Nov 11, 2012 - Leon

Leon A 2 day stop here. Cheap food, cheap beer and hot hot hot. Leon is where taxis go to die. The one we took to the bus station from Managua had loose axles so we bobbed up and down independently of the front of the car like a circus clown car. The driver who brought us back from the beach screamed with delight at his ' car fantastico!' as his door flew open whilst turning a corner. The driver we took to the bus station to leave we had to pay through the window as his door was welded shut. Of course we wear seatbelts but that's...

Aug 13, 2012 - Onald!?!?

After another lovely Day on chicken buses and an even better mini van where we got to play pass the child/bag of rice/animal we finally pulled up into Leon, the old capital of nicaragua.  So after spending all our time in nice small sea side towns so far it was a bit of a culture shock to be dropped off in a large city. There were far more hustlers than usual and everything was that little bit busier! The main form of taxis turned out to be pedalo type rickshaws which were any experience in themselves but nothing topped the retarded layout...

Jan 7, 2012 - León, Nicaragua

So, today we finally managed to have breakfast at the chocolate museum in Granada before heading to León via Managua. My intention was to request one pineapple pancake and one chocolate one, but instead I ended up with 2 pancakes which had both pineapple & chocolate. I wasn't jazzed about the idea, but it turned out to be a happy accident - tasty, but more than I needed, so Mike ate the other one. Dawn had chocolate banana (Mike finished hers too, so it was a good thing he didn't order any), & Guy ordered waffles, but they brought him...

Aug 2, 2011 - Volcano boarding.

Leon, Nicaragua 02/08/11 Volcano boarding. The Tica bus eventually arrived and the front bump looked as if it had been used to move a few taxis out of the way. So after an hour they eventually fixed it and we were off. After a few hours on the road we were pulled over by the police for a spot check. Everyone was taken off the bus and after half an hour in a warehouse all of the tourists were put back on the bus. All of the locals had their paper work checked, bags checked and bodies checked. Eventually we were on our way again. Just before...

Jun 18, 2011 - Air raid alarm sounds it's 7am Good Morning Leon!

Yes that is the way the morning starts here in Leon...oh and the siren is accompanied by fusillades of cannon fire...actually bungers..they seem to go off any time of the day everyday..no reason...it's because they can..hasta la revolucion! Time to load up at my cafeteria and have a nice cool shower..one learns to love them when it is 25C this early...another 8 or 9 volleys of fire ring out !!! I got to tape some of this! Just like shooting guns into the air..except no one gets killed ...(dogs may not like it) breakfast desayuno and Gallo...

May 17, 2011 - Leon and Revolution

We are jumping from city to city and trying to get a good feel for them without seeming to rush too much (trying is the key word). So, we arrived in Leon with no plan as usual, so we quickly to decieded to hire a guide to get a feel for the city. We organized it through a hostel (not the one we are staying at) who hired a chap called Christian who couldnt speak much English. So they provided one of their "voluteers" to help with translations. Thus followed a 2.5 hour guide of Nicaraguas - Leon revolutionary History. Our translator did very...

Apr 16, 2011 - Leon, Nicaragua

So, arrived in Managua on the 8th and came straight down here to Leon, one of the bigger Nicaraguan towns towards the beach. It is SO hot in Nicaragua, Leon is supposedly the hottest town in the country. I would believe it. If you were caught outside between 11.30 and 3 you would die! So it was a good job our hostel was a nice place to relax and read during that time. We didn't do too much here, we went to the Cathedral and went on the roof to get the views of the 5 Volcanoes that they seem to be so so proud about! Also to an old political...

Oct 14, 2010 - Leon - Nicaragua

October 10, 2010 When I woke up this morning I was still a little quizzy but I had to get a move on. I am so paranoid about police now. I made it to Leon around noon. It was about 150km’s Antigua it is not! It’s quite hot and humid here. We are only 20km's from the ocean. This region is supposed to be the hottest in all Nicaragua. I can deal with it though. I am staying at a hostel called Via Via. I drove Electra through the bar, through the dining area and have her parked next to the kitchen. Yes - there was a silent moment. When I was...

Jul 27, 2010 - Onto Leon

We traveled onto Leon, Nicaragua with one of our goals to go volcano boarding down Volcano Cerro Negro. We had read about this and heard from other travelers that it{s alot of fun - and it did not disappoint. I think it was my favorite volcano hike - and we've been seeing and hiking alot of volcanoes! We have sand boarded in Namibia but this is different since you{re climbing up volcanic rocks and it{s VERY dirty. We could see and smell the sulfur coming out of the volcano. When we got to the top if you just dig a couple inches the ground...

Jul 24, 2010 - Nicaragua - The Good and the Bad

Heading to Nicaragua we had no idea what to expect. Having heard very mixed reviews about the place we took our open minded selves to the bus station in San Pedro Sula at 4am on a very rainy Friday morning and headed for Leon onboard the Tika bus. A very slow and frustrating journey (including waiting in the rain at the border for an hour) we got to Leon in the dark (and in the rain) to fully booked hostels. So we dared what not many a traveller have done and closed our ´´Rough Guide to Central America´´ and stayed at one of the newer...

Jun 28, 2010 - León

The journey on the tica bus from San Pedro was not good, it was absolutely freezing and we kept having to get off in the pouring rain for immigration etc. We had heard that Leon is a really cool place, but we weren't very impressed! Apart from the backpackers there wasn't really a lot there. It seemed to be the only thing that made the town good was the number of backpackers and a cool hostel. We woke up early the next morning to go and watch the England v Germany match. Unfortunately we were in a bar full of Germans and our hostel owner...

Apr 3, 2010 - Leon

Next am streets deserted . We begin walking to bus terminal but because Bon's pack wheels are suffering from these colonial streets (pavers/stones - sidewalks not much better and very narrow...she's been trying to repair w/ glue and tape), we get a taxi. Get to terminal just as bus to Matagalpa is pulling out 7:30 am! Creeping up very newly finished highway we came down just yesterday (a fellow in the van said it was the best he'd seen..."worth beans for the poor for a year" was his comment), and listening to religious music on bus CD...