We went to Leon for a day to tour the city and the churches. On our way I missed the road I wanted. The Nicaraguan government fails to post adequate signage on the highways and rods, so unless you have a very good sense of direct, don’t drive any distance in this country or you’ll end up in Honduras or Costa Rica! So I just took another road, it should have been hard pavement but it seems that on Sunday they decide to do ‘mucho’ construction. Dirt, gravel, ruts, etc. What a drive. At some points I was driving through famer fields (a loose term here) to follow the detours. Thank goodness I had a sturdy truck. The drive from Estelí to Leon took about three hours. I figured we would stop for breakfast along the way but I had to wait till we got to the ESSO service centre in Leon. It was identical and as modern as any ESSO service centre in Canada or the US.
The trip to Leon was similar to driving the High Plains desert in the western US. Very dry, somewhat mountainous and a lot of scrub bush. I am not sure how the people survived there as it did not look like it would sustain life very well and water appeared scarce, but the Nicaraguan people are resilient. Along the way I passed through small towns and past several pottery studios and businesses where they make the bricks and roof tile by hand. It’s an ancient method used throughout the world in third world countries, whereas they dig the clay, mix it with sand and sawdust or other material, then build the bricks into their own kiln and fire them. It seems everyone uses them for building everything from bread ovens to houses. They are very soft and rough compared to the bricks you can get in Canada.
After some very rough driving we made it to Leon but had to ask for directions to the center of town to find the Cathedral. It’s about 100 degrees F today in Leon!
The trip to Leon was similar to driving the High Plains desert in the western US. Very dry, somewhat mountainous and a lot of scrub bush. I am not sure how the people survived there as it did not look like it would sustain life very well and water appeared scarce, but the Nicaraguan people are resilient. Along the way I passed through small towns and past several pottery studios and businesses where they make the bricks and roof tile by hand. It’s an ancient method used throughout the world in third world countries, whereas they dig the clay, mix it with sand and sawdust or other material, then build the bricks into their own kiln and fire them. It seems everyone uses them for building everything from bread ovens to houses. They are very soft and rough compared to the bricks you can get in Canada.
After some very rough driving we made it to Leon but had to ask for directions to the center of town to find the Cathedral. It’s about 100 degrees F today in Leon!
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