrest.

Then another truck to hitchhike back down, and I ended up paying him what my bus fare would have been for him to take me all the way back to town.

It was a rather successful day, no big transportation mishaps or getting stranded anywhere. And I got to float and enjoy a cooler breeze than in sweltering Granada. The next day I left and headed to Leon, which was thankfully slightly cooler, and had some epic adventures.

Granada and Palm Sunday

March 18-20, 2016

So Granada falls into the colonial town category, which is one I typically enjoy. I love the simple decoration, the bright colors, and the ornamental ironwork. It was also however, 90 degrees and 50% humidity, which somewhat lessened my enjoyment. 5:30am in the shade and breeze was actually pleasant, but past that it was rather oppressive.

I did my best to be positive and not let the weather get to me, but truly it was hard. It made me just not want to do anything, and I was so tired of being sweaty all the time. If I ever try to move somewhere that's regularly stupid hot, someone should smack me until I come to my senses.

That being said, I did manage to have some fun.

First off, walking around town.

All the buildings have wonderful architecture

Their fire truck made me laugh. I'm pretty sure Salt Springs is nowhere near Nicaragua

There were horse drawn carriages offering tours, which I didn't take advantage of, but liked the green on the carriges.

I walked down to the lakefront, as Granada is right on Lake Nicaragua. Granada does do parks well, and I was quite taken with this one.

Also Lake Nicaragua is HUGE!  You can´t really tell from this picture,but it just keeps going and there is no other side to see.

Lots of benches, green shrubs with palms, it was picturesque and functional.

The park around the cathedral was the same kind of lovely.

And the cathedral is something else.

When I visited Granada for a day and a half in 12th grade it was the subject of one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Its still gorgeous, with its bright red and yellow striking against the blue sky.

There were a bunch of other nice churches too.

Iglesia Guadalupe on the way to the lakefront

It had a nice park with a fountain out front

Iglesia La Merced

Iglesia de Xalteva

And its park, filled with stone columns

On Sunday I attended mass at the cathedral for Palm Sunday, or Dia de los Ramos, the start of Semana Santa, or holy week.

I really liked the blue in the altar

I had stumbled across this mass in Cuenca, Ecuador three years ago, and it was interesting to see the differences. Both places had bunches of palm fronds, though in Cuenca there were a lot more elaborate bouquets and woven things. Here the bunches were simple, with some palm crosses.

There was one song where the palms all got waved in the air, and that was all they did with them.

In Cuenca, the idea was that the palm ornentation gets blessed, and then you keep it in your home for good fortune for the year. Palm fronds dry and keep well. Then, everyone in the cathedral filled the aisle as close to the priest as they could, held them up, and shook their bouquets while he blessed them. That many people silent with just the sound of shaking leaves was one of the most magical things from that study abroad. I was hoping for the same thing here, but no luck.

Dinner after mass on the main drag was very Central American, with bachata coming from the restaurant, a hip hop group performing in the street behind me, and there was a mariachi band playing two restaurants down.

Also these guys, who I know noting about, but I assume were Semana Santa something. They whirled around to a drum, reversing direction every couple seconds.

And to end, some graffiti

Hell is empty, the demons are here

Focus on what you feel, and go with it