Nicaragua 2022

Friday21October

Second awakening in Managua with as yesterday, the gallo pinto (photo on the left). In this morning, we will leave the city to join León, about a hundred kilometers away, but before that, we pick up our rental car that will transport us for the next three weeks. And barely time to say it that here we are in front of our lunch (photo on the right), swapping the gallo pinto for a burger and the coffee for a lemonade, just not to get tired of the typical dishes of the region...  

We are in the small hotel "Coco Calala" with its small swimming pool that we will appreciate under these heavy humid heats of this month of October.

Our room with bed upstairs, and bed downstairs.

And off we go for a short visit to the center of León, starting with the church of the Recoleccion.

It dates from the end of the 18th century. It is in Mexican Baroque style.

Some encapsulated iconographies of the facade.

The interior of the church

Curious offerings at the foot of this statue, from the syringe to the oil can...  

Another church, another style, but still baroque.

The choir of the church with the Patron Saint of the city, the Virgin of Mercy.

Another Virgin of Mercy coming from the city of Barcelona. This one is taken out every year during the processions of September 24.

The park of La Merced and the first avenue.

The first avenue pays tribute to the Sandinista student martyrs who died under the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.

The street is embellished with some large frescoes, notably on the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza which raged from 1936 to 1979, generating political repression, human rights violations, generalized corruption and pervasive poverty throughout the country.

The repression of the Guardia Nacional on civilians.

On the left, the portrait of Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet who died in León in 1916.;

The years 1524 and 1610 mark the Spanish colonial periods led by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba. It is in these years that the cities of Granada then León are founded.

A good way to learn a little more about the history of the country and its civil wars is to go to the Museo de la Révolucion, whose former soldiers can serve as your guide. That's what we do.  

The museum is located in the former headquarters of the Nicaraguan National Guard.

General Auguste Cesar Sandino (1895-1934), the father of the anti-imperialist revolution.

Here is Marcelo Leonel Pereira, our guide. Former Sandinista fighter, he therefore participated in the fight against the regime of Anastasio Somoza and in the fighting in the city of León.

Photos of Marcelo's comrades whom we see second at the bottom.

After the explanations on the history of the region, Marcelo takes us to the very top on the roof of the building.

View of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.

Marcelo has lost none of his convictions and seems to relive episodes of the revolution by telling us about them.

Return to the balcony overlooking the old theater transformed into a mini-market...

The former headquarters has remained as is.

You can still see bullet holes there.

In the inner courtyard, large frescoes on the liberators of Latin America.

Back to the central square facing the cathedral.

It is 5:30 PM and night is already starting to fall. We have booked our hike for tomorrow which will lead us on the slopes of the El Hoyo volcano. Departure scheduled for 4 am! The night will be short!