Day 16, 17: Leon

Trip Start Nov 2007
1
23
33
Trip End Dec 2007


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Flag of Nicaragua  ,
Sunday, December 2, 2007

Mel and i spent the last 2 days in Leon, Nicaragua. Leon is a traditionally liberal city with statues and memorials to the Sandanista revolution all over town. (And graffitied in the main square is ĻGenocidal Bush: Death to the Imperial InvaderĻ... hmm.) Itīs also a university town, hosting one of the 3 public universities in Nica. Students are scurrying around all over the place here. Across from me right now is a student studying a circuit board while sitting at his computer in the cafe.

So far, Mel and I like this place alot. Itīs still a beautiful, spanish colonial city but itīs also seems bit wealthier and more urban than Granada. The supermarket looks more like a US market and more stuff is sold in īstoresī, as opposed to street vendors. Frankly, it kinda seems like an american university town.

There isnīt much tourist infrastructure here though. Almost no one speaks English, there are few nicer restaurants and only one laundry mat in town... and i managed to piss off the woman who works there yesterday! (A sign on the wall said 40 centavos for wash and the woman tried to charge me 40 cordobas... However, 40 centavos is less than a 2 cents so i should have figured out that those werenīt the right prices! When i asked the woman whether she was charging me a different price than others she had me ask 2 other customers and they agreed that i was being charged the right amount. it was a bit embarassing and the woman just wouldnīt let it go... making snippy comments the whole time i remained there! Oh well.

Last night, mel and i had dinner late and got to see a bit of the leon night life. People get really dressed up here when they go out (and the women look great ;). Itīs fun to see. No one was drinking heavily so the atmosphere was jovial and the weather perfect (felt in the upper 70īs at night).

Today, we looked in vain for the 2nd day for a spanish school and after that we hit a local art museum. WOW! We seemed to be the only people in the museum but it was big and amazing. There was a huge variety of top quality art including several picassos and we had the 20 or so rooms all to ourselves.

ok, time for a lazy afternoon nap. later all, steve
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