Blogs from Northern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 24

Last night, a celebration for the Conception of Maria. A group of us meandered down to the Central Park as we heard about 2 zillion fire works go off at 6 last night. We got to the square, and it seems ALL of Leon and MORE showed up for the dancing and the singing and the insanity! Part of the festivities include a huge tall woman who represents the beautiful yet stupid Spainard, and a short clever man who dance. Small boys, probally the age of 8 to 10 dress up in these costumes and dance around all week long, and last night they all gathered together and danced to show off their costumes. After dancing and an insane amount of dangerous fire-works, fire dancers came outa nowhere and gave us a GREAT SHOW! After the ... read more

ENGLISH Leon was another colonial gem but one which boasted nearby volcanoes and beaches, though getting to the beach was a nightmare as we were squeezed onto a busload of nonchalant, moody looking youts. Funnily enough small groups of the same youts were paying us a little too much attention on the beach so we decided going for a swim and leaving our stuff would leave us with no stuff. To confirm our suspicions there was even guy with his family just by us signalling under the quiet that our new 'friends' were light fingered and fleet of foot. In Leon town itself the nightlife was jumping mainly because of the student population. There were plenty of bars and restaurants of all sorts. It still being La Purissima time meant there were parades and street parties ... read more

So, on to Leon now! It took us 2 days to get there and to be honest we were a bit disappointed with our first place in Nicaragua after hearing so much good stuff about the country. To get there we had to do the trip in two journeys. The first got us to Chouluteca in Honduras where we stayed the night in another scummy yet extremely cheap room, but where we did manage to find a Pizza Hut!!! So we obviously chose to eat there…. The next day we got going early and got to Leon about 4 in the afternoon. It’s a really pretty town and very very cheap! We stayed at a place called Big Foot Hostel. It was the first time that we've stayed in a hostel like that. Our room was ... read more

hello everyone, its been a rough couple of days with a few good ones in between. we left from utila and decided to go to copan (also in Honduras) to check out some more ruins. these ones were a lot different then at tikal, the area was a lot more cleared and all and all more to see but definitely not as cool. i was really glad that we went there though. We rode on a hedman alas bus which if anyone ever goes to Honduras then you should checkout since its got a/c and movies so its totally worth not riding the chicken bus. anyway we really liked copan, it was nice and cool, not to expensive and we got to relax for a while before the next crazy day of travel. We were supposed ... read more

Intro to Leon Watch a storm erupt over the cathedral in the plaza, with lightning illuminating the leonine statues guarding the entrance, and you're liable to think you are in an enchanted city. Many of Leon's proud residents would hardly disagree. They are the ones who work and live among the town's cobbled streets, tiny parks and neighborhood churches, and many of them can tell you more than the country's former capital than you'd ever learn visiting the many historic sites here. There is much to discover in Leon, and although its charms are subtler than those you might experience in Granada, for many Leon is the quintessential city of Nicaragua - vibrant and bustling, but deeply connected to the past. History Leon was originally founded in 1524 by Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba at th... read more