leon, nicaragua

this city is amazing. i would really love to live here. in contrast to granada, which was so touristy and sterile, this place is so alive with actual people and whatever they happen to be doing with their lives. leon is a really progessive city with a major sandanista past. everywhere are che guevara bumper stickers, but right as i´m about to think it´s really typical or something there´s a building for disabled revolutionaries and a bunch of people in wheelchairs trying to get down the street. the spanish school i´m at is really professional and i´m learning so much, although i´m at a frustrating point where i can understand a fair amount but can´t really communicate it back. i´m staying in this awesome house with this woman who´s a dance teacher and her very punk rock 19 year old daughter. i´ve been hanging out with this community development-y guy from london and the "mom" in my house (she's like 40) and last night we all went out to hear some salsa bands play, it was awesome. felt like i actually lived here, aside from the fact that i´m so far behind everyone with my spanish.

ok here are a million photos of leon. the first few are of this torture museum i went to yesterday with the other students at the spnish school. it was really intense, considering people my age were murdered there 26 years ago. below, there is a drawing of someone being dangled off a tree into a well. below that is the tree they were hung from.

here are some shots of the house i am staying in. it´s perfect. this beautiful shabby colonial house with tons of rocking chairs and a gorgeous courtyard that opens into the house. below is sam, the new love of my life and strangest dog i get to stay with. below that is the window in my room. this place is like the kim pierce dream house. i love it.

some snapshots of some amazing churches and murals and scenes around leon. it´s so lovely here. the first shot is of the largest church in central america, which is right off the parque central.

some street shots of leon. in the next photo you can see the school i´m studying at.

today i went to this fortress outside of leon. it was another former prison and from what i got out of the tour, tons of people were killed here.
now teenagers come to make out and drink fanta.