NICARAGUA – LEON

January 27-31, 2024

We decided to take a ferry from el Salvador to Nicaragua. The price was basically the same ($90 CDN) for a 17 hour bus ride or, what turned out to be, a 14 hour boat ride. The boat ride was only about 90 minutes, but a shuttle picked us up in San Salvador at 2:00 AM. It continued to pick up guests until we reached La Union, where we had to get our exit stamp from El Salvador at customs. It was a long, but simple process. Then we boarded the boat and made our way across the Gulf of Fonseca to Potosi in Nicaragua.

There was no dock and we had to time our jump with the waves from the boat to the shore so as not to get too wet. The boats men carried some ladies ashore, much to their giggles and delight.

We then had to queue up on an old wharf and fill out a customs form, relinquish our passports and have our bags inspected.

Again, it was a long process, but very simple. Then we had to go to a customs office, where we had to wait again in order to pay our entry fee ($24) and get our newly stamped passports returned. It was such a simple process, but took about 3 hours. No worries, we were on our way to Leon, where we were dropped right at our guesthouses.

Our guesthouse, the Hummingbird Lodge, did not have air conditioning, but it did have a big fan. We were the only guests in the small hotel. It was a rather spacious hotel, with large sitting areas. It was kind of nice, but creepy at the same time, to be the only guests.

We had no idea how hot it got in Leon. It was freaking HOT! 37-39 degrees Celsius. Someone told us that even the devil wears short pants in Leon. It was so hot, my apple split sitting on the shelf overnight.

As a result, we did not do much. The only things recommended in the Lonely Planet were to visit churches, the Historical Museum of the Revolution, and to go sand boarding.

Sand boarding involved hiking an hour up a volcano face, with a board. You then used the board like a toboggan to slide back down, for about a minute’s ride. The idea of hiking in this heat was unbearable, let alone over black lava rock carrying a board. We met a couple who did go. He said it was fun, she wrinkled her nose in an “it was OK” kind of way. He also showed us his road rash. In the end, we were glad we opted out.

We did go to the Historical Museum of the Revolution. It was a beautiful old building that was once the Departmental Palace. It is a shame that it has been allowed to fall into such a dilapidated state. It would not take much to restore it to its obvious previous grandeur.

Part of the tour took us up on the roof. The sheet metal is so rusted there are holes in it. It was quite precarious, but it did offer a fantastic view of Basillica Catedral de la Asuncion.

The guides are former combatants who were protagonists of the revolution. He was quite passionate in his historical depiction of Augusto Sandino. He was a guerrilla, patriot, and revolutionary. considered a national hero and affectionately called “The General of Free Men”.

In a nutshell, Sandino was pissed that the United States were mingling in Nicaraguan affairs. The US invaded Nicaragua to protect their economic interests and to also establish “puppet” leaders. The Nicaraguan government was getting funding from the US but most of the money ended up in the politicians pockets, and never reached the people it was intended for. (or maybe it did, depending if you view the US as colonialists buying control of a country)

Sandino gathered 29 men and 40 rifles and declared war on the American invaders and patriots alike, since both conservatives and liberals requested the intervention of US marines. People had a saying “Five liberals and five conservatives make ten bandits.” It didn’t take much to encourage peasants and common people to join his cause. His first major battle ended badly, with an aerial bombardment on his troops and entire town. It was one of the first aerial bombardments that the US used to quash an uprising, a harbinger of later horrors rained down on Vietnam, Afghanistan and Yemen, but I digress, He learned from this and moved to the mountains where he perfected guerrilla warfare. Their favourite weapon was the common machete. This farm tool could slice a head off in one swipe. As his victories mounted, his fame brought in recruits from neighbouring Latin American countries. His little band of merry men swelled to 6000.

The US government was embarrassed that they could not defeat this bandit, so they decided to employ the tactic of pitting native against native. They formed the Nicaraguan National Guard who were trained, equipped and financed by the US. You would think that this would sway the favour to the US side, but you would be wrong. The US finally gave up and left.

Once the Americans left, Sandino sent a peace proposal to President Juan Sacasa. Sandino disbanded his men but left 100 men as his protection group. The National Guard abused the newly disarmed Sandinistas. Sandino went to Managua to point that the National Guard was not abiding by the new peace agreement. Anastasio Somoza, the Chief Director of the National Guard, was not impressed. When Sandino left the dinner with Sacasa, he and his men were apprehended by the National Guard, taken away and executed. Sacasa’s daughter witnessed the arrest and called her father. He contacted the US Embassy to intervene. Sadly, they did not intervene. It is now common knowledge that the US was behind the assasination.

His assassins had no idea that Sandino’s shadow would literally haunt them for generations to come.

His picture has been on Nicaraguan coins and bills.

His wide brimmed hat is an emblem of revolution.

His liberal red and black flag with FSLN – Frente Sandinista de Liberacion (Sandinista National Liberation Front) are found flying throughout Nicaragua. He became more powerful in death. (I did days of reading and research on this subject. If I don’t have it right, I apologize.)

There is a street that is closed to vehicles that is lined with large billboard-looking monuments of the revolutionary heroes. Both sides of the monuments were dedicated to a different person who died or were otherwise instrumental in the revolutionary era of Nicaragua. It would have been really interesting to read each one, but I didn’t feel like Google Translating every one.

There were also lots of political murals on the sides of buildings,

The churches are closed during the heat of the day. If we wanted to go see them, it was either in the early morning (6:00 – 10:00AM) or in the late afternoon. We tended to go in the afternoon. The best one was Basillica Catedral de la Asuncion. It was built between 1747 and 1816. It is the largest catholic church in Central America.

Its two towers are 40 metres (131 ft) high.

Between the towers and the rise over the main entrance was an opening with two Titans holding up a cross beam from which the bell hung.

Some of the interior columns are 30 metres (98 ft) high. The dome over the transept is 35 metres (115 ft) high. It is a spacious church and has lots of natural light, which gives the illusion of being even bigger inside. Due to its robust construction, it has withstood earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and civil wars. In fact, in 1814 several cannons were placed on the roof during a siege of the city. It was used for war purposes again in 1979 by the Sandinista.

We went up to the roof one evening to watch the sun set. We had to take our shoes off in order to walk around up there. It was all sparkling white, with railings between the different levels. We walked around the small domes that let in light and released heat from the interior as well as walking around the larger domes. It had an other-worldly feel and was like being on a very fancy balcony.

The Big-Headed Dwarf, just outside the Central Park across from the Basillica, represents the indigenous person, short in stature, but bold, intelligent and capable.

Another church we went into was Iglesia el Calvaria. It had a very animated and colourful exterior with its large painted murals. There was a mass going on, so we only popped in for a moment.

But it was long enough to see a bunch of dogs sleeping on the floor at the foot of the cross.

Outside the church was Parque Fray Antonio de Valdivieso. It was a lovely little park and very tranquil.

We also spent some time in the Central Park, in front of the Basillica Catedral de la Asuncion, mainly because it was cooler with the big trees creating shade.

There was the usual playground equipment, teeter totters, merry-go-rounds – wait… Canadian playgrounds have done away with this dangerous equipment. This playground also had trampolines. No bubble wrapping kids here!

Construction of Iglesia de la Recoleccion began in 1786. It is a beautiful building, painted mustard yellow. It has 18 columns on the outside that have stucco laurels twisting up them. There were also emblems stuccoed on the front of the church. The inside was rather plain, but beautiful.

Leon seemed like a nice little town. We enjoyed walking around, but the heat was almost unbearable. We caught a chicken bus to Managua.