Installment #5

Nicaragua. Welcome to a land of volcanoes, sugar plantations, sesame oil, peanuts, and fruit. For a minute I thought I was in China: factory after factory lined the major roads we traveled on. Once again we pulled into a commercial port, Puertro Corinto, the only seaside port in Nicaragua capable of handling large international ships. Again, the government provided us with a small market within the walls of the shipyard. As with our other stops, they had “built” a secure perimeter around boat. Military and machine guns—did we feel safe?

We loaded up in a bus and headed to the city of Leon, an old colonial city. In just over an hour we traveled through small villages, by metal houses and colorful adobe houses, and agricultural fields and dry farm land where cattle roamed in search of food. Once we arrived in the center of Leon at our first stop we were greeted by vendors, but this time they were not forceful and aggressive.

Our first stop was a poet’s house. He is now “the most famous poet” but, unfortunately, none of us had ever heard of him! The architecture of the house has beautiful—the typical courtyard surrounded by a single room deep perimeter. Next, we walked a couple blocks to an art gallery. Now Daughter 1, our lover of art history, was both amazed and appalled. This is the best gallery in Nicaragua and they are very proud of the artwork. Well, first off, the gallery is in a house, built just like the poet’s house, but with more courtyards. The doorways, windows and some of the walls are all open. The artwork is in the open air—there is a roof covering the galleries. Anyway we were shocked—some of the pieces were from the 1500’s and they won’t last long. The guide assured us that the paintings were fine. They close the gallery one day a week to check the paintings! Daughter 1 was not impressed. Our final stop was the cathedral located a few blocks away on the central plaza. The church was cool: Roman Catholic built in the early 1600’s. We enjoyed seeing the art work, the sculptures and the architecture. Sir and Daughter 2 headed to a local café in search of iced coffee while I went with Daughter 1 to the top of the cathedral. The guide kept saying you can see for miles and you will see the volcanoes. When I got up to the top I was thrilled to see the architecture. I took some great pictures and can’t wait to see what I can do with them.

Once back at the boat, I went in search of food. Sir, Daughter 1 and Daughter 2 went to the market, but came home empty handed. A lazy afternoon on board the ship, a mile walk, dinner and going to see a ventriloquist filled our evening. Costa Rica is our destination tomorrow. We don’t have an early morning shore excursion. Thank goodness! Goodnight all.