http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Nicaragua , Leon en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:38:18 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:38:18 BST ...is all we ate today until about an hour ago.Welcome to our typical on the road day. I have decided that if i had lots of money to spend on helping this part of the world I would educate the people on proper nutrition. The food is the only thing I have been disapointed in and thats a big one for someone who loves to eat as much as I do They have plenty of fruit and veggies growing yet it i http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-303407.html I woke up early this morning and decided to take a walk in the relatively cool morning breeze. It was Sunday and although it was only six churches were already open and the sound of hymns filled the air. I made my way down to the Central Park and settled myself on a bench infront of the Cathedral. The steady sound of a sermon rang in the park pigeons chirped and I could hear the small hum of t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-297526.html We landed in Managua yesterday and took a taxi directly to the colonial city of Leon. From the airplane window I was struck by the complete greenness of the country. A tropical rainforest spread out before the tiny airplane window and it was only at the last minute that a small cluster of buildings appeared. Leon maintains a gritty romanticism. The buildings are riddled with bullet holes and c http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-297513.html My pants were stolen not while I was wearing them from the clothes line and my camera is broken. Grrrrr...On the plus side I did get to see something today that makes NY cab drivers look perfectly docile on the microbus ride from Granada to Masaya another microbus edged in on my drivers route which caused him to park diagonally across the highway blocking a very important shipment of Fl http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-295104.html Day 226 Plan CSo the more observent amongst you will notice that I haven't actually made it to Ometepe. In fact I think I might have completely scrapped that idea and am instead planning on meeting up with the dutch girls again on the Corn Islands. They head out there this morning and since it's meant to be really beautiful and I do need some sea and sun before I go home I've decided to join http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-293878.html Said our farewells to Rene and Li Nhi at Rivas they departed for the Tica Bus heading south we went in the opposite direction on yet another chicken bus our backpacks ended up on top of a load of dirty vegetables.Read good reviews about two hostels in Granada the Bearded Monkey and Oasis one a bit more lively than the other. We plumped for the quieter Oasis especially when one traveller decl http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-293698.html I traveled from San Juan del Sur to Rivas by taxi then a bus to Managua. From Managua a bus to Len. Len is a nice city with many shops and markets. I stayed at a hostel called Big Foot. Big Foot has a little swimming pool tasty caf with inexpensive food and a bar. The hostel is close to the center of town a grocery store and cinema. They also organize trips to go volcano boarding which is http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-287426.html Hello EverybodyHow are we all...havent heard much recentlyWe are currently in Leon in the North West of Nic. we started in San Juan del Sur after i wrote the last blog...took a very long journey there having much trouble at the borders. Thank goodness for other travellers who can speak SpanishIt is very very hot here. 3334 degrees every day hardly if any rain I cant remember. we spent a d http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-287019.html kann noch gar nicht viel sagen grad mal angekommen.. wie immer heftige reise.. diesmal auch teuer.. da grad ein uebler benzinstreik im gange ist.. hier... ich lass es euch wissen.. bis bald...also auf jedenfall ist leon einfach mal eine supertolle stadt nicargua als ganzes scheint einfach mal toll zu sein... wenn auch ich immer dieses land in afrika vermutet hatte ich bin so schrecklich desorie http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-279775.html Upon leaving Perquin Achim Veronica and I knew we had a long trip in front of us to Leon Nicaragua but we had no idea that we were in for such an unforgettable experience on the borders of El Salvador Honduras and Nicaragua. We crossed El Salvador at El Amatillo and traveled in a collectivo van full of Hondurans and Nicaraguans and drove through Honduras for about two hours to the Nicaraguan http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-275919.html Leon is hot. Today is the 4th day in the city and Im combatting a hangover as Browntown listens to the White Sox on Nicaraguan internet. A quality bottle of rum aged 5 years will set you back 100 crdobas or 5 bucks US. If youre feeling especially thrifty you can get one for 30 crdobas but at that point you got a whole other set of problems. After mistaking it for cheap vodka that wo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-263035.html First off it is hot as balls in this country. We stumbled into Leon early Monday morning after the episode at the border. After checking into a great hostel I agonized through 9 innings of White SOx baseball resulting in opening day depression i have another blog dedicated to my absurd obssession with the White SOx so Ill asve that. Leon is an extremely interesting city with cheap beer a N http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-262748.html We got off the boat safely on Thursday morning to the relief of some of us. Although now that we had finally gotten used to the waves we were stumbling around on land with our sealegs. We made our way to the Honduran border where the boys started up a soccer game with all the guys trying to exchange our money they hang around each border and offer you terrible rates. Meanwhile we chatted wit http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-260481.html The week of Semana Santa the holy week leading up to Easter began for us with a long trek from Ometepe to Leon.We got up early packed our bags said our goodbyes and hurried down the hill to catch the only bus before noon.After walking a mile and a half we saw the bus pull up to the intersection 100 meters ahead.We had to make this bus as we started to jog we noticed other people on the s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-260381.html I love Len. I have a profound amount of respect for any