San Salvador - photos 1

San Salvador (El Salvador):

From Leon, our next stop was San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. The boys were already in El Tunco at the beach (Pacific coast of El Salvador) so we wanted to meet them as soon as possible for some surf. Two options to reach San Salvador:1/ take a direct "gringo" bus from Leon for $25 and 10hrs but at 4.30am, 2/take local buses from Leon for a cheaper price and at a unknown travel period but later in the day. Well you know now that we don't like taking "gringo" buses and we find it more funny and more interesting to meet locals so we choose the second option.

Ha, Ha! How exhausting was that!!! We reached San Salvador after 11hrs spent in 6 buses, 3 taxis and 1 taxi-bike!!! But we saved $10 and we spent only 1 more hour than the direct bus! Summary of an epic journey: -first taxi from the hotel to the bus station,- first bus: Leon to Chinandega, - second bus: Chinandega to Guasaule (border with Honduras), - bike-taxi to cross the border, -third bus from Honduras border to El Salvador border, - fourth bus from the border to Santa Rosa, - fifth bus Santa Rosa to San Miguel, -second taxi from one bus terminal to an other bus terminal, sixth bus San Miguel to San Salvador (we caught the last bus for San Salvador 5 min only before it left!), -third taxi from the bus terminal to the hotel!!! Departure from Leon at 8.15am; Arrival at San Salvador 7.15pm!!! Nice time spent in Nicaragua, nice people and superb cities and landscapes!

El Salvador was a fascination for Lee since he saw the movie "Salvador" relating some stories from the civil war which occurred between 1980 and 1992 (I will give more details of the civil war commenting the pictures). So he was particularly excited to visit this country which is the smallest but the most populous country of Central America.

We stayed 2 nights in San Salvador, the second most populous city in Central America, with a full day visiting the city and the town centre was like a 1970's city. Nothing charming...So we head off the next day to El Tunco beach...

- Lee was happy to cross the El Salvador border. Since 4 countries, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala had decided to deliver only one entry stamp and one exit stamp, we could not get a entry stamp to El Salvador (as we got the entry stamp in Nicaragua). We were only controlled by 2 policemen who were chatting in the road and who, we thought, were only 2 guys like others!
- The cathedral of San Salvador whose tiled facade was done by the Salvadoran Master Fernanado Llort. The cathedral is home to the tomb of the Archbishop Oscar Romero who was killed on the 24th March 1980 during the civil war (see next post for details). The cathedral is facing the Parque Barrios which was the theater of gunfire from members of security guards (but that has never been proved) killing 44 people who were attending the funeral of the Archbishop Romero (31th March 1980),
- Have you ever seen a similar church? Neither have we! What a bizarre (and awful personal view) architecture!! El Rosario church,
- The National Palace is situated also on Parque Barrios. I did not take any picture of this park because it was not particularly nice,
- The Parque Libertad was nicer than the Parque Barrios. More green, nice lamps, a little more charm...

Update!!!

Hola amigos!!!
I will update soon the blog with all the pictures from El Salvador where we spent a very good time. Currently we are in Guatemala in Antigua ready to watch the superb processions for the Holy week. Hasta luego!!

Leon - photos

Leon:

Prior to reaching El Salvador we stopped in the nice city of Leon. Leon is the second largest city in Nicaragua and was founded in 1524 by el Senor De Los Caballeros de Leon. In 1610, due to an eruption of the Momotombo Volcano, the city was abandoned and the inhabitants decided to move to its current location next to the indigenous village of Subtavia. The ruins of the old city were called "Leon El Viejo" and were named Unesco World Heritage in 2000. Leon was the original capital of Nicaragua but the long conflict with Granada (see Granada post) lead the government to chose Managua as capital of Nicaragua.

We were pleased to visit Leon with its charmng colonial buildings and churches. And at the inverse of its competitor Granada, the city was full of life especially due to a high population of students (the university of Leon was built in 1813) but also locals. We stayed in a nice B&B quite expensive but after the night spent in Masachapa we needed to relax and why not some "comfort": water! and hot water, nice mattress and pillows, a quiet place and a delicious breakfast. We were supposed to stay only one night but it was so comfy that we stayed 2 nights in the end!

- The Cathedral of the Assumption, the largest in Central America. The building started in 1706 to end in 1779,
- View of the cathedral from the Parque Central and its fountain,
- While taking pictures of the Cathedral, we chatted with a local boy who at the end wanted some money. But as he was a nice lad, we gave him a couple of cordobas (the local money) and he accepted to be photographied with Lee,
- The Iglesia de la Recoleccion with its baroque facade was built during the 18th Century. We could not take any picture of the full church because of all the kids around. There was a girls school just in front of the church and the girls were happy to see 2 gringos and were "fighting" to be taken in picture!
- Iglesia El Calvario, also built during the 18th Century. Superb brick facade,
- How relaxing was it to have the breakfast on this patio! The hotel was a renovated Spanish colonial house and included this refreshing and quiet atmosphere.

Pochomil - photos

Pochomil:

Our second destination in the Pacific coast of Nicaragua was Pochomil (surf oblige!). Pochomil is a beach close to Managua, the capital. It is not a town or village but a touristic place with some restaurants, bars and hotels.

