I am only slightly under the weather and woke up early to go to the gym,
but then decided not to. My excursion was to leave at 8:50 so I got dressed
early and waited for them to deliver breakfast. The whole morning works better
when they deliver the breakfast. I was going on an excursion and the rest of
the family would just stay around the town the ship was docked at. It seems we
are always docking at commercial ports rather than normal ports that take
cruise ships. This port seems like it was thrown together to be accessible by
cruise ship in a half an hour. There didn’t seem to be as many people walking
around carrying guns here and since it is the second poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere I was surprised. I met my tour at 8:15 and we ended up leaving
15 minutes early so the guide was hoping to do extra things with us on the way
back. He explained that the tourist industry has only been in this country
since 2000 and there seem to be many things that don’t run as smoothly with
other countries we have visited. That has some pluses, like the people selling
crafts are not as forceful and are not as many, and some minuses, destinations
were not as safe as they could be and the tour guides were not as
knowledgeable. The bus ride was long and the tour guide explained to us that
many of the volcanoes in the area were still active. Between the volcanoes and
the earthquakes natural disasters happen often. Plus a hurricane a few years
ago wiped out all the bridges in the country. The drive was pretty interesting.
There were lots of people walking on the side of the road, some guys had their
hammocks set up next to the road just watching everyone go by. Periodically
people were waiting at the side of the road even where there was no bus stop.
Lots of busses, bicycles, and horses were along the road. Along the way sugar
cane fields, schools, and lots of other things that showed life and culture of
the people in the country of Nicaragua. After an hour and a half we got to
Leon, which is an education center of the country. The city was nice and there
didn’t seem to be much tourism places which was nice. I didn’t feel it was a
museum city put together to fit what tourists would want to see. The tour was
supposed to be:
Lovely León was founded in 1524 by Spanish conquistadors. It
lies at the base of the Momotombo Volcano and was established on its present
site when an earthquake destroyed the old town in 1609. León was the capital of
Nicaragua for more than 200 years, before the title and the honors were handed
over to Managua in 1851. Today, León is the most important city in Nicaragua
after Managua. A 1¼-hour drive will bring you to this charming city that has
retained its colonial-style streets and has preserved its old architectural
style of one-story houses with tile and wooden roofs. You’ll stop at León’s
beautiful park and visit the unusual La Asunción Cathedral. You
can climb up to the roof to take in the extraordinary panoramic views of the
charming city and imposing mountains. Continue to the San Jacinto Bubbling
Mud Pots. This spectacular geo-thermal area is dotted with small craters of
boiling mud and hot springs. You’ll have time to stroll among the
geo-thermal features of this natural hotspot.
The Cathedral was really beautiful inside. I had heard of a
Black Messiah before in Austria and there was on in this city also. The story
was it is made of mahogany and when pirates invaded the city they stole the
Messiah. They thought it was gold until they got it outside and hit the leg
with a machete and found it was made of wood so they left it. Under the
cathedral were a series of tunnels which were designed to let the soldiers
fight to this area and when they were surrounded they could escape through the
tunnels and come out behind the enemy and attack them from the rear. After seeing the inside we went around the
side of the church and went up these stairs that were about as wide as my
shoulders up to the bell tower. Once we got up there we were told we had to
take off our shoes since UNESCO has dedicated the roof as a historical place
and that is how the government has determined to best preserve the paint and
area. The cleanest and most beautiful
part of the outside of the church was the roof and there were fantastic views
of the city and surrounding countryside. There were many churches throughout
the city and you could see many of them from the roof of the cathedral. After
we got our shoes and squeezed down the tight stairway we had time for
ourselves. I kept walking around the cathedral and in the back was the
marketplace. I wasn’t too adventurous so I just walked on the sidewalk and took
pictures. I didn’t poke my nose into any of the little shops or stalls. I went
out one block from the cathedral and it was fun to be part of the crowd of
people. There were a couple of signs for people to learn Spanish that I thought
was interesting in a country that has very little tourism and outsiders. My
heart went out to this country and after seeing it and the potential I will try
to set up some kind of way to help the English
teachers in the schools and universities because I see an explosion of tourism
happening and the need for guides that speak great English. I can’t wait to get
back and contact my friends from this country! We then got on the bus and took
off to the bubbling mud pots. As we drove there the tour guide mentioned that a
few years ago after an earthquake some small craters opened up next to this
little village and now tour buses stop there so people can see. The bus then
started backing up to these small shacks where a line of little kids were
standing. We all got off the bus and each kid took different people’s hands and
walked them down a dirt path and to the boiling pots. There was an attempt of
someone putting some sticks and twine so people would now where to walk, and
more importantly where not to walk, and the kids warned the tourists to stay
away from the boiling water. Of course, one of the people on my bus got a
splash on their leg, and the kids were all worried. She was ok and everything
went back to the feeling of a bunch of people visiting a small village. It just
seemed very amateurish, but more importantly it showed how the tourism industry
is growing and how they are trying to take all opportunities to give the
tourists an interesting adventure and a good experience in their country. I was
very proud of this country and it reinforced my desire to help in some way. I
think that is what has been most enlightening to me on this trip, how different
and unique each country is Central America is and how each one of them needs to
find some way to improve their population lives. So many people around me in
the SF Bay Area want to protect other countries’ way of life that they forget
that these people want to see progress. They want to find a way to get their
children educated and landing good jobs and have prosperous futures. The
biggest exports of many of these countries are micro chips and technology. This
can only be improved through education and increasing the standard of living of
the average populace. I have liked all the countries I have visited, but I
think Nicaragua is the country that is closest to my heart. Let’s see what I
can do, if anything… After I got back to the ship I found the family and we had
dinner together. After we did that we went up to the nightclub and had a Name
That Tune Trivia contest. A team is maximum of six and since mom didn’t come
with us we saw a guy sitting alone and asked him to join us. His name was
Mickey and he was from Las Vegas. We had a fun time and all the songs either
had the name of an animal in the title or the performer. We got 17 points and
the winners got 18. We were so close we could taste the victory. One song
should have had “wolf” in the title and we thought it was “tiger”. Oh well,
there is a trivia each day and we have 6 more days on the ship!
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