We’ve fallen so far behind in documenting our travels, and we’ve done soooo much in that time, that it’s overwhelming to sit here after what has actually been 7 weeks and try to figure out where to start with all the weeks I haven’t covered yet! Thankfully photo documentation was plentiful and serves as the outline for my memories to keep our timeline straight.
Weekend 3: Leon
Leon is the second-largest city in Nicaragua (after the capital, Managua), and was the originally capital city starting in colonial times when founded by the Spanish; therefore it has a lot of historical and political importance, and is a usual stop in getting to know the country.
What to love about Leon: beautiful old architecture, especially the cathedral. There are tour guides to tell all about the history of the cathedral (which Denver heard, and I mostly spent chasing Cheyenne and trying to keep her from lying in the middle of the floor or climbing through the barriers to the temptingly fun-looking nativity scene up front), and then you can pay to climb up to the rooftop and walk around to see the view of the city and the details of the architecture up close. My favorite is trying to capture different angles of certain interesting parts of a building framed by sky and clouds, so I enjoyed the rooftop photography the most! And while in a culturally-famous city I’m sure there are many great restaurants to get some wonderful authentic Nicaraguan meals, we were with our children…so where did we eat lunch? Pizza Hut. Which is what they would say was their favorite part of the tour of Leon.
What not to love about Leon: The city is STINKING HOT! We get spoiled by the beautifully temperate climate in Masaya and especially La Mariposa with all the trees for fresh air and shade, so the temperature difference in the region of Leon is a shocker (more than 10 degrees hotter, plus lots of city concrete and few trees), so come prepared with the sunscreen, sunglasses, and lots of water! We ended up spending a couple hours of the afternoon at a nearby beach area in Leon rather than touring more of the city, which was more fun for our children, but still crazy hot and sand burning their feet, bigger waves and shorter stretch of beach to the water, so we personally recommend the beach at La Boquita (which is our trip the 4th weekend, next post).
Also weekend 3: Old Friends
What to love about Nicaraguan people: It only takes a couple of days together to feel like family and be welcomed back months after first meeting as if you had always been friends. When Denver and I first traveled to Nicaragua in February 2018 to scout out plans for this trip, we spent one weekend in a Homestay with a family in La Concha during our time visiting La Mariposa. They quickly made us feel at home in their home and we became fast friends with their teenage son with Down Syndrome, who loved coloring and telling us all about his collection of model animals. When preparing to return this December, I made sure to pick up a coloring book and a new set of plastic animals of North America to bring Daryl for Christmas. His father Julio had invited our family to come tour a citrus farm (lots of Mandarin and orange trees in harvest, as well as rows and rows of pineapple and dragon fruit) owned by his friend on Sunday, so that morning we got to bring Daryl his presents. His joy opening these two simple gifts and lovingly carrying them around was priceless, and made an impact on our children as well.
Week 3-4: Life in La Mariposa
Things to Love: Pizza making day. One this special day of the month when we get homemade pizza for dinner, the children were super excited to participate in the pizza-making class. The La Mariposa cooks helped them chop toppings, mix the dough, knead and roll it, and each assemble toppings (Homemade sauce, lots of veggies, lots of cheese) on pizzas that would be dinner for everyone that evening!
FURRY things to love: So. Many. Contented dogs lounging everywhere. The newly-rescued grey kitten, just starting to get braver and more adventurous, became a special family favorite during the last half of our stay, often inviting herself into our room to play or sprawl on our bed for a while before we went to sleep. And Chica the sweet old Spider monkey who just wants someone to come hold her hand, and walking down to their cage just to sit and hold her hand and stroke her arm for a while was calming for me too. (While Paulette would love all wild animals like these monkeys to live free, the ones who live here had been kept in captivity for too long before they were turned over to La Mariposa, so they can no longer be safely released to fend for themselves, so they give them the best care they can here).
More to love about fellow students: This week brought Jacob, a young man who has been coming with his parents to La Mariposa since he was a much smaller boy, over multiple years, and now as a 14-year-old came alone for a couple weeks to work as an intern and learn about how the business is run. He is well known by all the staff, has a homestay family he has lived with multiple times, speaks great Spanish, and independently jumps right in to life at the school (he is also tenacious enough to figure out how to bring the puppy, Pecas, home to Florida with him at the end of his stay, which also gave our children all kinds of ideas…) Seeing how Jacob come on his own as a teenager was especially inspiring for our children, and started them already thinking about how they want to return to help at La Mariposa when they are older; Quinten already has a plan to bring a group of friends on a school trip when he is in high school!
And I can’t forget: My handcrafted ceramic flowerpot chicken. What’s not to love? (You know you want one too).
