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Initially, we were on the fence about whether or not to visit Leon. Really, it's another colonial city in a long list throughout Central America so if it's in the middle or end of your trip it would be easy to skip. But we strongly suggest that you don't (skip it that is). As soon as we got to Leon with Antony (a Shetlander that we did our final dives with on Little Corn and he supported us when we couldn't withdraw money from any bank machines) at 1930hrs, in the dark after a long day of traveling from Bluefields, we instantly appreciated the place. First of all, we felt so safe. We wandered around with our packs looking for a hostel when the first one we went to turned us away because they were full. After a short walk around, we found a nice, quiet, small hostel that had plenty of room for us. We ended our night with decent street food behind the cathedral and a beer to toast to our long journey.
Our first day in Leon was a combination admin and sightseeing day. We began by taking a walk to get out bearings. Our walk ended
rather pleasantly (and sneakily by Dan's design) with a stop at a French(ish) bakery called 'Pan y Paz' where we enjoyed much needed iced coffees because it was so hot, and a pastry for good measure. We also wandered around the market finding a nice clothing market, in an old colonial block of houses with gorgeous courtyards. We worked on some not so exciting but very necessary picture uploading, blog, and journal entries before venturing out again to the Revolutionary Museum. The museum is located on the central square and you can get in for $2 per person. Included in the fee is a guide who will take you around the small but informative museum. Our guide spoke in a mixture of Spanish and English but easily got his points across in combination with the chilling pictures and newspaper clippings. He participated in the revolution and showed us pictures including himself. The museum is small but the cost is low and the people passionate so it is certainly worth a visit. We returned to Pan y Paz later in the day for more iced coffees with our travel buddy Antony. This time we splurged on a honey, Camembert, almond sandwich
which in Ashley's opinion was heavenly.
On our second day, we went up the bell tower of the Cathedral. Whatever you do, take sunglasses with you. We were allowed to walk on the roof (sans shoes) and it was blindingly white even on a cloudy day. How many roofs does one have the chance to walk on for a view of a city and surrounding volcanoes? It was a cool experience but also slightly hard on the eyes. That day, we took a trip out to Las Peñitas which is a beach town about 30 minutes outside Leon. It is very popular with the locals but usually only a day trip for foreigners as the nearest beach to Leon. Our reason for going was simple: to celebrate a special birthday. We stayed at a hotel called Barca de Oro which had private cabanas and an interesting non-flushing toilet (but not quite an outhouse; more like an inhouse with a simple liquid/solid separation system, and calc to sprinkle in afterwards). But the scenery was beautiful and the food tasty which was all Ashley really wanted. Our time in Las Peñitas was quiet and low-key involving going to the beach, drinking wine and eating birthday Ferrero Rochers.
We returned to Leon for one more day before heading north to Somoto if only to wander around town and get one last iced coffee (or 2).
More pictures
here.
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