.....the art of living....is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists n being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.....Alan Watts
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Semana Santa Week Wrap Up......
We leave the heat of Granada and head to the Laguna de Apoyo ...an easy taxi ride away or several, long bus hops. Plus, a 5 km descent to the Laguna. We opt for a taxi.
Laguna de Apoyo is a cool lakeside spot to chill out for a few days. The Laguna (or lake) is a 6 km wide volcanic crater. With just a few lakeside places to stay...nightlife is non existent...but the views are spectacular.
Our ground floor room is breezy, private and even comes with two personal dipping pools (that we don't actually use).
It's an open-air accommodation for 2 nights
Rum is cheap...and goes well with the ambiance.
At 30 cordabas a shot; this rum promotion for 2 bottles for $370 cordabas was well worth it.... and...pouring your own was no problemo!
Masaya Volcano (Santiago)
After several days on the Laguna...we hire a taxi to visit Masaya (town) and Volcano. As we decide to view the lava pit in the evening,....(when the red fiery glow shows up best in the darkness) we line up with everyone else with the same idea. Park staff let a limited number of people in, and for only 15 minutes. They say it's so one does not succumb to the poisonous sulpheric gas. Lol
After a 2 hr wait in the line up to get to the top, we look down into bubbling chasm 300 metres down.
There is just a small fence between the crowds and the hot mess below. Makes you think that getting ’volunteers' for those ancient rituals of sacrifice to improve crops etc, wasn't really a problem.
Heading north to Leon
As mentioned in an earlier post, we hop our way on buses from Laguna de Apoyo, through Managua before arriving in Leon. Apart from crowded buses, vendors selling everything from food, drink, to toys and the occasional clown...bus travel works like clockwork.
Even these little Nicaragua tuk-tuks are on the road. (They have such a cute duck-like face.)
Leon
Although Leon is slightly smaller than Granada, it feels way more compact and people friendly. We arrive for the Good Friday celebrations. We wander around the Centro plaza/Cathedral and just enjoy the busyness of the Semana Santa Week.
Sound advice in Leon...as it can be hot!
Museum of the Revolution
We are surrounded by relics of the Sandinistas fight against Somoza. Many of the old men acting as guides in the museum fought in the conflict. It was a horrible, brutal, bloody war. Fueled by former American president Reagan, the CIA and the infamous Iran-Contra affair, it destroyed lives, uprooted families and tore at the fabric of the Nicaragua heart.
The museum displays old, tattered photos and newspaper clippings. The building looks as if the battles in Leon ended yesterday.
Our guide lets us fire the old relic (not)! He also pointed himself out in some of the old photos pinned to the walls showing the conflict and resistance. He even pulled up his pants leg to show an old bullet scar received in the fighting.
Somehow, decades removed from a bloody revolution, people seemingly have been able to put the past behind them. The resiliency of the human spirit to heal, recover and move on is evident through out Nicaragua.
The Nicaraguans deserve their own right to decide their destiny, without interference from outside meddling.
Holy Week ....more processions...
While not quite the city of processions, Leon comes close during the Holy Week. A variety of the holy parades occur, along with church masses. Together, the many religious events signify important moments in the Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday timeline.
The statues are heavy with up to 50, mainly men, carrying them blocks from the church. With bands and music as varied as trombones and tubas, the processions happen in the heat of the day and in the cooler evening.
A special procession called the Procession of Sadness takes place in Sutiava Barrio where the sawdust carpets are created. (See previous post for more detail)
.....promise to stay wild with me. We'll seek and return and stay to find beauty and the extraordinary in all the spaces we can claim. We'll know how to live. How to breathe magic into the mundane....Victoria Erickson
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Upcoming
Heading to the Nicaragua Mountains... north to Matagalpa...San Ramon and more...
Hasta Luego
Yvonne y Shayne
Additional Random Photos
Where's Shayne?
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