So early the next morning we took the 6:45am bus from Esteli to Leon, the former colonial capital of Nicaragua. This was an "expresso" bus straight to Leon, but be wary if you choose this path of travel - the road from Esteli to Leon is in ruins, full of potholes. For 2.5 hours we were jumbled, shaken, jolted and thrown from side to side as the driver tried (without much success) to avoid the thousands of pot holes.
Despite being well shaken and stirred, we arrived in Leon mid-morning. It was already scorching hot, and it was a long, sweaty 1km hike with our bags into the town center. Leon is much nicer than Esteli, with a strong colonial heritage. (Leon and Granada have been feuding for centuries to be the dominant city of Nicaragua. The dispute was finally settled by creating Managua halfway in between the two...) It boasts the largest church in central america as well as being home to some of the countries greatest writers and artists. That being said, there´s not a whole lot to do here, except for seeing the many churches and a few museums. There are many volcanoes in the surrounding areas, but the thought of hiking up one in the 100 degree heat just isn´t appealing. We´re considering studying spanish a bit more here, but may move on to Granada as well, to see what the other side of the feud is about.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment