However, as of 2002, it was decided that the cacique's actual name was Macuilmiquiztli, which meant "Five Deaths" in the Nahuatl language, somewhat than Nicarao. Originally inhabited by numerous indigenous cultures since ancient instances, the area was conquered by the Spanish Empire within the sixteenth century.
 The city is sufficiently small to cowl in a couple of days on foot with good quality and low-cost museums. Most decent hostels have a kitchen (and there's a big grocery store) and should you're prepared to look around there are good eating out options out there. We really loved listening to some balls-out-on-the-table crazy tales at this curious museum. Set in a former prison - notorious for political prisoners and torture - the building lay abandoned from 1979.
 The Mosquito Coast adopted a unique historic path, being colonized by the English within the 17th century and later coming beneath British rule. It grew to become an autonomous territory of Nicaragua in 1860 and its northernmost part was transferred to Honduras in 1960. https://toymenu40.wordpress.com Since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone intervals of political unrest, dictatorship, occupation and fiscal crisis, together with the Nicaraguan Revolution of the Sixties and 1970s and the Contra War of the Eighties.
 Situated opposite the Cathedral is among the most interesting museums we've ever visited. Not as a result of it homes any nice worth or ancient artefacts, but because this ageing constructing is a living testomony to the battles of the revolution. Within its partitions, riddled with bullet holes and reminiscences, you'll hear historical past directly from people who shaped it. It is a spot where Sandinistas will show you their wounds and explain what they endured and why.
 Situated not too far from the cathedral is one other museum - Galeria de Heroes y Martires, which is well noticed by the murals exterior it . This additionally supplies visitors with an perception into Leon's past and the nation's wars.
 In the previous few years, it has been rehabilitated into internet hosting juxtaposing exhibits of not solely what occurred inside these walls during its time as a gaol, but also specializing in Nicaraguan fairytales, myths and legends. Following the autumn of Anastasio Somozo in the days of the 'new Nicaragua', the humanities proved to be an integral a part of political expression. Seemingly overnight 'mural brigades' unfold throughout the nation - none more so than in Leon, where even after the democratic political defeat of the FSLN within the 1990's they remained untouched, when so many all through Nicaragua were defaced. Whichever story you consider, once you have cast your personal eyes over this vast architectural feat of baroque and neo-classical design, you will simply be glad it was constructed at all. The cathedral is on the epicentre of Leon and you may in all probability cross it several occasions a day.