Gallo Pinto Diaries: Week 3 - Leon, mas tranquillo

So I didn´t have such a good first impression of Leon what with the ´bombas´and yong men in masks, but apparently Leon has to get back to work on Monday mornings just like the rest of us. The rest of the week ended up being pretty darn quiet. A few bombas, lots of drums and a bunch of studying by your author.

I was in Leon for a second week of spanish class. This one was much better than my first. It actually had structure, learn a concept, do a bunch of exercises, lather, rinse, repeat (always repeat). I think i learned a lot. My spanish is definitely improving, although technically, it still really sucks. Tere wants me to write these blog posts in spanish, but no. 1, i don´t have the vocabulary to do it and no. 2 the keyboard i´m typing this on doesn´t have the spanish letters labeled, so it ain´t gonna happen. Lo siento, Tere!

Leon is another colonial town in the mold of Granada. In fact the 2 cities have been at each ohers throat for hundreds of years fighting for supremacy in the country. Unlike Granada, though, Leon sems to be an actual working city vs. a tourist attraction. Hate to say it, but as a tourist, I kinda missed many of the things in Granada, sidewalk cafes, people who were pretty used to tourists and will chat with you and be very patient with your spanish...etc. Leon felt a little closed off to me. What it did have was some wonderful cultural centers.

This part of the world isn´t known for things like art museums, but Leon has a pretty good one, with art ranging from renniasance religous works to modern peices from Nicaragua artists. It even had a few Picassos. Other sites included many things dedicated to Sandino and the martyrs of the revolution. There are still buildings in central leon that were bombed out during the contra war in the 80s, e.g. there is a hulk of a church that nearly completely destroyed but has been left standing as a reminder to the people.