Since the ship was arriving at 11am, we had a leisurely breakfast in the cafe and watched the very impressive volcanos of Nicaragua rise out of the mist and horizon. Ben discovered that the Viking chefs make some very good but sticky sticky buns. As we approached the coastline, our ship passed many large schools of baitfish churning the surface. Ben even saw a billfish thrash its way through one of the larger schools, leaping into the air 3 times. There are plenty of pelicans working these near shore waters.
When the Viking Star has been tied up to the dock, it has always tied up with her starboard side to the dock. We didn’t get to choose our stateroom because we booked on a last minute promotion, but on this particular itinerary (Atlantic to Pacific Panama Canal transit), we would recommend booking a starboard side veranda if possible because the starboard side offered more interesting city views when tied up at the dock, was between the two lanes of traffic in the Panama Canal, and in the shade more often during the heat of the day.
Weather for our visit to Nicaragua was sunny with scattered clouds and temperature inthe lower 90’s. Blazing hot in the sun, and still plenty humid and hot in the shade. We are awfully spoiled traveling in the comfort of our air conditioned cruise ship and tour bus coaches, only having to be exposed to the sun, heat and humidity for relatively brief periods of time. I imagine a land based tour would involve a whole lot more time out in heat and humidity.
Our included shore excursion bundled us onto buses and drove us from our dock in Corinto to the city of Léon, a 2 hour drive through the countryside. Fortunately, the MarcoPolo tourist buses were comfortable and air conditioned. The windows were very darkly tinted, and we didn’t make any photo stops. The main highway was paved, but many side streets are dirt, leading into neighborhoods that look like those we have seen in South America- tightly packed cinderblock and brick structures with rusting steel fences and narrow sidewalks separating their living rooms from the street. Ocasionally you could glimpse someone sitting shirtless just inside their front door, or perhaps just leaning against the doorway as we drove past. It was very hard to get any good pictures of those typical scenes as we drove by.
A very common sight were pedal cabs that combined a pair of benches in front with a bicycle in the back. Much less commonly, a motorcycle would be grafted to where the bicycle usually was. The locals seemed to use these as their local version of Uber.
The countryside is agricultural with the volcanos forming a backdrop. It is not uncommon to see horses and cattle alongside the road. There are even a few horse or donkey drawn wagons in the city streets.
There was a festival getting set up with giant puppets. The date of the actual festival is December 7th and 8th. The puppets are called La Gigantona, and are effigies of the white tall Spanish women who accompianied the conquistadors, and who towered over the native peoples. There is also a basillica on the city square that is a UNESCO world heritage site featuring numerous domes in the roof. We were able to walk up onto the roof to enjoy a view of Léon and the surrounding volcanos. Two of the volcanos were actually smoking in the distance.
There were many vendor stalls around the square, and many storefronts along the streets around the square. Locals were going about their business, or perhaps had come out to gawk at all the white tourists.
The drive home was a bit warmer, but we were given some samples of a Nicaraguan rum and some cold Cokes to keep us happy. We did make a brief photostop with a view of San Cristobal volcano, which dominates the horizon of Corinta and Léon.
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