León is the second largest city in Nicaragua (with a mere 200,000 inhabitants) and the liberal center of the country (whereas conservative regimes used to pick Granada as the capital).

It was also one center of the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional), a revolutionary group fighting Somoza’s (US-backed) dictatorship in the 60s and 70s. They continued the movement of Sandino, who had already fought the US occupation of the country in the early 20th century.

The Museo de la Revolución, right across the beautiful white cathedral, is the former headquarters of the FSLN, now rather a ruin than the beautiful colonial building it used to be. What makes it really special is that tours through the museum are guided by veterans of the fight against the Somoza dictatorship. It was impressive to hear first-hand accounts of the fight for freedom. Our guide also took us to the rooftop of the building (probably not TÜV-tested).

We stayed at la Casona Colonial, a historic colonial house furnished with antiques and run by a very nice old señora.

On our way to and from León, we passed by volcano Momotombo, which was actually erupting for the first time since 1905.

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Initially, Matagalpa was not on our list of places to visit in Nicaragua. Until Jan found out that Matteo, one of his Erasmus friends he spent a semester in Stockholm with, was currently living there. Matteo does his Swiss civil service as a civil engineer at Odesar, a Nicaraguan NGO.

Little Erasmus reunion with Matteo.

We stayed at the Hostel La Buena Onda, which we can highly recommend.

Matagalpa is probably most known for being located on the coffee route, along which you find some of the country’s most beautiful coffee plantations. Other than that, Matagalpa is a fairly average Nica city. There is, however, something to watch out for: the large and deep uncovered “manholes” next to the curbside of almost every single street corner in the city. They’re there for the water that floods the streets during the rainy season from April to October. However, you have to be careful not to be washed down such a hole yourself.

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We followed the recommendation by Simone’s friend Ulla, who had volunteered for six months in Granada, to do a tour in Somoto Canyon. All we needed to do was to “call Henry Soriano” as both Ulla and our travel guidebook Footprint said.

We were picked up at the Somoto bus terminal by Brian Thackeray, a British novelist and supporter of Henry Soriano’s tourism project Somoto Canyon Tours.

Only about ten years ago, the canyon was discovered as a potential tourist attraction, and the region is now about to develop sustainable nature tourism, transforming the canyon into a protected area, hopefully soon with the support of UNESCO. All of the proceedings from the tours are directly benefitting the community, without middle men or tour operators being involved. The project provides work for the whole family and many young men of the village who are trained to be guides in the canyon. Part of the guides’ training are English classes, so there’s also an added value for the guides, even if they decide to start a different job later. It’s really a win-win-win situation for you, them and the environment.

Brian took us on a late-afternoon hike to the miradores overlooking the end of the canyon that we would explore the next day.

We stayed over night in a very rustic room with the large Soriano family to leave early in the morning for the six-hour canyon tour with Wintur, our excellent and attentive local guide. The tour consisted of walking, climbing over and on rocks, wading, swimming and floating through the river in the canyon, everything amidst pristine nature. After climbing down, hiking and flying through canyons, we finally got to swim and take a boat through one as well.

We even got to jump from rocks into the canyon several times, Simone cautiously opting for a maximum height of 2–3 m and Jan going for the 4 m challenge. Finally, we took a boat to reach Henry’s place again, where delicious homemade lunch was served.

Sometimes, great people make great places even more amazing and special. That’s what we felt when we left Somoto after an incredible personal and adventurous experience.

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And so our Central American adventure begins!

Getting off the Aeromexico flight from San Francisco to Managua via Mexico City, we were welcomed by Nicaragua’s capital with heat, dust and dozens of Virgin Maries.

On our way to the Malecón, the lakefront of Lake Xolotlán, we passed altars over altars over altars dedicated to la Virgen. Many of the altars included renditions of paroquial churches or featured scenes of street and community life. In the center of every altar was a statue of the Mother of God, and speakers played loud devotional music. The altars were set up for the festival La Purísima, which is actually celebrated on December 7th in honor of the immaculate conception. On the streets, women from the neighborhoods sold freshly fried chicken and French fries, the national dish vigorón, fruits and drinks.

One of hundreds of altars for Virgin Mary.

Taking taxis to get about, we consistently lost all sense of orientation because there’s no real point of reference. Managua is a city of 2 million people without a real center—the closest thing to a center is Metrocentro, basically a shopping mall, where the historic downtown used to be before the devastating earthquake that hit the city in 1972. In fact, Managua emerged as Nicaragua’s capital only as a compromise between the two rivaling cities León and Granada.

Metrocentro turned out to be quite useful for us in the end, since Jan could get a local SIM card that works in all Central America (Claro que sí) for his daily work-related phone meetings and internet access.

We had our first (and certainly not last) typical Nicaraguan breakfast: Gallo Pinto (rice and beans), scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee. A great way to start your day!

Overall, Managua is not a place you want to spend much time at, so we quickly went on to explore the rest of the country.

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