LAS RUÍNAS DE LEÓN VIEJO

The small town of La Paz Centro is a pueblo of artisans who make handicrafts with locally found clay. Their fiestas patronales are September 10th (San Nicolás de Tolentino). Near the center of town, a small Casa de Cultura sells local artwork.

  La Paz Centro is your gateway to the sleepy ruins of Spain’s first settlement in Nicaragua, found in Puerto Momotombo. This well-developed historical site is an easy and worthy day trip from León. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba founded the first León in 1524 and Pedrarias Dávila governed it. Dávila had Hernández de Córdoba decapitated in the town square two years later. In 1610, Volcán Momotombo erupted, burying the site under ash. But León may have already been abandoned, after a series of earthquakes convinced the settlers to look elsewhere for a place to call home. (Momotombo has erupted several times since then, most recently in 1905.)

  Dr. Carlos Tünnerman and a team from the National University (UNAN) first uncovered the ruins in 1966. In 2000, archeologists uncovered the remains of both Córdoba and Dávila and placed them in an on-site mausoleum. León Viejo is now a World Heritage Site. The Nicaraguan Culture Institution has completed some fascinating excavations of the site and has trained many local guides to take you around, most of whom are friendly, enthusiastic, and speak passable English. Entrance is $2, plus a small fee to take photographs or video.

  The site is open seven days a week, with tour guides from 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Catch a bus from León to catch either an 8 a.m. or 11 a.m. connection in La Paz Centro; last return bus from the ruins is 3 p.m. Contact tel. 505/222-2905, ext. 112 for the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura in Managua, or tel. 505/886-2087 for the park center at the ruins.