Day 45 - Leon to Managua via Volcan Momotombo. Last day...

As a last day treat (and to get us back to Managua), we struck a deal with a friendly taxi-driver to take us on a of tour from Leon for a close up of magnificent Volcan Momotombo brooding on the north shore of Lake Managua

Sadly, the camera went on a strike just as we happened upon a group of iguana sellers, gamely waving their wares (often by the tail)
 

Our driver confirmed that these are bred for dinner - sure enough, later we found this :  http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/15/nicaraguans-iguanas-drought-food-crisis 
  
Back in Managua at our home-from-home, Hotel El Conquistador, we went for a last wander as dusk ended our final day

Day 44 - Leon - museums and churches

Leon has almost as many churches as it does museums. Of the museums, we chose the Museum of Folklore, Fables and Fairytales, which turned out to be a bizarre (if slightly amateurish) combination of the stuff of Nicaraguan children's nightmares, with papier mache figures of witches and wizards (both lifesized, and the super-sized kind that put you in mind of It's A Knockout)

 

and (there is an odd symmetry to this - bear with me) it was, between 1921 and (wait for it...) 1979(!!), a prison base to the Guards of the Somoza regime which was responsible for the kidnapping, false imprisonment and torture of dozens of political opponents, many of them students. As well as the more fanciful on the walls and by way of costumes and mock-ups

rooms are dedicated to the memories of the lost, and stark life-sized black-ink-on-white-wall images depict the torture methods which were employed. I've saved you those.

Then, onto San Francisco church - regrettably closed - but which has been sold in part to a hotel chain so... voila El Convento for a very civilised lunch in the cloisters.

After visiting the country's main art gallery (conclusion : modern art is weird the world over), time and energy for one last church, La Recoleccion, reputed to be the loveliest in Leon, especially inside, but again closed...

Fortunately, also quite nice on the outside!
 

Day 43 - Managua to Leon

Great day - another bus (this time a slightly swisher minibus-type rather than one of those yellow ones which did its best years ferrying US schoolkids to and from high school). The driver on our route north to Leon was presumably half-Colombian : you could see him straining to overtake whenever the occasion presented itself but, more often than not, his native Nicaraguan sense prevailed and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

So, to lovely Leon - second city, former capital. Busy busy when we arrived - people going about their business

And a taxi with no ventilation problems at all!

Leon is THE university city of Nicaragua, and spawned all of its great thinkers, poets and dreamers. Lots of tourists but less frantic than Granada.  Also, the largest cathedral in Central America

(allegedly, the miffed Guatemalan architect "mixed up" plans destined for Lima with Leon and a city a fraction of the Peruvian capital got a stonker!) The roof, which you can visit via the bell tower

is startling white (no shoes allowed)

and gives stunning views over the skyline and beyond to the volcanoes of the Maribios Chain of volcanoes.  That's beautiful Volcan Momotombo in the background

And it's stinking HOT up there

Day 42 - Ometepe to Managua

Much calmer morning so everyone was out washing : themselves, their clothes, their livestock

Regrettably that didn't translate to seeing more of the hummingbirds so I had to make do with D in the bougainvillea...

But clear shots of the windfarms on the mainland

Another travelling day, and, if I tell you that a ferry [70Cpp/£1.25, for some last views of Concepcion which show that we didn't appreciate how lucky we were to see her full glory the day we arrived],

two bus trips (San Jorge mainland ferry terminal to local bus-station [10Cpp/25p] and bus back to Managua [50Cpp/£1.25 - for 110km!! : that's how to do it, LUL] and a city taxi [80C - we're finally avoiding the tourist price automatically quoted in US dollars]) totted up to the same as the Ometepe hotel drop-off at the ferry terminal, you'll know that we had a terrifically fun day of public transport.  Sadly all a bit squished and frantic so no photos except for views from bus-windows

Days 40 and 41 - Ometepe

Lazy days.This is a quiet spot. Monday was a easy one with the odd dip, snooze, bird-watching (not that the hummingbirds obliged by sticking around long when they saw my camera!) and admiring the volcanoes from our hotel.

Picnic lunch by the lake, and a pretty sunset. Where does the time go?

At least, on Tuesday, we bestirred ourselves with a scooter to go exploring... 

Everyone here knows that the volcanoes are the lifeblood of their tourism (though I'm less sure about the tinsel!)

 though still be treated with respect!

Life goes on slowly

 

and sometimes you double-take, forgetting that the vast expanse of water isn't the sea

And onto an access road for a close-up...

 

After a great burrito and passion-fruit smoothie lunch in the most unpromising-looking of places, 

a quick walk on the beach

 

Day 39 - Granada to San Jorge to Isla de Ometepe

So, farewell Granada - we successfully negotiated a 30 Cordoba (about 75p), 1.5 hour bus-trip

southwards along Lake Nicaragua, to a port called San Jorge. From there, we hopped on a 

little ferry

(which rolled a bit for the hour-long crossing - surprisingly high winds on the water) to the fabulous Isla de Ometepe.

It's pure Thunderbirds-cum-villians'-secret-lair stuff - two volcanoes (1600m periodically active Concepción on the left, 1400m extinct Maderas to the right - those are just clouds!).  A Concepción eruption way back left a lava trail which joined the two volcanoes to form the figure-of-eight-(lying on its side)-shaped island. Poor old Maderas isn't nearly so lovely as perfectly symmetrical Concepción but fights back with a nature reserve in its foothills and a crater lake at the summit.

A tuktuk to our hotel

and now I'm sitting on our cabana balcony, looking out onto the beach of the lake. It looks very nice...

but varying stories on the status of the freshwater bull shark population (some say hunted last century to near extinction - some report sightings) mean I may keep to just the odd paddle... I've seen examples of the teeth - not taking any chances!

Day 38 - Granada and visit to Las Isletas de Lago de Nicaragua

A stone's throw off the Granada coast is an archipelago of 360-odd islands - with owners as diverse as the Nicaraguan PM, the national rubbish collection magnate, the King of Spain (a gift apparently) and many a collection of local folk. It's all very tranquil...

with interesting birdlife

an island with a fort against pirates from olden times

and one whose sole inhabitants are golden and spider monkeys - though we strongly suspect that regrettably they've been stranded there for tourist "entertainment" as they looked remarkably well-fed and disinterested in the bananas proferred by our guide

Volcan Mombacho glowered in the background and we were glad that we went yday and missed the cloud over

while, from the Lake, you can appreciate quite how many churches Granada has