Leon

Our plan to escape the pretty but rather smoggy Tegucigalpa was to make our way to picturesque colonial Leon in Nicaragua. We decided we wouldn't take the easy option of getting an air conditioned shuttle minibus to Managua, and then another bus to Leon. It looked a lot more direct to go via Choluteca in Honduras, then make our way over the border at Guasaule and finally catch a bus from there down to Leon. As usual, although this was in theory more direct, the multiple transport option definitely took a lot longer but was infinitely more interesting.

The day did not begin well with us arriving early (8:30ish) to the bus station to catch our first bus at 9. We were cheerfully informed (oh god yeah....always cheerfully) that the bus actually left at 10:30. No problem we thought, and settled down to a couple of hours wait. The bus eventually arrived at 11:15, and the driver nipped off to have some grub. Finally at 11:45, after a mad dash to grab our (in theory) reserved seats we were on our way. The journey was beautiful and took us from the reasonable heights of Tegucigalpa right down to the Pacific coast. It got hotter and hotter. The bus had all its (non-broken) windows open, but the it actually felt like you were being blasted in the face by a hair dryer the wind was so hot.

Eventually we arrived at Choluteca and swapped to a surprisingly non packed minibus up to the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. I heard someone shout 'Gringo' as we arrived and as soon as the doors were opened we were swamped with blokes who were fighting each other to transport our luggage and/or get their hands on any currency we might need changed to pay the usual multitude of 'processing' fees. Clairy was pretty damn assertive and amazingly they mostly backed off fairly quickly. She also managed to bargain her way into getting us a pretty incredible exchange rate. Oh fuck yeah!

After completing the border formalities, we did eventually accept the services of the most persistent tricycle riding chap and he carted us and our bags the 3km's over the bridge to our next bus. This was a full on Nicaraguan chicken bus. There's no tarting up of buses like in Guatemala. These ones look like they've literally been pulled from some small town American school run just yesterday. We had to wait around for some time before it set off, so the last part of the journey was in darkness. Then to our amazement a TV flicked on beside the driver. He had actually somehow wedged a massive screen and dvd player in and surrounded it in thick foam so it would survive the god-forsaken roads. A vast amplifier and speaker were right next to our head, and we got to watch the film 'Prey' (a horrific film about some silly Americans getting eaten by Lions on an African safari gone horribly wrong) at an incredible volume.

Soon enough though we arrived in Leon and found our way to the beautiful Colonial guest house we were going to spend the next couple of nights in. We attempted to go and find ourselves something to eat, but as it was quite late by this point, the only thing open was an ice cream parlour. As you can imagine, this wasn't too much of a nightmare for me, and Clair joined me in her first banana split. It was luscious!

We then went for a quiet beer, but were accosted by Louis, an immensely chatty Leonese Nicaraguan who insisted we sit with him and proceeded to make us laugh our heads off for a good couple of hours with his mimicry of Honduran and Costa Rican personality traits before we truly had to crash. He spoke no English and we speak virtually no Spanish, but it didn't seem to be a problem at all. It was a genuinely lovely introduction to the country.

Leon was Nicaragua's capital for a long period in the past, and is still the principal area for artistic, religious, and revolutionary happenings. Together with Granada it is one of Nicaragua's two colonial gems. We found it a less touristy and renovated place, and that made it feel a more genuine experience than Granada. It has traditionally been the most politically progressive of Nicaraguan cities and virtually the entire town fought against the Somoza regime during the revolution. Clair got some great pictures of the various murals around the town indicating that it is still a Sandanista stronghold.

The cathedral is apparently the largest in Central America. Rumour has it that the town originally presented a bogus more modest set of plans to the Spanish imperial authorities and then secretly went with a much more grandiose design. Around the cathedral are the Stations of the Cross, considered masterpieces of colonial art.


This sorrowful lion marks the tomb of writer Ruben Dario, Leon's favourite son.


This rather more aggressive fella sits outside


Its a beautifully proportioned building.


As we passed this pretty facade on a school various kids shouted out the window at me and Clair.


A part of a mural depicting the history of the town.


Beautifully worn streets.




Oh hi. It was great how all the buildings were designed with big oversized roofs, providing shade throughout the day.


Gnarly textures for Clairy.


Some places looked like they could do with some re-pointing maybe.


Nicely battered maguey plants that we hadn't seen since Mexico.


This place was actually probably the best gallery we have been to on our entire travels. It was called the Fundacion Ortiz and was absolutely first class. We were both blown away with the volume of spectacularly great Central and South American art. Anyone who ever comes to Nicaragua must go here!


Here's a rather blurry photo of Clairy at our favourite (well, actually only) veggy restaurant. It was super deluxe.


Yeah there we are. A bit sweaty like. It was boiling.


We walked past this church on the way into town from our guest house. It is the Iglesia de La Recoleccion and had a lovely yellow baroque facade.


And finally here is a selection of the murals from around town.




Apparently this isn't James Brown.






We really liked Leon and would definitely like to come back here at some point and explore some more.