After leaving San Salvador at the ungainly hour of 2am (what is it with travelling and early starts?) we passed swiftly through the narrow sliver of Honduran land south of El Salvador before arriving safely in Leon, Nicaragua. The first things we noticed about this new country were (a) the beautiful, emerald green richness of the countryside and (b) the distinct lack of firearms. We took this to be a good omen.
Often, what springs to mind when Nicaragua is mentioned is its history of revolution and bloody, brutal political struggles. Whilst the country cannot be understood without appreciating these events, in some ways it is still desperately trying to shrug off the image of a dangerous, communist state where foreigners should fear to tread. In reality, we have found it to be one of the mellowest countries we have visited, with great natural attractions and chilled out, honest people. It is also one of the most impoverished places in the Western hemisphere, with almost half of the population living on less than $350 a year. Unfortunately development of its infrastructure has been severely stunted by warfare and natural disasters, which also means that in tourist terms it is still relatively untouched – for now at least.
Leon is known as being the intellectual and artistic capital of Nicaragua, and the most politically liberal city in the country. It was at the heart of the action in the Sandinista revolution of 1979, with the vast majority of its inhabitants being involved in the struggle. The Sandinista movement was named after General Sandino. He led a nationalist guerrilla war against occupying US marines, who eventually withdrew from Nicaragua in 1933. The exiting Americans left behind a US-trained Nicaraguan National Guard commanded by Anastasio Somozo, who promptly assassinated Sandino in 1934 and assumed the presidency for himself. Thus commenced a brutal forty year Somozo family dictatorship, which was finally ended by the people’s revolution of 1979. In Leon there are many monuments commemorating heroes and fallen comrades of the revolution. And the graffiti daubed around the city demonstrates that political activism is still very much alive and well here.
Aside from this rich political history Leon is also notable for its many churches. It has twelve in total, including the largest cathedral in Central America. Rumour has it that the plans accidentally got switched with those intended for Lima in Peru! All the entrances are guarded by huge stone lions which are said to come alive after midnight and patrol the holy building. We found the city to be a lively, bustling place with a large population of University students. There are lots of buzzy, locally owned bars, pool halls and comedors (restaurants) full of people shooting the breeze and sharing a bottle of Flor de Cana rum: said to be up there with the best in the world. It’s not a place that goes out of it’s way to cater for tourists – and is all the better for it.
Outside of Leon is the Los Maribos mountain range, a chain of volcanoes stretching towards the capital of Managua. Within this chain is Cerro Negro – the youngest volcano in Central America which only appeared in 1850. It is very much active, the last eruption being in 1999. Logically, the appropriate course of action to take with active volcanoes is to avoid them at all costs. We ignored these instincts and booked ourselves in to go ‘volcano boarding’ down its ashy slopes. Basically this involved hiking up to the smoking crater, donning an orange boiler suit, and tobogganing down the 45 degree face of the volcano on a dodgy plank of wood. The dot you can see at the bottom of the slope is the truck – it was quite a ride! The fastest boarders have reached over 80kph – we weren’t quite in that league but it was most definitely a girl power day (sorry Phil!)
Also close to Leon is the tranquil fishing village of Las Penitas, which we headed to for some beach action. The scene that greeted us when we got off the bus was pigs and children playing in the sea whilst the catch of the day was being brought in. We checked into a hotel by a natural lagoon, five minutes away from the wind-swept, ruggedly beautiful beach. We hired rubbish surf boards (Phil’s only had one fin out of three) and quickly found out that the highest tide of the month is not the best time for relative novices to try their luck. But hey, we’re learning…
After the uncompromising vibrancy of Northern Nicaragua, Granada was just, well…a teensy bit boring. It has the reputation of being the finest Colonial city in the country, and it is very picturesque, with a great setting on the banks of Lake Nicaragua. But it’s also the poster-child of tourism in Nicaragua, with all the good and bad that that entails. There were a few too many English signs and Irish bars for our liking – a few more years and it will have been turned into another Antigua (the very lovely but completely foreign owned ‘jewel’ of Guatemala). Another reason that it might have seemed staid is that Granada is traditionally a vehemently Conservative city, the counter opposite of Liberal Leon.
Granada is the jumping off point for the Isle de Ometepe, an island situated right in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. It is formed from two perfectly symmetrical volcanoes: approaching the island by ferry these make for a magnificent sight.
By luck, we timed our arrival on the island to coincide with the San Jacinto national holiday on 14th September. This day commemorates the battle of the San Jacinto Ranch, in which Nicaraguan loyalists won a victory over forces led by William Walker, an American who set himself up as president of the country in 1856 after a fraudulent election. It is celebrated as a “victory against Western arrogance and dominance”. Given the heavy-handedness and interference of the US in Nicaraguan affairs over the years, it’s easy to see why it’s still such an important day. However in Altagracia, one of the main towns in Ometepe, the day had a light-hearted feel. School children from all over the island came to take part in a big parade, made up of marching bands, dancing girls, and embarrassed looking teenagers: all in all a typically noisy and vibrant Latin American performance.
Much of Isle de Ometepe is very tranquil indeed. Small communities connected by rutted dirt roads make their living through agriculture. As the volcanic soil is so fertile all the farming is organic, and many interesting perma-culture projects have been set up here. We stayed in a tiny place on the lake, where all three cafes were shut by eight o’clock. The swimming was good, the views lovely, and the local freshwater fish delicious, but after a couple of nights we decided we needed a little bit more action.
One bus, one ferry and two taxis later we found ourselves in San Juan del Sur, a fishing village turned traveller destination that, for the moment at least, hovers just on the right side of touristy. There is a definite gringo element – North Americans are starting to catch on to the charms (and cheapness) of Nicaragua and are snapping up plots of land to build holiday homes and investment properties here. It must be kind of galling for the locals given their former relations with these Northern oppressors. Anyhow (political rant over), San Juan is located on a beautiful stretch of coastline, has an unusually dry climate, great surf breaks, spectacular sunsets, and nice bars. We intended to stay a day or two…which turned out to be a week. Life goes by pretty quickly when all there is to do is surf, sunbathe and attend to various scrapes. Oh Nicaragua…don’t go changin’.
Susie and Phil xxx
P.S. After a particularly accomplished day on some calmer seas Phil managed to get himself into the Nicaragua Surf Report bulletin. Click on the link and then enter "Remanso" and 2010/09/19 in the search tool. Scroll down the pics until you recognise the bearded wonder!
http://www.nicaraguasurfreport.com/reportlist.php?id_secc=25
