Tag: Sights

A Day and a Half in León Nicaragua

After a day and a half in León, I like it. It’s a pretty town with some beautiful churches. A lot of pretty churches. So many, that I can’t keep track of which ones I’ve visited. There’s also a lot of museums, street art, and history here. This morning I am going on a walking tour of the city, so I should learn more about all of those things! In the meantime, I have been taking photos and soaking up the vibes of León.

León Churches

I visited some of the churches, including the fairy tale pretty Iglesia el Calvario and the more traditional Iglesia El Merced.

Iglesia El Calvario
The pretty Iglesia El Calvario

Finally, yesterday afternoon I explored the rooftop of the Cathedral of León. Barefoot. That’s right, once you step out onto the roof, you have to take off your shoes so as not to damage or taint the surface. It is very white! It was a very cool feeling exploring the roof of a cathedral barefoot. I don’t know if I’ll do it again, and for $1.25, it was fun! As there are no tall buildings here, the view from the cathedral roof was lovely, so I took lots of photos.

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The Best Volcano Yet: Volcan Masaya!

Wowow wow wow wow.  Last night we went to Masaya Volcano. It’s best to go there at night because you can see the hot lava much better in the dark!!! HOT LAVA IN THE DARK. It was even better than it sounds, and I thought it sounded great. Here is why I think Volcan Masaya is the best volcano in Nicaragua

Visit Volcan Masaya at Night

So, it’s a big deal to go to the volcano at night. Everybody wants to see the hot lava, and it’s easier to see and more dramatic in the dark. I may have mentioned that already, but it’s true!

Driving Volcano

The cars line up on the side of the highway before the park opens for the night at 5:30pm (but, since it’s “Nica time”, it actually didn’t open until more like 5:45pm). People are standing on the side of the road too; some are vendors, others are just passengers who don’t want to sit in the cars.

Masaya Volcano
Some of the line up for Masaya
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A Kayak Tour of Ometepe

One day of rest was enough! Yesterday Lyna and I wanted to get out and see more of the wildlife of the Ometepe Islands. We biked our way to the town(?) of Mérida to meet up with the people at Caballito’s Mar Kayaks for a kayak tour of Ometepe.

Getting to Ometepe

Most people visit Ometepe from Granada or San Juan del Sur. If you’re coming from Granada, here are some tips to get to Ometepe.

Overview of the Day

It was not an easy bike ride or kayak but wow was it worth it. Perfect weather – sun and some wind, and tons of wildlife! I am not an experienced kayaker, so it took me a little while to get the hang of it. For most people, including Lyna, it isn’t hard. The bike ride was also mainly difficult because of the potholed roads and worn bicycles. This isn’t the Alps or anything folks!

Here is a partial list of what we saw: a caiman, turtles, blue herons, monkeys, ospreys, sleeping bats, egrets, ibises, tiger herons, magpie jays, and parakeets. There were more but I can’t remember them!

About the Kayak Tour of Ometepe

The kayak tour took about 3 hours and we paddled from the lake into this beautiful river where we were able to get up close with the birds and other creatures. Once we were in the river, which was very calm and fairly narrow, we went really slowly so we could watch the animals and try to get photos. I did my best! Here are the photos of what we saw on our kayaks.

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