3rd April 2015 – Granada to Leon

We have a late departure at 11:00 am today so we get up and go for a 45 minute walk through town & down to the lake that Granada is on. It’s quite windy and warm at 7:00 am and the town is very quiet after last nights celebrations. People are gradually starting to clean up and sweep up the rubbish that last nights crowds left behind. It’s Good Friday and there is a procession through town with a a band playing very solemn funereal music and 2 religious effigies being carried, one depicting Jesus carrying the cross and the other of the Virgin Mary. The crowd gathers on the top steps of one of the many Catholic Churches in town as the 2 effigies approach each other from opposite sides of the church and meet at the base of the stairs. The priest then starts to conduct a service. The plaza slowly comes to life again with market and food stalls opening up. We only have a 137 kilometer drive to our destination of Leon however we have to drive around the capital Managua and we are lead car today so Kay has to concentrate on her navigating. The road from Granada to Managua is a good concrete road all the way but it is built up and the speed limit is only 80kph. This area has many volcanoes so although the vegetation is dry and scrubby looking the volcanoes in the distance add some interest.The buses in Nicaragua are the same as in other Central American countries, old and colourful. Another popular mode of transport is to stand up in the back of a ute, which must be a challenge at 100 kph! With the overnight first class transportation in the back of a truck they provide hammocks to sleep in. During the day they squeeze in about 40 people in the back of a small truck. Nicaragua is a poor country the houses are quite small, there are a lot of horses and carts in use and there are dogs wandering everywhere.We arrive at out hotel at 1:30 pm. We spend the afternoon inside as its so hot out, Michael cleans the car and we go out after 5 pm into the centre of town. As we approach a huge church we can see a large crowd gathering out the front and then the music starts. A procession comes out of the church with 4 effigies which look like one of the 12 apostles, Virgin Mary, Jesus and Mary Magdalen. The process files past us and continues down the road. Whereas this morning the effigy of Jesus he was carrying the cross tonight he is laying in an open casket after the crucifixion.ÿ There has been a week of religious processions, each one re-enacting a specific event in the final week of the life of Jesus. Leon has some nice murals in one of their squares.