Leon

OK, you all prepped from yesterday´s history lesson? Good, because the fit is going to hit the shan so to speak. I´m in Leon right now, and am hoping to leave for the Corn Islands on Sunday. Remember how Somoza I was assassinated here back in ´57? Well, the ruling elite never forgot it, and as a result, Leon suffered terribly during the Civil War. As a result, moreso than any other place I´ve been in Nicaragua, the wounds of the conflict seem fresh. The city is scattered with memorials, statues, murals, museums, FSLN flags, and other monuments to the War, particularly the fallen. Some of my favorite murals include one of Sandino with his foot on the head of Somoza, who is rendered as a dog, and its partner, a Sandinista with its head on Tio Sam (Uncle Sam), who is also rendered as a dog. Also there is a 30 foot high mural of brave soldiers doing battle with a dragon who is emerging from a helmet clearly marked ¨CIA.¨ I also visited the ¨Museo de Heroes y Matires¨(Museum of Heroes and Martyrs), which was devastating in its simplicity. It shared a building with a tailor, and it was comprised of little more than photographic portraits of each and every person from Leon to fall fighting for freedom. The dates stretched back to the earliest days of anti Somoza resistance in the 1950s, and went all the way through the Sandanista victory. I found its specificity to be particularly captivating, this wasn´t an abstract representation of the horrors of war, rather it was specific names, faces, and dates. I then visited the Museum of Folklore and Legends. The folklore it described was rather interesting, but its location was most fascinating of all. It is housed in El XXI, (The 21st Barracks) a former National Guard prison where horrible human rights abuses were commited. The walls were covered with pictures of water boardings, electrocutions, and beatings, and when I realized that I was litterally in the actual place where these events occured, I had to leave.

Today I went ¨Volcano Surfing¨on Cerro Negro,
Central America´s newest volcano. New in the sense that 150 years ago it did not exist. At first it was only about 15 meters high, but today, after pretty regular eruptions (the last was in 1999, hmmmmm...) every eight years or so, it stands nearly 800 meters tall. We hiked up the back face of it (don´t worry rock lovers, you´re taken care of) and in a little over an hour were staring down into its steaming, sulfrous crater. The air reeked, and if you dug into the sand an inch or so, the ground would be too hot to touch. Later, we made our way to the front face of the crater. The tour was billed as ¨Volcano Surfing,¨but volcano sledding would be a much better name for it. We were given tobbogan like devices with which to hurtle ourselves down the (I´m no geometry whiz) 70 to 80 degree slope of the front of the volcano. We were also eqipped with orange prison style jumpsuits to protect our skin, and high school chemisty safety goggles to protect our eyes. To accomplish this feat, we basically had to aim ourselves downhill, and let gravity take care of the rest. You were supposed to use your legs to balance yourself, but I still managed to wipe out several times. The face was not black sand like the descent of Misti (yes I just linked to myself, so what? I´ve been linking all over the place, why shouldn´t I get in on the action?), but rather tiny, black, pinky nail sized volcanic rocks. Unfortunately, the legs of my suit were a little short, so I got pretty bad road (volcano?) burn on the back of both calves.
I suppose that´s just the universe restoring balance to itself as I had manged to go the entire summer thus far without sustaining a similar kickball injury as I had in each of the previous three summers. Looks like I´ll be heading to the ocean and a nice salt water soak just in time. I´ll upload pictures when I get the chance...