Hotel Cafe Leon

... you start at the top and board down the volcano. Using your feet to steer and brake, you can go down the volcano as fast or as slow as you would like. If you´re really adventerous, then you go for the speed record -- the best so far is somewhere around 50mph. John got to try this (the boarding, not going for the speed record) and had a very enjoyable morning. His top speed was clocked at 27 miles per hour. Other than a ...

... Lyndsey briefly at Bigfoot Hostel, but they were both well on their way with rum and Al and I were not feeling in the drinking mood so we went back to the hostel and watched tv.

The next morning we were woken up by an air raid siren. Yup you read it right, an air raid siren. Apparently the siren was used to call everybody to work in the plantations around the area and they never seemed to have stopped it. Serves as a good alarm for getting up at 7am though! Once ...

... Virgin. It did not blow so now, 50 years later on the same day, they pay homage to her.
The next day we got up early to head to the volcano for Devin's 
birthday present. After a wonderful hike up, with amazing panoramic 
views, we got ready to 'board' down. It's actually more like a slide 
down since it's near impossible to get an edge and stand up. They are working on a new design for the board so once you can actually board down I'll ...

The drive to Playa Las Penitas was a mix of gravel and newly paved roads, across farmland that had views of 15 Volcanoes in the area. We arrived in this quiet town, which hugged a small bay, mid-afternoon. It was a small fishing village but was slowly being transformed into a tourist destination. There were a couple of hostels, a small store and a few restaurants available. We found a great spot right in the middle town with views of the bay and ...

(Pictures of Managua come before those of Leon, though I talk about Leon first.)


Well, I´m on a roll with these entries, so I´ll keep them comin´.

From Perquin, El Salvador, I headed across two borders to the beautiful colonial town of Leon, Nicaragua. In all I ended up staying 4 days, and could´ve easily spent more time. It´s just such a pleasant place to stay in! The first few days were spent hanging around, visiting different sights and the like. Of note is their ...

... travelling from Granada to Leon and the Beach. Dusty gravelroads, hard buses, delay, hot like hell, smell and other surroundings make your journey to a pleasure like First Class Travelling... pah... On the Beach I was pretty disappointed because it was very citylike, much hats, more like Barrios and the ocean was totally wild, rocky and no ome was evem touching the water... so surfing, no swimming... In the evening I drank a Bananamilkshake at the ...

Had a tip that lazy bones hostel was good but after getting the taxi there realised it was way out of our budget so opted for bigfoot as the room was off a court yard and it seemed nice however the walk between the two was a bit much as becca still wasn´t feeling right. After one night of sweating in the room which had a low ceiling we swapped to via via across ...

... he is a great guy
too! A definite must have resource in Nicaragua. We head back to Playa
Roca and discuss business, real estate, and future opportunities over a
couple of rum and Cokes.
After I'm done with Mauricio, I then decide
to take in some more waves. I catch some good surf for an hour or so
before the sun starts to set. Time for dinner again. Max and I strike
up a conversation ...

We are back in Matagalpa after spending 2 days in the lowlands (hot,hot,hot!) Rented a car since there was no bus service and drove 2 1/2 hours to the city of Leon, another colonial city although more shabby than Granada. Many Catholic prosessesions through town as Semana Santa week is coming to an end. We found a neighborhood that was doing paintings with wet sawdust in the streets and then in the evening they have a procession through the streets and walk all over their ...