Central America 2000 - Through the volcanoes
From Worldtraveller
We decided then to abandon all hope of climbing up Volcán Masaya and move on instead. Our next destination was Nicaragua's other old city, León, and to get there we needed to get a bus to Managua, make our way across Managua, and get another bus across the outside. We had heard horror stories about Managua from many different people, and were not overly keen to see what it had to offer. I was guarding my pack with extreme paranoia as we got off the bus at Managua's central market. As we expected, there were plenty of taxis about, so we got a taxi across the city. It was a sunny and hot day, and the city didn't actually look that horrible. A bit concrete and soulless, but then vast swathes of it were levelled by a huge earthquake in 1972, so a lack of great architecture can be forgiven.
We made it to the Mercado Bóer bus stop without being robbed or assaulted, and, still guarding our belongings fiercely, we boarded the bus to León. We had a great run up there as the sun set behind the chain of volcanoes which form a spine along Nicaragua's Pacific coast, arriving just after the sun set. It's really best not to arrive in cities after dark in this part of the world, but fortunately our technique of walking like we knew exactly where we were going worked, and we found a hotel without mishap.
In the morning we headed for León Viejo (Old León). León was originally founded on the shores of Lago Managua, in the shadow of Volcán Momotombo, and for the next 86 years was the capital of the colonial district of Nicaragua (part of what was then called the Captaincy General of Guatemala). In 1610, however, it was destroyed by an eruption of Momotombo, and the city was moved to it's present location. The ruins of the original city can still be seen, and it was to here that we headed.
After a typical Nicaraguan bus journey involving crowds of people selling goods ranging from soft drinks and snacks to disposable razors and hair clips, and a bone-shaking run down some very badly maintained roads we arrived at the village of Puerto Momotombo. It's quite a surreal place, with just a few houses, and no roads to speak of, just dusty tracks. There were very few locals about, and it felt like we were the first outsiders to visit the place in years. We walked down to the shores of Lago de Managua to have a look around.
It was a strange place down there. The black sand beach was covered in straggly plants, and there were a few stumps of long-dead trees on the shore and in the lake. Across the water, the towering red cone of Momotombo was steaming gently, and in the distance we could see a village woman washing clothes in the lake water. The only noise was the buzzing of the abundant insects. We sat for a while, appreciating the tranquillity and solitude, before heading back up the track to the village, and looking for the ruins.
Where there are no roads, no signs and no people, it is quite hard to find what you want to see. We searched for some time for León Viejo, before finding someone, asking the way, and finding we were right outside the gate. We discovered that for the entry fee of about 75p, you actually get a guided tour of the site (all in Spanish, of course), which was great, but I was rather disturbed to note that the entry above mine in the guest book was from almost a month before.
The ruins are not really much to look at - just the foundations of a few large buildings, the rest completely obliterated. But the history is fascinating, and I understood enough of the Spanish commentary to get quite a good idea of what was going on. What makes the place really impressive, though, are the views. From a small hill in the middle of the unfortunate city, you get a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. This northwestern corner of Nicaragua is dominated by the Cordillera de los Maribios, a range of volcanoes which frequently erupt (there have been at least six eruptions in the last five years), and from the hill, we could count some six volcanoes, three of which were steaming. This formed the stunning backdrop to the forested plains and Lago de Managua.
