Today we docked in Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua. At a bright and early 6:15 AM we gathered for our tour to old and new Leon. The drive was again about an hour and a half through flatlands. The contrast from Guatemala was pretty remarkable. While some places we passed through yesterday looked poor, today’s looked absolutely destitute. The roads were littered with trash and the houses were in very bad shape.
We arrived at old Leon, another former colonial capital destroyed this time by the eruption of the nearby volcano Momotombo in approx. 1610. The place was only discovered in the last 40 years. People knew that the capital of the Spanish colony was in the vicinity but didn’t know the exact location because it was buried under 4 meters of dirt. What we saw were the foundation ruins of a city that formerly housed 200 Spaniards and 15,000 natives. The view from a promontory across the lake to the volcano was impressive.
After our visit to old Leon we moved on to new Leon, the place everyone moved after the city was destroyed. For a time it was the capital of the Spanish colony of Nicaragua until it was moved to Managua. The city was a stronghold of the Sandinistas during the Somosa era and was actually bombed by Somosa ar one time.
Our first stop was a very nice buffet lunch at a convent which has been converted to a hotel. Yesterday a monastery. Today a convent. Once again the venue was beautiful and the food was very good.
After lunch we walked to the cathedral and zocalo (main square). The cathedral is the largest one in Central America and was very pretty. The astounding thing was the entrance. The city in general was very dirty and the steps of the cathedral were littered with trash. There is a significant difference from Guatemala. One can easily understand why people from this country would do almost anything to get into our country. Forty years of political unrest and corruption have taken a toll on everything here.
No comments:
Post a Comment