At Pochomil, we were supposed to meet Dave and Neil who from San Juan Del Sur were supposed to come directly here. We arrived early afternoon and no sign of the boys. Well we were puzzled but seeing the place, we understood why the guys did not stay here: a couple of empty restaurants and bars and expensive hotels. Also no waves!! We were not certainly lucky for surf! Finally a woman from a restaurant remembered seeing them during the morning but they left the place straightaway. As searching for the boys took us long time, we decided to stay for the night in the small fishing village of Masachapa in a very basic place and the cheapest we have been so far ($5 each). Finding food and specially fish in this village was a nightmare, for a village dedicated to fishing what a surprise, isn't it? We spent a very bad night between the bad mattress (well Lee decided to spend the night on the floor), the mosquitos and the noise of the mangos falling in the metallic roof of our room due to the high wind. Who can imagine a small mango can make so much noise!!! I was jumping in the bed all night quite having a heart attack each time! And to top it off we had no water in the morning!
The next day, by mail, we had the story of the boys. On their way to Pochomil, the taxi driver told them that it was not a nice place so they stayed somewhere else overnight. Then the morning they caught a bus to Pochomil in order to meet us but they left before we arrived. Seeing the place, they decided to head off to Managua and take the bus the next morning for San Salvador. So we will meet them later in the playas there.

- Pochomil beach. Very well appreciated to play football, volley-ball...,
- Sunset on the beach. I like this picture with the dad and his son, hand in hand walking on the beach. For the people interested in surf, you can see how small were the waves!
- Moonrise. Bright and full, superb moon!
- This parrot was playing close to us while we had our breakfast (2 chocolate donuts, mmm...). It was like an acrobat with some nice figures with a foot on the rope, turning and watching us with pride. A true artist!
- The roof of our room and the mango tree full of green mangoes. Well half was on the roof and half on the floor. I like mangoes but at this moment I was regretting that! No worries I have passed my anger and I am still eating mangoes!!!

Granada - photos 2

Granada:

Well lots of churches (I know that I am putting lots of pictures of churches in my blog but they are part of the history of the towns relating different architectural eras) in this post but they have their own charm specially coming from the colonial epoch.

- Iglesia (church) La Merced, probably the most beautiful church of Granada. It was built in 1539 but destroyed many times and finally restored in 1862,
- View of the town centre from the tower of the Iglesia La Merced. In the background, the Cathedral and far the lake Nicaragua (or Cocibolca),
-Iglesia de Guadalupe,
- Convento y Iglesia de San Francisco. Built end of the 16th Century, the structure was burned by the American Walker in 1856 and rebuilt in the late 1860's,
- Iglesia de Xalteva. The name is coming from the indigenous settlers of the area where it is located. The church was built during colonial times and was used as a military fortress during the national war. In 1890, the church was severely damaged by earthquakes and rebuilt at the end of the 19th Century.

Granada - photos 1

Granada:

Before going back to the beach, we had a break in Granada, not in Spain but in Nicaragua obviously!

Granada was founded in 1524 by Hernandez de Cordoba and was named after the the Spanish city of Granada. The city has been witness and victim to many of the battles with and invasions from pirates trying to take control of Nicaragua. One American,Charles Henningsen, set the city on fire destroying much of the ancient city and leaving printed the words "Granada Was Here". For many years Granada was in conflict with an other city, Leon, for the hegemony as the major city of Nicaragua, conflict which became quite violent between the cities and political factions. In the mid 1800s it was agreed that Managua, situated in between both cities, will become the capital of Nicaragua.

We took the bus from San Juan Del Sur to Rivas then from one of the worst bus station we have seen (all surrounded by market stalls), we took the bus to Granada. We arrived early afternoon and spent the rest of the day exploring this colonial city with lots of pretty churches and typical spanish little streets.. I am not utilising "charming colonial city" because the buildings were great but it was missing life. Streets and plazas were empty except one street that I can call the "gringo's street" which was full of cafes and restaurants quite dedicated to tourists. Less nice! So we only spent one night here before heading off to the beach the next day.

- "Plaza de la Independencia" with the town hall painted in red. The building was superb but as you can see nobody can't be seen around and it was more like a used decor for a movie. This is mainly due to the foreigners who are buying the old houses at high prices and pulling locals out of the town centre. What a shame!
- The "Parque Central". Again nobody!
- The famous "calle" or street "La Calzada" or for me the tourists' street. In the background on the left the Cathedral,
- Close view of the newly painted Cathedral which was built in the early 20's upon the foundation of an earlier church,
- This lady is selling tins and how easy it looks for her to carry that on her head! We saw lots of women in Nicaragua using their heads to carry everything imaginable!

San Juan Del Sur - photos

San Juan Del Sur:

From Omepete Island, we went to visit San Juan Del Sur on the Pacific Coast in the South-West of Nicaragua). The town, dedicated to fishing, is a popular tourist location because of its many nearby and spectacular beaches and is popular among surfers.

So obviously the boys were hoping good surf but again strong wind and no waves. Also the water was freezing (I did not try but Lee was shaking after a swim!) Anyway, they found nice ways to occupy their free time, playing cards, watching a baseball game and doing the monkeys on the beach!!

- San Juan Del Sur beach,
- Sunset on the beach,
- A new representation of the evolution of man seen by Dave, Neil and Lee. Who looks the most credible?
- A the baseball game. Very friendly ambiance and good dancing from the couple in the middle of the crowd. The standard of the baseball was pretty low but the beer drinking was of a high standard (thanks to the Irish boys!),
- Dave and Neil managed to climb this bus despite being in full view of 4 policemen with guns!!! They went down pretty quickly once they caught the policemen's eyes!