Blogs from Leon, Northern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 22

Flavia described past-perfect subjunctive as "the saddest of all the verb tenses because it's used to express regrets and missed opportunties". These are the 2 most complicated sentences I've ever written in Spanish (I think they are correct). Si no hubiera llovido, habia visto los monos. If it had not rained, I would have seen the monkeys. Si hubiera sido una gladiator americana, no habia trabajado en IHOP. If I had been an American Gladiator, I would not have worked at IHOP.... read more

Yesterday. One fast ass truck drive to Cerro Negro (Morgan, I think you have some driving competition....) One black sand volcano. One wooden board with one handle in front, one in back. One orange jump suit (think chain-gang!). And one lost mind. A group of 9, we all climbed Cerro Negro, a black sand volcano that sits in the fault line with several others (its all in the same line as Telica, the Volcano I hiked on the full moon). The hike took 45 mins to the top. The ride down- less the a minute. We all suited up, and two at a time, we slid on these boards, down the side of this Volcano- some of us HAULING ASS! I hit a huge dip and the way down and had to break and bits of ... read more

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