La Paz Centro

Quesillo is a soft white cheese wrapped in a thick tortilla with pickled onions, cream and a little vinegar, served in a plastic bag that you squeeze from the bottom, and La Paz Centro claims it: stalls line the highway through the town and buses stop so that passengers can buy one through the window. The cheese is made locally and the town's other trade is bricks and roof tiles, fired in kilns whose smoke hangs over the road. Nearby is the Momotombo volcano and the ruins of León Viejo, and the road continues to León. There is nothing else to stop for, and the quesillo is genuinely better here than the versions sold elsewhere, which is the whole point of the town's reputation.

The main sights

• Quesillo stalls - the roadside line of vendors through the town.
• The eating method - the bag squeezed from the bottom, no cutlery.
• Brick and tile kilns - the town's other industry alongside the road.
• Momotombo behind - the volcano rising north of the highway.

When to go

December to April for the roads. Stalls work through the day and are busiest around bus times. It is a stop of twenty minutes on the drive between Managua and León.

Things to know

The town is a highway strip with nothing else to see. Hygiene at roadside stalls varies, so the busy ones with high turnover are the safer choice. The kiln smoke is heavy. Quesillo is rich and filling and not to everyone's taste.

Nearby

León Viejo and Momotombo lie north; León is northwest.

Key facts