First stop, León, the ex-capital city and Nicaragua’s center
of education, culture and liberalism. We were pleasantly surprised by the
temperature, not too hot, not too humid; quite different than the inferno we
believed awaited us. It was the first of many things that would pleasantly
surprise us about both León and Nicaragua. We spent our two days there taking
in the grinding urban vibe of the city of around 200,000 residents. It had a
lovely colonial atmosphere with brightly painted and well-maintained buildings,
complemented by ornate churches on every other corner. We reveled in the dust-free
paved streets, watching “buses” fly by that were little more than a covered
truck bed lined with poles and seats with travelers hopping on and off like a
San Francisco street car. The city hub was of course the central park, bordered
on one side by the magnificent cathedral, the largest in Central America and second
largest in Latin America. The other three sides were the municipal office, a
seminary and the old president’s residence, varying in styles from gaudy gothic
to austere art deco. The park was abuzz with artisan vendors, snack kiosks and
cell phone hawkers.
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| Cathedral from the top of the old president's residence |
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| Nicaraguan "buses" - hop on if you can |
We visited all the key museums in town, learning a great
deal about Leon’s defining people and events. First was the home of famed
Nicaraguan poet and dignitary, Ruben Darío, who was raised by an aunt-like
figure in the late 1800’s and died young of stomach ailments. We read amusing
poems in his own hand, and gazed over his clothing and deathbed. In addition to
writing some of the most nationalistic poetry in homage to his homeland, he
also was an ambassador to several countries, garnering him respect and wealth
that have lived on to this day. You can scarcely walk two blocks without seeing
a street, building, school, statue, mural, or event named in his honor. One
block from Darío’s home was a wonderful art museum housed in two separate haciendas across the street from each
other. The museum, which only cost $1 to enter, had everything from European religious art to
some Picasso and Braque etchings plus tons of more modern art from artists in
Central America. Our favorite was a long painting showing the geography of the
area from León to Granada with the city grids marked out in opalescent squares
next to bright blue lakes and rivers.
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| Tomb of Darío guarded by a lion, symbol of León |
Next, we visited the museum of the revolution in the old
presidential mansion, where a veteran guided us through a series of moving
photographs, telling us the story of his country’s harrowing history.
Nicaraguans, led by a caballero named
Sandino, were some of the first to challenge the U.S. imperialistic
intervention in Latin America leading to battles in the early 1900’s. From
there, the U.S. imposed a dictator who ruled for decades before being assassinated
in León, setting off several more decades of guerilla style warfare in the
streets pitting revolutionaries (the FSLN) against the national army. Our
veteran guide had joined the revolutionaries as a 14 year old boy, and luckily
lived to see the end of fighting as the liberals gained control of the country.
The fighting though left many in León with physical and emotional scars, but
instilled a very strong sense of pride in their region, city and liberal party,
which still is largely based in León today. To end our tour, our guide led us
up a creaky staircase to the roof of the building so that we could see out over
the central park and cathedral and beyond to the circle of volcanoes that
surround the city in the distance, a truly beautiful sight. Our lasting image
of the museum was a postcard of a young woman revolutionary marching with an
assault rifle slung over her shoulder, simultaneously breastfeeding a child in
her arms – this is what the people of León are like.
We then headed to a museum of folklore and tradition housed
in an old prison. There, we read interesting short stories about the ghouls and
ghosts of Nicaraguan culture. There is the witch pig, a representation of the
angry or cheated woman who turns into a pig and attacks men; the cryer, a woman
who cries constantly for the loss of her child; the high heeled woman who
tracks down abusive men and embarrasses them in public; the headless priest,
roaming the streets at night and other such creatures used to scare children into
an early bedtime. The prison itself was painted with torture scenes to recreate
the horrors that occurred there, but actually the place was quite tranquil with
a fountain, mosaic murals and lovely drooping mango trees.
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| Mosaic depicting a death carriage march |
León is home to the oldest university in the country, which
is still functioning today, glowing at night with colored lights. The city is famous
for its murals depicting local history and happenings such as the army fighting
students in the streets and martyrs who died in the revolutionary cause. Another
thing we noticed that was strikingly different from Honduras was the nighttime
social culture. Around sunset, people pulled rocking chairs from their living
rooms onto their front stoops and slowly rocked, chatted and watched the street
life late into the night, the heat driving them outdoors.
