Today’s tour is a private all day tour to Leon City, the original capital city of Nicaragua located in the mountains, about 1 hour from the port. We are up to watch the pretty sail in, complete with military vessels either running maneuvers or just showing off for us…

…and ready to go early, as our itinerary has changed between the time we booked this and today (somehow the vast majority of the port times are different from what we have in our files – we don’t know when they changed, but it has been a tad challenging coordinating tours with moving start and finish times), and waiting for Gian to escort us to the pier first thing. Gian is a little concerned though, he keeps asking us where we booked the tour, do we know the tour guide, are we sure this is an honest tour. We keep reassuring him, but he is still worried. Apparently some crew were attacked and robbed when they were here on the last cruise, and he is worried about our safety, which is very sweet. He admonishes us to keep our eyes open and watch our belongings, especially outside the port gates, and we assure him we will be very careful so he will escort us down to the exit doors!

Once outside, we can see why he’d be concerned. It is a little bit of a free for all with tons of guides and would be guides all jostling for your business. And of course this is Nicaragua, which in the past hasn’t had the best of reputations. But, not to worry, our guide is right there with our name on a sign and we are escorted over to our little car to begin our sightseeing day.

Today we are with Will and Will. Seriously – both the guide and the driver are named Will. Easy enough to remember! Will (the guide) is a native of Leon, has lived there all his life, so we know we’ll be getting the authentic tour – and we definitely do! After a pleasant hour drive up into the mountains, we arrive in Leon and begin what I am calling our back streets tour! Because Will knows the place backwards and forwards, we take every back street there is, bypassing the traffic and the tourists. It’s great!

We start out at El Calvario church, where it is easy for the other Will to drop us off, and set off on our tour. The church itself isn’t open, but there is a lovely little park next to it where the artistic tiled walkway tells the history of the city, including the city coat of arms – what else, a Lion and a globe. Will explains the meanings as we pass different depictions along the walkway.

Then we head up through town, passing brightly colored houses – some well kept, some not – and snapping a few pictures here and there. It is the only time I get slightly nervous when Will tells me to watch out for my phone. I tell him I wanted to take a picture, and he says, ok, then we’ll wait for you. Oh, ok, oops, apparently Gian’s paranoia might be a little warranted after all.

After a few deserted blocks (which is a little creepy, I mean, I know it is Sunday morning, but still, there’s barely another person out on the street here), we finally approach the main central district where the traffic and pedestrians pick up. We head to the municipal market, which is somewhat busy, but has a ton of empty stalls. There is definitely still hardship here, and Will explains a bit about what he calls the latest “difficulties,” meaning unrest. He told us how the market was guarded at night from thieves and how before the government started guarding it, the families would come out and sleep in their stalls to protect their goods. I’m still surprised at the lack of people and business, but it is apparently the way it is – or maybe just a Sunday thing? I don’t know and can’t remember now. Will treats us to a couple of really delicious bananas and we head off to visit the main Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption.

Here, again, because it is Sunday, we are not allowed in the church itself because of mass, but we can go up on the rooftop. Which sounds like a poor second to seeing the interior of the great basilica, but which turns out to be a totally awesome experience! First we climb up to the roof on these little narrow concrete stairs (one-way, we have to wait for people descending to continue our ascent) that let us out right in the bell tower. There are a couple of guys sitting around here next to the 20+ bells, and I guess I didn’t realize why, until we’re out and the darn bells start ringing. Holy He….oh, sorry, holy moly, so glad we were out of there before that started – it is loud enough when we’re around the corner from them.

Away from the bells, we traverse the rooftop, first looking out over a bell that is set in between 2 very chiseled men, facing the main square, that is a monument built to honor Simeon Pereira & Castellon, the Bishop of the Dioscese of Leon who fought for religious freedom.

Then we turn to traverse the roof with it’s stark white paint, turrents and little gazebo like air/light structures that run the length of the cathedral. It is totally cool up here, a nice breeze, great views and just fun to think we are walking up here with a the services going on down beneath us.

Eventually we move all the way to the end of the roof, right above the nave, where we have to take off our shoes to walk around (so we won’t make noise during the ceremony). Here we can look over into the Cathedral gardens, as well as get a perfectly wonderful view of Momtombo Volcano spewing ash in the far distance. Two ports, two active volcanoes in two days! That’s pretty amazing.

