Matagalpa to Leon

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I really wish I had the ability to sleep past 630am. Oh well! I got up and walked around town. I like seeing the towns first thing in the morning. It's always more peaceful. Plus I like to just watch the town wake up while I walk in search of coffee. This morning I had someone ask me for directions so that was kinda funny.
But, since it's Sunday, nothing is open & doesn't look like it's going to open any time soon. Shoot.

Went back to our hotel & we got packed up for our bus ride to Leon. We bought a couple little pastries from the grocery store across the street & walked to the bus terminal. It's already hot & it is only 830 in the morning. Whew. We walked into the bus terminal & ,apparently our bus luck is still with us, we were promptly directed to a mini-bus (mini-van) headed directly for Leon. The lovely thing about their bus system here is that they only sell enough seats to properly cram you into the bus. Not like Guatemala where you are absolutely packed like sardines or a clown car. I do not miss that. We were seated 4 across in a row but it was just fine. Hot, but not too cramped. We arrived in Leon in about 2.5 hot, sweaty hours.

We caught a cab & headed to a hostel that was recommended to us by Peter. The cab driver was super nice, as are most Nicaraguans we've encountered, and he gave us his name & told us to get in touch with him if we needed any help with anything. He's also a lawyer & his dad is a city councilman. Seriously, most people are just so gracious & kind here. It's almost unbelievable but it happens so consistently & in so many different circumstances. I hope it continues!

At our hostel, Bigfoot, we got settled & then headed into town to find food. The city is pretty quiet today because it's Sunday. Lot's of stores are closed & traffic on the streets is almost non-existent. After walking around in the baking sun for a bit we found a little bar that was also serving food. I had fried fish strips & Geoff had a grilled flat steak. It was good. After lunch we walked around town a bit. We went to the Cathedral which is the oldest one built in Central America. It took 100 years to build & looks like they haven't done much upkeep on the outside since its original construction. But the inside was very pretty. Leon is another Spanish colonial town with cathedrals in every neighborhood & lots of buildings quaintly painted in different pastels, with cobblestone streets.

Once we were completely overheated we headed back to our hostel to find some shade for a bit. We sat in the hostel for the rest of the afternoon. Even in the shade it's too hot. I keep asking locals if they consider this hot & they all tell me that it gets hotter as summer goes on. Yikes. Roasty toasty & we are sweating buckets.

After the sun set we headed out to buy some dinner supplies. At the Supermercado we bought some garlic (imported from China of all places, when we are in the middle of Nicaragua's farming communities?? Confusing.) & onions for our spaghetti we plan to cook. There's also WA apples everywhere. We also bought a few beers. I watched one guy grab a beer, open it, and continue pushing his cart full of groceries around. Not a bad idea really. As usual we waited in line forever. We forgot to adhere to our pre-planned attack where one of us would get in line upon walking into the grocery store & the other would go in search of groceries. Oh well, instead we spent some quality time (approximately 25 minutes) in line with only 2 people in front of us. What takes so long to ring up groceries in these countries I will never understand but at least it is consistent & not a surprise anymore. Just our own fault for forgetting the plan...

We cooked a lovely spaghetti dinner & just relaxed in the hostel for the evening. We talked with some Australians for a bit & listened to their entertaining drunken stories from the night before. They had purchased blue & red coveralls & apparently broke into teams, based on overall color, & had a very silly night. They were sporting their coveralls tonight too. Pretty funny. We did not join them in their outing to the bars, instead we went to bed. I think we're exhausted from the heat.... Wimps!

But honestly, our room is like a brick oven. No ventilation & cement walls. It feels like an oven. Thank goodness they provide a fan, which we had blowing directly on us all night.

Goodnight & welcome sweaty sleep.

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Photos

Catedral
Largest Cathedral in Central America.

A local kid asked me to take a picture of his hands.
While I was getting a shot of an Iglesia. He loved the pic & so did I.