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| Mural of the army attacking students during the revolution |
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| Nolan modelling chicha morada (a fermented purple corn drink) |
Perhaps the best thing we did was attend a baseball game at
the local stadium. Nicaraguans love baseball and have four teams across the
country that compete in the national league from September to January. At just
$3 for a home plate seat with a view right down the third base line, we couldn’t
miss the opportunity to get a real sense of the baseball culture. The stadium
was small, but packed by the time the first inning was underway. The lights
shone brightly on the field as the smell of beer and hot dogs wafted around us
in the pleasantly cool evening. To be watching baseball in January was a treat,
and it felt so familiar to us; families with kids, old men, guys out with their
friends, all enjoying their team, which unfortunately is last in the league. We
couldn’t understand the announcer or most of the jeers, but a few we caught
that sounded the same, “Batter, you need glasses!” “He was out!” They use an
interesting mix of Spanish and English terms, strike and out in English, but
run is correo and ball is bola. The ball boy was actually a 40
year old man, and the balls were obviously reused unlike in the U.S. Balls hit
foul over the seats were tracked down outside the stadium by another guy and brought
back into the game. There was no 7th inning stretch and singing. León
ended up losing the game 3-2, but we had a great time anyway.
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| Juego de beisbol |
Our other fun outing was a tour to León Viejo, the old city
originally founded by the Spanish in 1524 about 45 minutes from the current
location. They had selected the original locale for its proximity to a lake,
but it was also next to a major volcano, Momotombo, so after a few tremors and
flooding devastated the settlers and their resources ran out, they moved the
city in 1610. All that remains are some building foundations of houses and the
churches and convents, but the views are tremendous and our guide was very good
at recreating the scene. Of course the story is the same as many conquistadors,
bloody confrontations with the natives whom they enslaved, harsh rule of
Spanish commanders and lack of local knowledge made life tough. During the tour
we stopped at a small restaurant to try some local fare, quesillo. Quesillo normally
refers to a soft, bland mozzarella-esque cheese common in Central America, but
in Nicaragua it also refers to a snack, a corn tortilla covered with a round
sheet of quesillo cheese, topped with
salt, creamy whey, and pickled onions rolled up and stuck in a bag. It sounds
really strange and honestly looks really strange, but it tastes pretty darn
good. Even Nolan ate it! We washed it down with a local drink, semilla con leche, ground up dried seeds
of the jicaro tree mixed with milk
and ice that sort of tastes like chocolate milk with some spices. Tasty!
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| View from León Viejo of Volcán Momotombo |
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| Making quesillo |
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| Jicaro tree |
Our very intelligent guide shared some great information
with us about Nica. They grow things like cotton, wheat and peanuts around León
because they have the open farmland and to avoid importing such items. They
also grow copious amounts of sugar cane, caña,
to make the famous rum Flor de Caña, named for the flower of the plant. Although people from León may have felt a
little gypped at having the capital stripped from them and moved to Managua,
our guide seemed to think it was for the best since the unbridled growth and
industry in Managua has caused nothing but environmental and social problems
while León has kept is character intact.
Our guide stressed that relations between Nicaragua and
Costa Rica are not so great. He claimed that Costa Ricans didn’t like
Nicaraguans or other Central Americans and often hassled people at customs.
There is also a big conflict going on where the Costa Ricans are supporting construction
of a road along the border that is causing environmental degradation while
Nicaraguans oppose the reckless construction methods. Ironic since Costa Rica
portrays itself as the ultimate eco-destination. Our guide explained he was
disenchanted with the lifestyle of the U.S. where work was the primary focus
and life was not as tranquil as in Nica. He said that we as PC volunteers were
living the true American dream, having the opportunity to travel the world, but
always be able to go back home to the U.S. Our other tour companions, a French teacher
from Mexico and a Dutch computer chip manufacturer seemed to agree that their
lives with ample vacation were more desirable than the American way of life. It
was interesting to hear all these perspectives, both regarding Nicaragua and
their ideas about the U.S.
It seemed like around every corner in Leon we found more
interesting tidbits about its history and character and encountered friendly,
intelligent and warm people who were willing to open up to us about their
culture. Perhaps because the pace of this vacation was a little slower, we were
able to more fully enjoy what we were seeing and reflect on the significance of
subtle details. After two long days, we headed out of León for Granada,
imagining what other simple pleasures we might find there.
