Leon, Nicaragua is a colonial era city with building styles influenced by the Spanish. With it’s narrow streets, very few stop lights or stop signs and no street names it is a walker’s challenge. Very much of who the city is today comes from its recent revolutionary history. In 1979 the Sandinista revolutionaries won a long battle ousting the long time dictator Samosa (three Samosas held power) and began the long road to democratic elections.

One of the highlights of our time in Leon was a visit to the quirky Revolutionary War Museum. Our most enthusiastic guide, Marcelo, was an actual Sandinista combatant when he was 16 years old. He was anxious to prove it by showing his ID and matching it to his name and picture in historic articles. In true revolutionary fashion the abandoned colonial era palace of communications taken over for the museum. The museum’s amateurish contents include newspaper clippings, magazine articles, salvaged photos and artifacts (rocket launchers and shell casings). Marcelo walked us through the history in a very animated way with sound effects of shooting and bombs dropping. He spoke very little English but he talked slow and repeated himself so that we could follow his Spanish. Marcelo explained to us how the US has been involved in Nicaraguan politics from the time of President Hoover to Ronald Reagan. In the city of Leon the first battle of the revolution was won as the revolutionaries reclaimed the city and went on to reclaim the country.

Although distant in US history, the Samosa regime, the revolution and the country’s move toward a democratic government is very present in Leon from the artwork, names of the buildings and conversations with the people.
Our next stop was Granada which is perched on the edge of Lake Nicaragua. Granada’s personality is primary that of an international tourist destination. As we waded into the tourist opportunities we took a boat tour of the many islands that dot the lake just off Granada’s shore. We visited a monkey island that is home six monkeys left there and cared for by a local veterinarian. They are very used to tourists and came down near the boat to beg for food. On this tour we had a very enthusiastic guide who surprised us by dressing in folklorico clothing and singing traditional songs. Luckily for us she was a pretty good singer.

We also took an evening tour of the active volcano in a national park. The volcano, Mayasa, last erupted in 2008 The lengthy bus ride to the top was worth the exhilaration of peering from the rim of the volcano into the active throat filled with glowing magma and billowing gases. Also in the national park we descended into the depths of a lava formed tunnel with only our flashlights to light the way. The tunnels are home to bat colonies. Our guide assured us that the bats were not “vampiros”.

Even though Nicaragua and the United States have had a tumultuous relationship, we found the people to be very warm and friendly. As we traveled from Leon to Granada to San Juan del Sur we not only had a great time but left with a very positive impression of the country.