Estelí is a big city in the northern highlands of Nicaragua. It feels smaller than León, but I think that’s mainly because the traffic is better. In León, I always felt like I was about to be hit by a car (pedestrians do NOT have the right of way here!). Estelí traffic is better because the streets are mostly one way which makes exploring Estelí Nicaragua easy peasy.
getting to know estelí
I had plenty of time to get to know Estelí today, so I walked around town for a bit, went to a museum and visited the cathedral.
estelí street art
There is a quite a bit of street art in town. I am not sure if it’s a direct result of the political importance of this town during the revolution (it was a Sandinista stronghold), or just lots of artists. The variety is really engaging and it made for a fun day looking for more murals.
Some of the murals I can’t make a lot of sense of, and some are very clearly political. The date July 19 plays a role in a few – that’s the day of the Sandinista Revolution, or Independence Day.
exploring estelí’s museum
While exploring Estelí, I visited the museum in town, the Museum of History and Archeology.
Only a four room museum in a pretty park a few blocks north of my hostel, it houses quite a few interesting artifacts. I was most interested in the petroglyphs,
but it also gives me a chuckle when I see record players and typewriters in the same history museum as petroglyphs! How old do I feel today?
They also had a section on famous local residents (revolutionaries, for the most part), and one on customs and local myths. Overall, I found my visit to the museum interesting, and admission was 20 cordobas, about 75 cents, so it’s worth a visit.
landscaping in estelí
I probably already mentioned I quite like the landscaped trees here in Nicaragua. I had to photograph some quite close to my hostal. Don’t they remind you of Edward Scissorhands?
cathedral in Estelí
I also visited the cathedral, which is quite grand and covers a lot of ground. Pretty interior, too.
Tomorrow is my last day solo in Nicaragua and I am going to make it to Somoto Canyon, and it is going to be beautiful! In the meantime, I’m still having fun exploring Estelí.
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