February 3-6: León, Nicaragua
Trip Start
Jan 13, 2009
1
10
26
Trip End
Apr 09, 2009
Leon,
Nicaragua
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Walked all over and finally decided on a nice place with a really pretty courtyard called Via Via. Joel and Andrea are staying in a $15/night private room and Joseph and I elected to stay in the $5/each dorm, which is pretty nice aside from the drunken Australians who wander back home at about 3 in the morning.
We went to an optometrist to get Andrea's eyes checked (60 cordobas, 3 dollars) and then got her some new glasses (about $80 US with the exam, frames, antireflective lenses, and expedited service). She had lost her old pair in Alaska and didn't want to pay the $250-300 it would have cost for a new pair in the US. They should arrive Thursday. *If anyone ever loses their glasses, it may actually be cheaper to fly to Central America to get a new pair.
(Feb. 4: Las Peņitas) Went to a beach about an hour away called Las Peņitas. It was gorgeous and there were hardly any people there. Joseph and I swam across a channel and on the other side there was not a soul. Joel and Andrea walked the other way since Joel didn't have swim trunks. After coming back across the channel we walked the other direction down the beach and it went on for miles. We went swimming (which for me really felt more like drowning). The water temperature was perfect and the waves were ideal for boogie boarding. Since we didnīt want to spend the money on renting boogie boards we just jumped up and down when the waves came and were entertained. The last wave, however, was huge and broke right on top of us, dragging me completely under for about 45 seconds and giving me a good gulp full of salt water. Still had fun though.
We then walked to a beachside cabana called Playa Rocas and had nice cold soda and split a chicken sandwich. We had the whole upstairs of the cabana to ourselves.
We walked back to the road and the bus came just as we arrived. That night we got a big pizza that tasted American (yum!) and only cost about $2 each. A nice benefit to traveling with friends is the ability to buy in bulk and save (though they haven't quite taken to the bulk discount concept here like they have in the States).
That night we slept great until our 4 Australian roommates came home around 3am. They kept dropping things and were talking very loudly, but we didn't mind since we had gone to bed early and weren't all that tired. We were certain they were quite drunk when one of them ran into Joseph's bed several times and then proceeded to climb ONTO Joseph's bed to adjust the fan. This is when it got annoying: He changed the oscillating fan, which is meant to cool down 4 people, to where it only fanned him!!! How rude! Joseph then asked him if he could change it back and, being drunk, the guy was so busy tangling himself in his mosquito net that he totally ignored Joseph's question. Joseph asked again and, receiving no response, just did it. Not sure if they will remember anything tomorrow but if I were them I'd be very embarrassed. They were nice and friendly during the day so we're attributing all of their rudeness to complete intoxication.
(Feb. 5) Joseph's birthday! Joe turned 26 today and has had a pretty uneventful birthday. We got up and walked around the city looking at the cathedrals we hadn't been to yet. We went to a buffet for lunch (which in Nicaragua is more like a cafeteria, where you pick and choose what you want and pay accordingly). These actually turn out to be a great deal. Today we got canneloni, pasta, rice, a tortilla (oh yeah carbs!) and a Pepsi for 45 cordobas, about $2.25 US).
To be continued...
