Leon in a Day

Yes, Today deserved two posts!

I had a great day in Leon. I was almost talked out of coming here by a worker for an NGO who had said that it was a working class town and Granada was a lot nicer. I was feeling that I should perhaps not make the extra trek north to get all the way up here. I am glad that I did. It is certainly a bit different then the other cities I have been to and hoem to a number of museums and, of course, many churches.

I first bought a bus ticket to San Salvador for next week. I was actually a bit excited about this bus journey as I was planning to go Executive class. I am nost sure exactly what that is, but what I could figure out was that the seats recline almost all the way back, there is a food service, and it is just really nice. Unfortunately, I found out that Executive Class is full until the middle of April. So I guess I will be going where I belong in Economy class. Shame.

Once the ticket wsa purchased, I started my day by exploring about five different churches in town. They are all a short walk from each other and they are all unique in their own way. It is amazing to me the number of churches that are built within such a close proximity to each other. Leon in no different then the other cities. It is pretty amazing. The churches here look a bit weathered but they are all a bit different on the inside and all were preparing for Easter.

The first museum was dedicated to the victims and martyrs of the revolution. It is galleries of headshots of those who were killed. They all look young, they all look eager, they all look like my students, they all were killed. Wow.

I moved along to an art musuem. This is a well known museum in Central America and has some of the best works of art here. Amazingly it was an open air museum. No climate control, an open roof. There were fans in each of the rooms. So different. they opened and closed the shutters to the street to keep the sun off the paintings. There were Central American artists, of course, and they were well represented. But there was also Picasso and Chagall here as well. Pretty amazing for Nicaragua.

Finally, I hit the Rubin Diario museum. He is the well known (although not by me) poet from Nicaragua. Many things are named after him and he was from Leon and in entombed here in the main church. It was a few old beds, some pictures, some actual writings, and a lot of books. Not all that interesting, but free!

After a full day of wandering around the city, I was ready for a rest. Luckily for me in Leon, there is a park side cafe, serving very good cappuchino! It was the first one that I have found in Nicaragua (outside of a mall) and frankly, I was pretty excited.

It was good.

Well I am off now. Tomorrow I head back to Managua to fly to the Corn Islands for a few days. Although there are reports of internet access on these remote islands, I have been told that it is not reliable. They are really off the beaten path. So I may not be posting for a few days. I fly back to Managua on Tuesday and then off to San Salvador on Wednesday.