Day Trip To León

On a Saturday, I woke up at 5:30am with a busload of other students from the Mariposa Spanish School for day trip to León, Nicaragua. All I knew about it at that point was, a) it’s old b) you can go volcano boarding.

Our first stop was the main cathedral in town. I’m not going to lie, when they first said we were going to the church I wasn’t sure how great it would be. As anyone who has travelled can tell you – you can definitely get church/temple/museum fatigue after a while. I was told we had to pay $3 to go to the roof of the church, while climbing up I thought to myself that it had better be a great view – and man was I blown away. It was like stepping into another world. It was the most stunning roof I’ve ever seen. The shapes of the domes and railings, gleaming white, against an extremely blue sky with textured clouds, a volcano in the distance – I could never have dreamed it. I completely understand why this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Unfortunately such a gorgeous place also had a very sordid history, as snipers used to shoot and kill people from the same roof during the 1978 civil war between the government and the Sandinista guerrillas. Being in Nicaragua as a tourist, I had no idea they’ve only had peace in the county for a few decades now. There really aren’t any vestiges of it (that I can see or feel as an outsider.)

If you’re in Nicaragua it’s definitely worth a day in León. Take a look below.