Blogs from Leon, Northern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 4

===English version below=== We willen naar het noorden van Nicaragua, naar Matagalpa. Om daar te geraken moeten we via Managua, de hoofdstad. Niet meteen een plaats waar toeristen enthousiast onthaald worden. Zodra de bus ons afzet in de hoofdstad laten ons per taxi overbrengen naar de vertrekplaats van onze Matagalpa bus. Het blijkt Moederdag te zijn in Nicaragua. Iedereen wil op de bus. Wij hebben geluk, we hebben nog net een zitje. Onderweg stoppen we meermaals en net als je denkt dat er niemand meer bij kan proppen ze er nog 10 bij. Vrouwen brengen taart en bloemen mee. Die zullen er leuk uitzien tegen de tijd dat het bij hun moeder is. Als de bus even stopt kan je eten en drinken kopen door je arm uit de bus te laten hangen en straatverkopers reiken ... read more

Our Arrival We took a taxi from Leon C$75 each which dropped us at the hostel. Where We Stayed Bigfoot Beach Hostel - $24 for a double room with shared bathroom with one other room. Right on the beach and we were the only people there. There is a free shuttle from the Bigfoot Hostel in Leon at about 3pm so it gets busy in the evening during the sunset. There is a fairly pricey menu and bar. What We Did Enjoyed the beach and the waves. Watched the sunset. Where We Ate At the other end of the beach to the Bigfoot hostel, near the bus stop, are a collection of cheaper bars/restaurants. Where We Went Next We went back to Leon. You can catch the bus from anywhere along the road (bus times are ... read more

The chicken bus experience from our stay in Ometepe to Granada was great. I got exposed to a new, different way of traveling that was both cheap (I think, I didn't actually pay) and entertaining (in the form of people watching). I didn't do an official poll, but it seemed like those that I talked to were glad to have tried it. However, when we were presented with the following two options: 1) take three different chicken buses from town to town in Nicaragua; or, 2) pay 3 USD more per person to take a private van, the response was unanimous. Off we were in an air conditioned private van! With less to observe inside the transportation, my eyes were again drawn to the landscape. There is so much to see, from people selling iguanas on ... read more

I've listened to your feedback (well, Gramps') and I'm going to try and enhance the descriptive nature of my blogs, encorpating more of the scenary and locals, instead of just enlighting you on the food we've been eating! So, to begin with, we allowed ourselves a little sleep-in given we were pretty knackered after a couple of long days travelling. We took a short walk to the aptly named Volcano Cafe for breakfast which did really nice fruit smoothies and porridge. We spent the morning wandering around the streets of Leon. It's not the most picturesque of towns that we've visited, and it tried to mimic other Central American cities with the different coloured buildings however most were quite run down. The roads were not cobble stones either therefore there was quite a lot of traffic ... read more

TELICA VOLCANO HIKE: So even though I'm not much of an avid hiker, I couldn't imagine traveling through three countries in Central America without climbing a volcano. Every country has volcanoes that present a different challenge or thrill. We had to debate between volcano boarding down Cerro Negro (thats right, surfing the volcano on a wooden toboggan while they clock your speed) or camping out on Telica near an active crater and witnessing lava at night! Even though the boarding sounded like an awesome experience (and only 45 minute hike) we decided to rise to the challenge and endure the six to eight hour overnight hike. I mean how many people actually get to lay their eyes on molten lava? It was a no brainer. We started our hike around 1:30 in the afternoon, with four ... read more