Leon, Nicaragua

We avoided San Salvador and hitched all the way to Perquin in the northern mountains near the Honduras border.  This area was a stronghold of the revolutionary FMLN forces during the civil war and is the location of the Museum of the Revolution at the site of one of the old camps.  We were able to camp there at the museum for only a dollar each.  The museum was created in 1992 immediately at the end of the war by some of those who fought in the war and still staff it today.  It receives no state funding at all and it was really interesting chatting with one of the guys there who drew a clear separation between the various guerrila factions united as the FMLN and the political party of the same name formed after the ceasefire (for example, he told us that of the thirteen commanders during the war only two joined the party that formed after the war).  The museum was a modest building and featured many weapons, both those used by guerrillas and those captured from the national forces.  There was the wreckage of the helicopter of the nationalist commander who oversaw the massacre at nearby El Mozote, where the U.S. trained division rounded up, tortured, raped and executed the village's entire population of 900 men, women and children.  The U.S. government at the time said no such thing had taken place and that El Salvador's forces respected human rights.  The local government offered an apology for the massacre last year.  The camp, with its trenches and hidden kitchen and medical tent was still in place as was the local radio station of the FMLN in the area which was a target of the nationalist forces (though how you conflate that with raping children I'm not sure).  Overall it was really interesting and talking to people there really informative.  One person there had also been in Nicaragua during the revolution and the (U.S. created and paid for) insurgency there and he was very scathing of the current president Daniel Ortega, criticising him for living in a palace, and the museum of the revolution in Leon, Nicaragua (more on which later) as little more than "government history".

Mortars at the museum

It was cooler up in the mountains (though not the "very cold" the people of the lowlands insisted it was) and in addition to the museum we wandered around the village, making the most of the delicious pupusas mentioned earlier and found somewhere selling real, strong coffee, which made J very happy.  Contrary to what you might think its not very common.  Coffee is grown in this part of the world and exported and day to day most people drink weak instant.

We set off towards the Rio Sapo that our Couchsurf in Suchitoto had told us about.  After a lift from the local (incredibly bored) cops and a bus down somewhere more gravel hillside than road, we were dropped off and walked 1.5km to a completely empty campsite right on the river.  We tramped to the nearest houses to see if we could buy water or food (which we could and did, thank goodness every second house is a tienda (small store)) and by the time we returned some other people had come for the weekend and the guy who minds the site was back.  There was a pan there as well as matches, so we enjoyed hot meals for dinner and breakfast, as well as swimming in the cold, but clear river.  The landscape was really gorgeous up there, but we didn't take photos as they can't capture the sounds and smells and light that makes somewhere so magical and peaceful.

Deciding to try and make it to Nicaragua by Christmas, we left after just a night at the river and hitched down to the Hondruan border.  We've come to the conclusion that it is quite hard to hitch from border points as buses outnumber cars and people just think you want the bus.  With only about 130km of Honduras to cross we just bussed it, and raced the (ridiculously early) nightfall to make it through and into Leon, Nicaragua by half past eight, even with all the border faff and paperwork.

Our Couchsurf lives 20km out of Leon on the coast and went out there to pitch our tent 50m from the Pacific Ocean.  The water is warm and the waves very powerful and we have dashed ourselves against them several times now.

Our host is really nice and keeper of a fair menagerie of animals including dogs, a horse, chickens, cats and a baby raccoon, who was taken to her by someone who found him abandoned.

His name is Pancho and he is a crazy, never-still, banana-fixated dude.

Christmas day consisted of lots of reading and chilling in hammocks,

drinking from (and then eating the flesh of) fresh coconuts, swimming in the aforementioned warm ocean and a dinner of plantain, yuca and coconut with lime juice!  It was very satisfying overall.

Today we came back into Leon and looked round the museum dedicated to Ruben Dario, the celebrated poet who is buried in the central Cathedral under a very upset looking marble lion.  The cathedral itself is the largest in Central America, built over 113 years.  We also went to the Museum of the Revolution we'd been told about, (apparently also known as Museum of the Treasons, though I imagine not to its face).  Like in El Salvador it was staffed by (and seemed home to) many old veterans of the war.  It is located in an old, crumbling presidential palace.  Also like El Salvador, it received no governmental funding.  However while the one in Perquin seemed glad of this, our guide in Leon simply said the government had other priorities, though it was regrettable.

Tomorrow we are going to slide down a volcano on a giant skateboard.  As you do.  Hopefully we will survive this and let you know how it goes.