city where you can see a beautiful colonial church a proSandinista rally a Picasso painting and a cockfight in the same afternoon. Suffice it to say travelling remains interesting.Tim http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-256813.html The girls and I just saw a movie called CHARLIE WILSONS WAR... most of why I went was to be able to sit in an air conditioned and dark space for three hours its so hot here that often its hard to motivate oneself to move but it turned out to be a pretty interesting and relevant flick. The movie was about this US congressman named Charlie Wilson who managed to raise the US budget for covert ope http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-252089.html This title is not just a reference to one the greatest films ever made but just about sums up my last few days in Nicaragua. After the first couple of days in Managua I decided to rent a car and head outside of the capital. I called up some of rental places to see if they had automatic transmissions. The majority of cars driven in Central America are stickshift back in the US its the exact oppo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-247031.html Greetings all I'm in a town called Leon right now in Nicaragua. Nice place. Lots of universities here so the young population makes for a very vibrant atmosphere. Last I wrote I was on my way to Ometepe island on Lake Nicaragua. Ometepe is a fairly big island formed by two volcanoes. One dormant and one active. Its a beautiful place. I ws only there 5 days but one could easliy spend a couple of http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-244861.html So after my last entry i headed back to the hostel and chatted with some other travlers and paid my money for the volcano trip the following day it was a pretty lazy evening as i had a veggie quissidilla from the cafe at the hostel and then watched CSI New York and Law and Order Special Victims unit and then went to bed at 11 and the fan was on in the dorm but all it did was make noise and was no http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-244353.html Bussi saapui Nicaraguan paakaupunkiin Managuaan kutakuinkin ajoissa ja talla kertaa majoitusta loytyi samasta korttelista bussiterminaalin kanssa joten eipa paljon tarvinnut arpoa. Itse Managuassa ei juuri mitaan nahtavaa ole joten seuraavana paivana oli aiheellista siirtya Leoniin. Illalla managuassa ehdin kuitenkin katsastaa paikallisen Irlantilaisen pubin ja jalleen kerran vaikka Guinnessia ti http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-227857.html Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... arrived 2 days ago in country number 5 Nicaragua. The border crossing from Honduras to here was completely crazy Luckily I was travelling with quite a few other tourists otherwise I think Id have been completely overwhelmed. As soon as our minibus started pulling up there were about 20 men that started flinging themselves at the bus trying to open the windows all http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-223474.html We used Managua as a base for a couple of day trips to Old Leon and Leon. First Old Leon Leon Viejo. We took a minibus from UCA heading to Leon for N30 each and were dropped at La Paz Centro on the main road. We asked about the bus to Momotombo and were told it was a good 20 blocks to the terminal where the bus left from. So we took a N100 taxi ride the 15 kms to Leon Viejo and he dropped us a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-222960.html Imagine this youre at the bus station sitting on the bus mentally preparing for the journey...come to think of it youve been prepared for this journey since you first got on the same school bus so many years ago. Blue Bird Body Co. you familiarly read and those forest green pleather seat covers are etched into your brain forever. The proprietor of this public transport vehicle may have http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-204103.html Am 2. Tag in Granada ging es weiter zur Isla de Ometepe auf dem Lago Nicaragua. Eine Insel die sich aus 2 Vulkanen gebildet hat. Von diesen ist einer noch aktiv und in dem anderen befindet sich heute eine Lagune. Also auf zum Busbahnhof. Wie schon beschrieben kommen in Nicaragua die allseits bekannten US.Schulbusse zum Einsatz. Diese sind sicher nicht hochgradig bequem und angenehm temperiert http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-201984.html Driving into Lean had me in the navigation seat and suddenly we were too far from where we were going. Calles go east west and Avenidas run north south. The city divided into quarters. All very confusing when itrsquos written in Spanish and the map is not to scale. Not making excuses hellip much. A taxi driver was consulted. Finally he was asked to lead us to the hostel. It The first hostel wa http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-198786.html Hola todosWe zijn alweer een paar daagjes onderweg al lijkt het al veel langerVliegreis ging prima wel heeel lang en blij dat we de eerste overnachting al hadden geregeld. De eigenaresse van het hotel was ook zo aardig om ons de volgende ochtend naar het busstation te brengen.Daar duurde het even voordat de bus vertrok maar er was genoeg vermaak mensen die de bus in en uit lopen om van alle http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-192438.html Great little town met an aussie guy there who has a hostel and does trips and tours and stuff. craziest day of the trip yet i think..... we decided to go boarding down an active volcanoyep it was crazysorta like snow boarding but with no snow was an amazing day very funnytook some scenery shots of the village.great place to visit could have stayed longer. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-192186.html After a twoweek foray into Costa Rica we returned to Nicaragua with a mission to find a farm near Leon Costa Rica may have offered certain gringo comfortsac transport english speakers everywhere a variety of ethnic foodsbut hands down we preferred the Reality of Nicaragua. Leon was our population center of choice in Nicaragua and we returned to swiftly begin our search. Plying the s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-182118.html LeonnbspCentral America Caribbean raquonbspNicaragua raquonbspLeon By Code99May 31st 2007Ward BoundsLeon is a great contrast to Granada. These two cities are similar in size and both have many sights to see but their similarities end there. Leon isn't a tourist town like Granada and we saw few foreigners beggars or as many signs of obvious poverty. The locals don't take much notice of y http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-168143.html