Day 2: León
Fortunately the club closed a little early, and the thumping music ended about half an hour after we checked into Hotel La Perla. Simon had reserved us the Presidential Suite, which was beautiful. However, we were so tired that we couldn't be bothered to open the bottle of wine, which sat in a large puddle of water previously called the ice bucket. We stuck the roses in the ice puddle, had a quick bath, and immediately passed out. The honeymoon was going well so far. The next morning we learned that the city of León has an air raid siren that sounds for roughly 30 seconds every day at 7:00 am. The noise was groggily registered, but quickly forgotten as we had a bit of a well-deserved lie in. An hour later, we were dressed and ready for the day. We quickly checked the Lonely Planet for recommendations, got our bearings, and headed down for breakfast. We would learn that breakfast is a bit of a forgotten meal in Central America, with hotels and resorts generally offering a variation on the theme of fried eggs, rice and beans (gallo pinto, or spotted rooster), and toast. No salsa, no tortillas, no ham, no huevos motuleños. Not that we couldn't deal with rice and beans, but after Mexico we were a little disappointed. |
We set out to find a church that was reported to be the oldest standing in León (or possibly Central America?) and had a beautiful sun fresco, which was supposed to be mix of pagan and Catholic imagery. It was 2 km west of us, giving us plenty of sight seeing along the way. We didn't bring the tablet with us because we weren't sure how safe the city was, and hello, tourists, so we wandered westward for about an hour before giving up (see previous post about no street signs). But, the sight seeing was worth the walk. León is a colonial city and is famous for having the largest church in all of Central America. There are also just tons of lion statues scattered throughout the city, though I have to admit, it took me a while to figure out the significance. It was once the capital, and actually was previously located 40 km away, at the base of a volcano. When the volcano erupted and destroyed León Viejo, it was relocated to an indiginous settlement in its current location.
Typical street
By the time we gave up on the sun church, we were getting a little tired and hot, but decided to push through to see the cemetery, about 1 km south of us. The cemetery was fascinating to me, not so much for Simon... until we found the walls of tombs that belonged to the mercenary fighters from the various wars fought in Nicaragua throughout the years. On the way out of the cemetery, we stopped at food cart and picked up some plantain chips, which were served with a spicy chile venegar blend and shredded cabbage. In a bag. This completely restored Simon's faith in Nicaraguan food after the bland breakfast. We scarfed these down along with a fried pastry drenched in a honey sauce, and a Coke made with real sugar. Life was good.
Mercenaries tombs
We did a bit of shopping at the market- Simon got some badly needed sunglasses and we got some water, expensive queso, and rum (Flor de Cana, highly recommended)- then headed back to the hotel for a plunge in the pool and a quick nap. We settled in for Nica libres on the balcony before setting out for dinner.
Marie Sharp's on queso and Nica libres
Now well-rested, we sought out the famed chicken tacos sold on the streets around the University for dinner, and we were not disappointed. Several women operate stalls on the street, and deep fry a taquito-type wrap made mostly of shredded chicken and tortilla. This is served in a container with the previously described chile-vinegar salad as well as cream, making a magical blend of spicy, creamy, crunchy goodness. We wolfed these down then headed back to the main square for some people watching. At this point the dry air and particulates became too much for my contacts and I had to resort to glasses.
Chicken taco cart with Simon's empty bowl
Some sort of official building
Gaseous hamburgers
Our first full day of honeymoon was a little busy, so we were pretty well done by 9:30. We headed back to the hotel and planned for an early start to the northern peninsula for some volcano climbing the next day.
Nearly full moon setting over the food stalls in central León
For more photogaphs from León, check out Simon's Google+