San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
We took a long ride to Granada (about 90 minutes by bus). This colonial city has not changed much since the Spaniards conquered the local people and established the city in 1524.. Along the road, familiar tropical plants are abundant, such as sugar cane, bananas, and papayas:
Churches are everywhere also, ruined, old and new.
We
were told that Sister Maria Romero (her statue with a child) was here and
did her work and is now the only person being considered for canonization by the
church in Central America. Since I had never heard about her, I came back and
checked on her on the web. And I found out that she died in 1977 (born in 1902)
and that she was a music teacher involved with some social work.
"The opening of the diocesan process of Sor Maria Romero came on November 18th of 1988. During the years 1988 through 1992, conducted the sessions declarations of the witnesses cited by the Court of the cause of canonization, with the headquarters of the Provincial Court House in San Jose FMA. Witnesses called to testify to the fame of holiness of Sister Maria Romero were 50, and six ex officio witnesses."
It remains to be seen if she will have a chance to be a saint or not!
A
courtyard garden in an hotel near the center of town
One of the zapatera statues (800 to 1200 A.D) in the old San Francisco Convent,
near the town center. This statue is called a Jaguar man. It is pretty crude,
compared to similar ones in China,
but they are certainly of historical value.
This
is the name of our port. There is generally a village of vendors for visitors.
We found some nice hand-made goods.
To our next stop