So I am extremely sorry for my extended blogging absence this past week. Last week was a long one for my body! I managed to catch a cold, then the flu and then broke out in hives. So it was an eventful week. The good news is that now that I´ve had everything I should be healthy for the remainder of my trip. So to try and catch up I want to tell you all about my trip to Leon !

Leon is a gorgeous city in Nicaragua. It is one of the bigger cities and was known as the capital of Nicaragua before 1852 (the capital since 1852 has been Managua). Leon is best known here in Nicaragua for it´s liberal thinkers. It has been home to many influencial poets and was a key location during the recent revolution for the Sandinista movement. Not to mention it is home to five universities!

We began our adventures in Leon at the ‘Big Foot’ Hostel, which is probably one of the nicer hostels that I’ve been in, in Nicaragua. This was our room which we shared with people from Israel, New Zealand and the US.

They had lots of pets including these turtles . . .

 and a really cute kitten . . .

 They even had a ‘pequeno’ pool

 Very luxurious for five dollars a night!

Our first morning in Leon we decided to go volcano boarding. Which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You take a big board up a local volcano and pretty much sled down the volcanic rock. We figured we couldn’t pass up such a unique opportunity and so we all piled into a pick-up truck to Volcan Negro, Central America´s youngest volcano.

The volcano is appropriately named since it is completely black, unlike any of the other volcanos that we´ve seen on our trip, and it is also very small in comparison.

So we began our journey at the base of the volcano, with our boards in hand.

and began the hike.

 It was an easier hike than our hike in Ometepe, taking about 45 minutes. Volcan Negro is an active volcano, however the lava isn’t of concern to the local people, since it flows in the same direction each time it erupts creating this sea of black that you can see behind me in this picture.

However, uur guide told us that the problem for the local people is the amount of dust that the volcano gives off when it erupts. This HUGE amount of dust lands on the roofs of their huts and causes them to colapse, it is also very detrimental to the local crops.

This was the view from the top of the crater.

 Erica and Kaitlyn at the mouth of the crater (we were pretty much coated in black dust at this point)

 After looking around the crater for a bit and taking pictures of the scenary we ventured to our boarding spot. I am not sure what I had imagined when I signed up to go volcano boarding, however it didn’t involve such a steep hill ! In this picture where the hill seems to stop is about half way down the volcano, as people began their descent they would disappear and then reappear in the ‘black sea’ at the base of the volcano.

 So incase any of you are worried that perhaps this wasn’t a safe endeavor, I want to assure you that we had the best available Nicaraguan safety equipment with us. I.E these beautiful orange jump suits.

 Before we began our decent we watched these snow boarders attempt to master the slope. Our guide also told us about a German biker who had taken his mountain bike down the side of the volcano. He set some incredible speed record that I can’t quite recall at the moment.

 OK so this picture requires some explanation. While we were all waiting at the top for further instruction and for the boarders to finish their descent we were swarmed by more wasps than I have EVER seen in my life! While I was taking this picture I was unaware of the growing number of wasps behind me, however the expression on our fellow volcano boarder’s faces say it all. We are not sure why there were so many wasps at the top of a volcano or why they swarmed us (we wondered if they were attracted to the orange jumpsuits?) but I have never had so many wasps around me before. Fortunately no one was stung and after what seemed like a long time (but what was probably only about 5 minutes) they dispersed and left us alone.

 So the boards we were going down weren’t that high tech just a slab of wood with a place for your feet and a rope to hold onto. You used your feet to break and also to steer. After a short lesson on the general mechanics of steering and stopping we began our very rapid descent.

 We arrived at the bottom, all safe and sound, but definitely much dirtier !!! 

 After our boarding adventure we walked around Leon to see the many different churches, colonial architecture and murals from the revolution.

The first church we stopped at is probably the most well known, it is called La Catedral de Leon and is the largest cathedral in Central America. One story claims that this however was by accident. That the architect accidentally switched two sets of plans while they were on the ship from Spain, and that this cathedral was actually intended for Lima Peru. As with many colonial churches the attention to detail outside and inside of this cathedral was astounding. Unfortunately no flash photography was permitted inside the cathedral so my pictures are limited but this view of the outside gives you an idea.

 Inside all around the cathedral were these gorgeous paintings for the stations of the cross, most of which are falling apart due to the heat and humidity.

 I just liked this lion, there’s not story for this one : )

 

 Church number two was Iglesia de la Merced, which was built in 1762 by the Mercedarian monks. The first monks to arrive in Nicaragua during the Spanish conquest.

 Church number three was Iglesia del Calvario. This church has a special story but I’m going to save it for a later post to keep you in suspense.

At this point we decided to switch our attention from churches to murals. As I mentioned Leon was crucial during the recent revolution and to commemorate this there are many murals throughout the city.

This mural depicts the evolution of Nicaraguan culture from the arrival of the Nahuatl people to the revolution in 1979.

 

 Opposite the street to  this mural is Sandino (the leader of the Sandinista movement) standing on Uncle Sam’s and Somoza’s heads.

This mural depicts the massacre of four university students, by the Somoza government, during a protest at one of the universities in Leon.

So that about summarizes my adventures in Leon. Sunday morning Kaitlyn and I attended mass at La Catedral de Leon, which was definitely a cultural experience!!

I have some other posts in the works at the moment and will hopefully be putting up pictures from my trip to San Juan this weekend very soon, along with pictures from our Canada day Nicaraguan celebration. I miss you all and hope that you are doing well.

Yours in Christ, Lauren