Leon, Nicaragua – A Revolutionary Destination

The Ticabus and similar services like Transnica are great ways to get around Central America; comparable to the all familiar Greyhound buses of North America they whisk you…..at a modest speed through all of the countries in the region. When it comes to the smaller towns however, they are all but useless and it’s time to grab your pack, hide your wallet and make a dash for the chicken buses and the other inter-locales that ply the highways and byways.

Chickens on a Chicken bus in Nicaragua

I was already tired of being cooped up in the bus from San Salvador and knew that I had to make a break sooner or later. Unfortunately I was sitting on the left hand side of the bus and from that angle it was especially difficult to read any town signs to find out exactly where I was at any one time. I managed to get a bead on the main road passing though Esteli in western Nicaragua and knew that I had to get off soon if I was to make the detour to Leon, the hotbed revolutionary town of Nicaragua’s recent past. Getting a bus driver to let you off in the middle of nowhere is easy enough, finding the next bus could prove to be more difficult and with three young female backpackers in tow I was sure we would attract some attention.

My doubts proved to be unfounded as the moment we stepped off the bus we could see the familiar yellow paint of an old school bus with the magic words Leon painted on the windscreen. The girls were in a hurry for the restroom and a couple of village women helped them find the necessary doorways. The driver ambled over and offered us a cheery grin, picked up the bags and helped me load them on board. No Spanish was needed really and the good nature of the other riders made it a great welcome to the heartland of Nicaragua.

The decorated outside of a typical building in Nicaragua

The bus passed through some rolling hills and the familiar farmland that I had already experienced on my journey down. Traditional village scenes were played out in front of me with assorted items of food and drink magically appearing at each stop. Cowboys rode horses with panache and guided their charges through the fields and highways. Chickens, cows and other livestock roamed freely and only took notice of us if the bus driver honked loudly or swerved to avoid a collision. Nobody blinked. The land gradually became more aggressive as we neared the volcanoes that surrounded Leon, sharp ridges and peaks became the norm with clouds clinging to the tops like smokestacks.
Soon enough the farmland gave over to more urban surrounding as we entered Leon, with our bus offloading us in the market at the edge of town. I had taken the precaution of booking a hostel ahead and had chosen the Lazybones Hostel with the promise of a cool dip in its swimming pool at the end of the day. Taxis in Leon run at about 15 C$ ($0.75c) each for small journeys around town and it takes less that 10 minutes to go just about anywhere.

The Hostel was in a good part of town with a grassy central courtyard lined with hammocks and sofas giving the feel of an old mansion; many of the buildings in this area have an unassuming front entrance but open out into exotic hidden squares and old colonial features. The dorms were a little noisy from the street next door but spacious enough, the private rooms’ pokey but well priced. The staff were excellent though and the overall atmosphere was one of a calm oasis.

The relaxed courtyard of the Lazybones Hostel

A pro Sandinista stronghold the city suffered from heavy street fighting and aerial bombing during the 1979 revolution. The bombing and fighting destroyed many of the better colonial buildings although some great examples still remain; Granada, east of Managua, has a larger number albeit in a more genteel surrounding. Murals adorn many buildings depicting the struggles and turmoil of the fighting. The traditional cotton industry has diminished more recently, although the early morning air raid type siren still blasts for those ghost workers and life is obviously a struggle for some.

On the bright side being a university city the nightlife in Leon stands up well, many of the busier bars are attached to hostels with Via-Via offering a pretty good bet with live music and great food. Rum drinkers are well looked after with a small bottle of rum, mixers, ice and limes going for a pinch and the local beer served ice cold is a great tonic to the heat of the day. Plenty of restaurants line the streets and the city is abuzz until quite late with couples, families and locals strolling around eating ice cream and hanging out in the main square opposite the cathedral.

I spent a few days just hanging out with the occasional trip to outlying villages, for more adventure you can ride down the side of a volcano or swim in a lava lake…. (just making sure you were awake there!). Surfers, I wasn’t impressed with the swimming, can head down to Las Peñitas, a small village on the pacific coast an hour away with a few relaxed restaurants and a frequent bus service.

A taxi....local style!

Travelling in the countryside I felt very safe, ask a question of a local and they will be polite and welcoming however this is still a Central American country and poverty breeds crime so you do need to be cautious in the city at night. Two girls were robbed at gunpoint in town when I was there but the shock expressed by the staff at the hostel seemed to imply it was not a usual occurrence. It was surely sketchier than Antigua in Guatemala but Leon is a working city and in that respect it should make us raise our guard a little and therefore better avoid problematic situations. Most tourists seemed to be backpackers with many Europeans evident and the occasional Aussie and Canadian but very few travellers from the USA which was quite different from Guatemala.

Stepping out of your comfort zone is eminently rewarded in Nicaragua; the small towns may not be fully geared to tourism but the hospitality and friendliness of the locals makes up for the details. Enjoy the markets with their noise, smells and distinctive merchandise, tarry on chicken buses as they pass through villages where life goes on just the way it did maybe fifty years ago and just admire the dramatic scenery as towering volcanoes give way to open plains and the land beyond.