Wednesday, May 3
We arrived at the port of Corinto in Nicaragua about 9am, so it wasn't too early a start for us today. We wanted to visit Leon, one of the previous capitals of this country, which is known for its colonial buildings and Cathedral.
Our tour left at 10am, driving through the town of Corinto on our way to our first stop. We passed mainly fields of sugar cane and corn, with processing plants for the sugar cane dotted along the road. In the distance we could see some of the volcanoes that Nicaragua is famous for, as it has 27 within its borders!
Before reaching Leon we stopped at the San Jacinto Bubbling Mud Pots, where our guide Eddy led us on a walk around this geothermal area of bubbling mud pots and hot springs. We were besieged by children ranging in age from about 4 to 14, either begging or wanting to sell us some pottery or mud from the area. We had been told not to encourage them by giving them money, as schooling is free in Nicaragua and that's where they should have been.
We finally reached Leon, and were impressed with this university town as we made our way to the Park of Heroes and Martyrs. The park was filled with school children, as it was after 12pm and school operates in 2 shifts - 7am to 12pm, and 1pm to 5pm, so it was "changeover" time. We made our way to the Cathedral at the end of the park, and Eddy took us inside to show us its treasures. This is the largest Cathedral in Central America, and it was very nice inside, painted in cream and white, and with reliefs set in grey with charcoal borders. The effect was cooling and visually different to other Cathedrals we have visited.
While some in our group chose to climb to the roof of the Cathedral we set off to find a cold drink and some wifi, and found a local cafe that had a lot of atmosphere and the local beer we tried went down very well. We checked out the market stalls before returning to the coach for the return trip to the ship.
We arrived about 3pm, and agreed that from what we saw we would be happy to return to Nicaragua to discover more of this country and its friendly people.
We arrived at the port of Corinto in Nicaragua about 9am, so it wasn't too early a start for us today. We wanted to visit Leon, one of the previous capitals of this country, which is known for its colonial buildings and Cathedral.
Our tour left at 10am, driving through the town of Corinto on our way to our first stop. We passed mainly fields of sugar cane and corn, with processing plants for the sugar cane dotted along the road. In the distance we could see some of the volcanoes that Nicaragua is famous for, as it has 27 within its borders!
Before reaching Leon we stopped at the San Jacinto Bubbling Mud Pots, where our guide Eddy led us on a walk around this geothermal area of bubbling mud pots and hot springs. We were besieged by children ranging in age from about 4 to 14, either begging or wanting to sell us some pottery or mud from the area. We had been told not to encourage them by giving them money, as schooling is free in Nicaragua and that's where they should have been.
We finally reached Leon, and were impressed with this university town as we made our way to the Park of Heroes and Martyrs. The park was filled with school children, as it was after 12pm and school operates in 2 shifts - 7am to 12pm, and 1pm to 5pm, so it was "changeover" time. We made our way to the Cathedral at the end of the park, and Eddy took us inside to show us its treasures. This is the largest Cathedral in Central America, and it was very nice inside, painted in cream and white, and with reliefs set in grey with charcoal borders. The effect was cooling and visually different to other Cathedrals we have visited.
While some in our group chose to climb to the roof of the Cathedral we set off to find a cold drink and some wifi, and found a local cafe that had a lot of atmosphere and the local beer we tried went down very well. We checked out the market stalls before returning to the coach for the return trip to the ship.
We arrived about 3pm, and agreed that from what we saw we would be happy to return to Nicaragua to discover more of this country and its friendly people.
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