Corinto, Nicaragua
December 27, 2017
The benefit of long bus rides is the time they afford to chronicle impressions of the previous day’s bus rides.
Today’s, from Corinto to Leon, provided ample opportunity. Arriving in Nicaragua from Guatemala, we found another country with CIA fingerprints (some might say thumbprints) all over it, but also with encouraging signs of independence and recovery.
For the last decade, American speculators and retirees have begun investing in property along the Pacific coast, and infrastructure has recently started to follow. Nonetheless, the country-side between the coast and Leon, while gorgeous, retains a certain (shall we say) “rusticity”.
In recent decades, from Somoza to the Sandinistas, from Chamorro back to Ortega and Rosario Murillo, competing factions no doubt used the last two rows of our bus to torture their opponents into acquiescence or compliance. The blueprint for this chamber could profit several US airlines as they enhance techniques to restrict leg room, blood-flow, and visibility.
“The Chamber”
Fortunately, what little we could see of the passing scene was spectacular. Four of Nicaragua’s 26 volcanoes are visible from colonial Leon, the remnants of which are nestled on the shore of Lake Managua, the second-largest lake in the country.
The largest, Lake Nicaragua, second in size only to Lake Titicaca among Latin American lakes, covers an extensive portion of southwestern Nicaragua, and until the 20th century (with revived murmuring here even now) was justifiably propagandized as a means by which to ease construction of an inter-Ocean canal across Central America.
Mt Mototombo and Lake Managua
Colonial Leon attained its ruinous condition at the whim of Mt Momotombo. Short stone patterns delineating structural or decorative walls of former residences, cathedrals, and meeting halls are all that remain.
Standing astride an erstwhile Champ du Mars is a statue depicting a local ne’er do well being devoured by a pack of wild dogs, a punishment apparently in vogue before the advent of Nicaraguan tour buses. Also in this plaza Hernan Córdoba parted ways with his head, ostensibly for some sideways remark he directed to or about Hernando Cortez.
A half hour from colonial Leon is contemporary Leon, featuring the ubiquitous Central American plaza anchored by the impressive Basilica Cathedral de la Asunción, through which we toured and atop which we walked.
Basilica Cathedral de la Asunción
Ascending to the north side of the roof thru a narrow stairwell, we removed our shoes and were able to circumnavigate the structure in bare feet or socks, indulging magnificent views in each direction.
From the Basilica roof
The plaza was abuzz with the usual street vendors, cafes, and trinket shops, tho’ our very limited amount of time forced us back to the bus almost immediately after we descended the south stairs of the basilica.
Leon, with 300K people in its borders and another 200K nearby, maintains an on-going rivalry with the city of Granada for designation as most beautiful, most important, best schools, most historical, whatever. Managua, like New York glancing with haughty condescension at Philadelphia and Boston, likely just rolls its eyes.
Aa the more radical of the two, Leon inclines to protest; Granada to processions. Among the few things we could not help but see in our rush back to the bus were political posters, most featuring (or defacing) the mugs of the current presidential couple.
Rosa Murillo, wife of Daniel Ortega, is the Hillary Clinton and Evita Peron of Nicaragua, with the notable distinction that she actually is the Vice President.
Like her counterparts north and south, Rosa evokes strong opinions and, given the lupus under which her husband suffers, no small amount of concern or hope among those eager or anxious at the prospect of her further meddling in their lives. A polyglot poet active in (and related to the spiritual founder of) the Sandinista movement since the late 60s, she sprinkles a dash of Joan Baez into her Hillary-Evita stew.
The feathers any Nicaraguan politician will try to pluck with the least amount of hissing come from a population of almost 7 million, of whom 60% are Catholic, who are spread across 15 departments and two “autonomous” regions (think: Indian Reservations), and whose primary production includes sorghum, sugar, coal, and peanuts.
Of course, other interests also claimed stakes. United Fruit was the undercurrent of much twentieth century history, and former US Secretary of State Philander Knox once owned gold mines on the Caribbean side.
Our bar being slightly lower, we returned to the ship with only four bottles of water and nice memories of Nicaragua, otherwise leaving the land of Lakes and Volcanoes as we found it.
JD
