Farewell León

Well, after 3 months, I finally packed up my things and left León. There are still some places I want to see in Nicaragua so last week I made the quick trip to the immigration office in Managua to extend my visa an extra 30 days. Originally, I was suposed to exit the country on Oct 3rd but this was too much of a rush. I think I spent more time in taxi cabs than in immigration as the process to get an extension was almost as easy as ordering from a fast food joint. And the taxis themselves were an adventure ... my first driver had a habit of looking to see where we had just come from rather than where we were going. This resulted in a paint scraping side swipe of another cab. Angry facial expressions were the only exchange between drivers as seconds later we almost ran down a fearful, wide eyed pedestrian. I think I said "ten cuidado"(be careful) and pointed at some obstacle or other collision causing device 10 times in the first minute with that driver. At least his brakes worked. My return to the bus terminal was in a taxi without shock absorbers. The driver maintained an extremely slow pace as even the smallest bump in the road would send the car into an unstoppable fit of bouncing down the street. That ride ended a block away from the bus terminal with a flat tire.

.01 Finally finished

Last week, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook the whole Pacific Coast of Nicaragua and I felt it all. It is amazing how the earth can just move under your feet.

.02 Housewarming/going away party

Quetzaltrekkers, the organization I volunteered at in León, just moved their office into a new house and had a housewarming party combined with sort of a going away party for me. It was a lot of fun and I was the victim of my first piñata. This also gave me a chance to say goodbye to the many people I know here. The time I spent here has been great but there´s so much more to see.

I´m in Granada now and will use this as a home base for exploring some other parts of Nicaragua until I cross the border into Costa Rica.

.03 Last photo with the QT group