Leon

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So, 2 days later we finally made it to Leon. We unfortunately got waylaid in San Pedro Sula in Honduras for an extra day as the bus was full, which was annoying as we are getting a little pushed for time and it's not the nicest place in the world to be stuck (don't type it into Google).

Leon is a nice town, colonial with a bit of grit and plenty of character. It is in the north of Nicaragua and is next to several volcanoes. One which is currently erupting and one which is the volcano boarding centre of the world. We stayed near the park central in a place called Via Via which had a nice little terrace area and was really well located. On our first night there we ended up meeting the people who we had left on Caye Caulker and went for a nice dinner and drinks. It was really nice to catch up with them and see what they have been up to.

On our first day there we just wondered around the city as it has the largest cathedral that does rooftop tours and lots of little churches around the town which were nice to wonder into. There was also a Picasso exhibition on in the art museum where we went for a few hours in the afternoon. I liked Leon, it wasn't picture perfect as Antigua but was a cool town, had activities to do and the people were friendly. I liked the fact that there was more to it than would first seem and the fact that everything was walking distance. The tours were cheap and people didn't hassle me that much, there was plenty to do around Leon, but unfortunately we didn't have much time to go to the nearby beaches or the active volcano, however, Leon is famous for volcano boarding, and I wasn't going to miss the opportunity. Volcano boarding is essentially hiking up a volcano, putting on a jumpsuit, goggles and gloves and sliding back down the mountain. It was so much fun, the thing is… It's definitely addictive and once you go once, you want to go again. I also had volcanic ash everywhere and I was washing out of my hair for days. Luckily it was a half day trip which meant that I could travel to Granada afterwards.

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