I´ve got a bit of a backlog of pictures, so here are a few in no particular order. First of all here´s Marion and Katherine, the half-German half-Scottish sisters. Their German half was delighted to find beer being sold by the litre in Leon, and their Scottish half exhaulted in the fact that it was so cheap. I agreed on both points.
This is the cathedral in Leon, which took a hundred years to build, from 1747, and is the largest in Central America. Local legend has it that the city fathers feared the Spanish authorities would refuse such a big project, so they submitted bogus plans showing a much smaller building. When this was approved they went ahead with their grandiose plans.
Leon has quite a radical edge to it - it´s very much the heartland of Nicaragua´s socialist traditions. Murals of Che Guevara are all over the place along with monuments to fallen comrades. Below is the Gallery of Heroes and Martyrs, which contains photos of some of the people killed by the Contras - a guerilla army funded for years by the CIA using drug money and cash from illegal arms sales to Iran. Whereas we remember him as a bit of a bumbling old fool, Ronald Reagan is a real bogeyman here.
This is Sarah and Lydia at a beach party we hitched to and gatecrashed with Alex and Jeremy, the lads from Canada. Dancing on sand is great fun, but quite difficult. You tend to bore down as you shimmy and become trapped up to the ankles, so the slightest nudge from another dancer sends you toppling over. There was quite a surreal interlude during the evening when the music stopped and two burly blokes ran onto the stage brandishing dildos. They then started putting condoms on their heads and rolling them up their arms - presumably as some sort of AIDS education programme. They didn´t notice when Alex sneaked up onto the stage behind them and started accompanying their bizarre display on the drums. He did a good job too.
This is the cathedral in Grenada. Whereas Leon is the spiritual home of the Nicaraguan left, this town has always been much more Conservative. At the moment there are builders everywhere improving roads, refurbishing houses and generally tidying the place up. I could imagine that within a few years this will become a playground for the very rich - it´s already beautiful and it threatens to become blindingly gorgeous.
This is the cathedral in Leon, which took a hundred years to build, from 1747, and is the largest in Central America. Local legend has it that the city fathers feared the Spanish authorities would refuse such a big project, so they submitted bogus plans showing a much smaller building. When this was approved they went ahead with their grandiose plans. 
Leon has quite a radical edge to it - it´s very much the heartland of Nicaragua´s socialist traditions. Murals of Che Guevara are all over the place along with monuments to fallen comrades. Below is the Gallery of Heroes and Martyrs, which contains photos of some of the people killed by the Contras - a guerilla army funded for years by the CIA using drug money and cash from illegal arms sales to Iran. Whereas we remember him as a bit of a bumbling old fool, Ronald Reagan is a real bogeyman here. 
This is Sarah and Lydia at a beach party we hitched to and gatecrashed with Alex and Jeremy, the lads from Canada. Dancing on sand is great fun, but quite difficult. You tend to bore down as you shimmy and become trapped up to the ankles, so the slightest nudge from another dancer sends you toppling over. There was quite a surreal interlude during the evening when the music stopped and two burly blokes ran onto the stage brandishing dildos. They then started putting condoms on their heads and rolling them up their arms - presumably as some sort of AIDS education programme. They didn´t notice when Alex sneaked up onto the stage behind them and started accompanying their bizarre display on the drums. He did a good job too.
No comments:
Post a Comment