Leaving the cathedral roof, we do venture into the church, only to be shooed away by guards who are not letting anyone in who isn’t a local and going to pray. Will smooths it over with one of them, explaining, we are just standing here at the entrance for a little talk, and while we listen to him give us the history of the cathedral, it is just as much fun to watch the guards shoo away other unsuspecting tourists.

After the history lesson/people watching, we wander through the city, passing by the first University in the country, San Ramon college, still an operating Catholic college, with the vibrant pink exterior. Then along more back streets, looking for and finding original baroque architecture, before turning back to pass the Municpal Theatre building with the mammoth statues flanking the entrance steps, one holding the comedy and tragedy masks, the other holding a harp Ortiz Gurdian Foundation Art museum.

We start our tour of the art museum in what I’ll call the ancillary building, not the main building where you pay your entrance fee. We didn’t really realize this was the case, except that Will had to go across the street to buy tickets and the guard at the door keeps asking us why we aren’t going over “there” first. I don’t know, because Will told us we were going here first. We’re just following directions! Once inside, we can see why he wanted us to come here first. It is because this used to be a school, his school, when he was growing up. So, he wants to walk us around and show us the classrooms and explain a little bit about his youth, which was somewhat tough and trying. He was the smart kid, but living on the “other” side of the town without much money. He was accepted into this school because of his intelligence, but that just meant he was picked upon quite a bit as he grew up. Obviously he made it through it, and is actually a teacher/professor – and worked as such before he took up tour guiding.

After walking through a few classrooms, Will leaves us to wander on our own, checking out the layout of the place, which is essential a series of little rooms connected by a lovely green garden in the central courtyard. There are different displays and historical exhibits and some interesting art which we enjoy. Then we eventually do go to the other “side” which makes our guard happy, and we see why he was questioning our choice – this is the main museum with wonderful exhibits of pottery (which I take far too many photos of to keep for ideas for my next pottery class), an awesome indoor fountain type garden area and some interesting, what I’ll call poster art. All in all, a very good stop on the tour.

Our walking tour continues on to the corner of the next block where the statue of Paz, Hermano Lobo is prominently located outside The San Francisco Church. The sculpture depicts Saint Frances and a wolf, and Will tells us the story of “The motives of the wolf,” a poem by the local (famous) poet, Ruben Dario. I would retell the story here, but it is too long and I know I won’t get it all right, so suffice it to say, it is an important parable, and an equally important statue.

Around a few more blocks, through a small arts and crafts market and then past some “fast food” type local restaurants, we come to a street where there are many revolutionary murals, painted to commemorate the battle between the people and the Sandinistas. The street where we are standing is actually where student protestors were shot dead when the Sandinistas took over. While the murals are a beautiful, they are certainly a sobering reminder of the difficult past the country has suffered.

It is now nigh upon lunch time, and we are definitely getting peckish. Will asks if we want a full meal or snacks – we’re good with snacks so he leads across back across town, past the cathedral, which is definitely far busier and crowded now than when were there, and onto Guardabarranco, a little cafe that is owned by a friend of Will’s. It is an adorable little space, where the big glass display case is full of cakes and sweets and there is actually this wonderful birthday cake they have just finished sitting out on the table – for someone’s 67th birthday. Amazing artistry!

The food can’t be beat either. We order our “snacks” which are burritos – and turn out to be MONSTROUS! If this is what Will considers a snack, I’d not want to find out what full meal would have been like! I totally forgot to take pictures of them before we all demolished them, but they were delicious – a mix of yummy, gooey cheese and beans in one and shredded pork in another. (Oh, and bless Will’s heart, we wanted water with lunch, but they didn’t have any bottled water at the cafe, so he ran out to the store down the street to buy us bottles. We really did love that guy. It was like touring with your friend, everything was just so nice and comfortable, great conversation and fun.)

Onto our last stops of the day, the amazing Iglesia de la Recoleccion, the vibrant yellow church whose Mexican Baroque exterior is considered the best in teh city – and we can totally agree. What a photo opp.

We end up outside the main (I think) university, where Will used to teach, talking about the city, how it was always the been the political and intellectual center of the country, even after being stripped of its “capital” title. We chat for a bit about the history, the school, Will’s plans, and then when driver Will pulls up , we hop in the car, and start our long journey back to the port.

Talk about a great day. This has been totally fun and we are really happy we did the tour this way (on our own and not inviting anyone to come with us to split the cost). We arrive at the port without any issue (except for the one-way flow of traffic that gets us a little turned around trying to get to the gate) say goodbye to Will and Will and head into the port area and back on the ship in time for a quick cool down before sail away.