Blogs from Leon, Northern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 5

Nica cont.... So I catch a bus up towards Leon in hopes another bus will take me to puerto sandino or I'd hitch in. I always use to have to bother the bus driver or the bus ticket collector as to where I get off but with my iPhone and google maps I can keep and eye on where I am and figure it out myself. It's amazing how much iPhones have changed the travel game. Anyway apparently this bus was on the old road and boy was it old and bumpy. Google maps said 20 mins to the intersection probably an hour later we finally arrived there. Where I get off with a couple other people. It was a pretty barren intersection a gas station and a tienda/tiny store. I found out a bus would ... read more

Last Thursday we went to the Somoto canyon. After a hard walk in a terrible sun, we jumped into the water (wearing a lifejacket) to float for a while, some parts walking, sometimes jumping from the rocks into the water. Luckily we could choose how high we jumped, Zoe was fine with 2-3m, but Gyanendra enjoyed a jump from 10m. Besides the adventure, we enjoyed the great views of the river in between the high rocks. And afterwards we had a very delicious lunch at the home of the guide. On Friday we went for 2 nights to Reserva Natural Miraflor, a community tourism project in the mountains. Besides the beautiful nature (cloud forest, tropical dry forest), you can observe the local rural lifestyle. There are many coffee plantations, but they also have other crops. Roads ... read more

Hanz and Maureen gave us a ride to Playa Roca in Poneloya which is about 20 minutes outside Leon. The hotel was sufficient, nothing special but right on the beach. There were big rocks in the water, hence the name. (Playa Roca means beach rock) I think it was the first beach we went to with rocks like that and it was nice, it kind of reminded me of the Oregon Coast even thought it was quite different. I spent most of my time reading since I couldn't swim. Across the street there was a tiny place that served tacos which were quite good but there was only one employee so things took a while. We walked down to the end of the road which was a good distance. It's kind of a remote place so ... read more

Somoto is like a Nicaraguan Mayberry. The people are so incredibly friendly, the city is much cleaner than almost any city we have been to in Central America and I just got a "good vibe" from it. There was a guard across the street from the ATM that we were using, there were 3 of us that needed to use it so it took a while. The guard came over and started talking to us. He was very kind and of course I felt extra safe with him right there. I had heard Nicaragua was very safe but this was above and beyond! We got some yummy ice cream, I had a scoop of orange chocolate ice cream which was so delicious! The people there too were very friendly, one of the woman had a unique ... read more

The last few days have been a blur of activity. The second day at Bigfoot, volcano boarding was in order. Five of us from, the U.S., England and Israel took the crazy oath to battle El Cerro Negro. There was an hour climb up the steep volcano before the one minute descent down. I was pretty tired from my first night's festivities, but woke up around 7am. Feeling guilty from the alcohol consumption, I inquired about the location of a gym and found one. I walked over, worked out in a dungeon-like room with curious locals, and returned to the hostel for a quick breakfast and our volcano boarding adventure. I still hadn't showered since leaving the US. It didn't make much sense to prior to boarding, so I decided to wait. We loaded up onto ... read more