Day 10 – Leon

oke up and had a good breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel – rancho style eggs with orange juice and coffee. We then walked to the ruins of San Sebastian church which was bombed into oblivion by Somoza’s army in 1979.



Across the street was the El Museo de Tradiciones y Leyendas (Museum of Traditions and Legends) – it’s housed in a former jail and torture center used by Somoza’s National guard. Outside there is a statue of a FSLN fighter along with some nice mosaics depicting Nicaraguan folklore along with the FSLN struggle against Somoza.



The gate to the museum was locked but after a while someone appeared and let us in. We wanted to take us on a tour but I explained that we only understood a little Spanish and went off on our own. We paid our $1 entry fee and he turned on what sounded like a haunted house soundtrack long with music from the movie Halloween – kind of weird. On the walls of the inside and outside of the building were drawings of torture methods and of daily life in the prison. Inside the various rooms were the large paper mache figures form Nicaraguan history (La Gigantona, etc).





Next we walked up to the central market on the north east corner of the city and looked around and then made our way to Via Via for a few beers and shared a big chicken burrito. We saw a sign that they were having cockfighting the next night along with all you could drink for $12.



Next we went to the Galeria de Heroes y Martires which is run by mothers of people who died in the FSLN revolution. There were pictures of hundreds of fallen fighters who gave their lives to free their country form Somoza’s dictatorship. Just down the street was the Casa de la Cultura which was small but had some nice art along with an interesting paining of Ronald Reagan



We went back to Via Via for a late lunch having chicken quesadillas and washed down with cold Victorias. We played cards for a while before heading back to the hotel to shower and, since we were walking around the city in flip flops, wash our disgusting feet. Later we went out look for a place to eat dinner, we saw a lot of restaurants but most of them were pretty empty. We ended up back at Via Via and got a table and ordered a bottle of rum and coke with some ice and limes (only $4.75). For dinner I had the Guatemalan tacos (they were more like taquitos) and Kat had chicken with rice.

Some kids came in the bar and did a La Gigantona performance which was pretty cool to watch close up.


Sice we had to drive back to Managua the next morning we headed out and back to the hotel at about 10pm, watched soem TV and then went to sleep

Day 9 – Leon

After a good breakfast of eggs, bacon, and coffee we checked out of the hotel and headed to Leon. Once in town we immediately got lost having to drive around for a bit until we saw a landmark and got our bearings. We quickly learned that the traffic on the streets running north and south had the right of way and east and west traffic had to stop at each intersection (even there are rarely signs). Almost the streets are one way and alternate on every block. We eventually found our way to our first choice hotel, La Posada Doctor but the gate was closed and nobody seemed to be there. Someone we met recommended Lazy Bones Hostel and even though hostels aren’t really our style we decided to check it out since they did have a pool. It seemed pretty mellow and the private room they showed me was large with a private bathroom for $28/night and they also has a garage where I could park the car. We decided to keep looking so we drove back to La Posada Doctor and someone was there to open the gate. The hotel looked nice but the room was tiny and since it was on the outskirts of the downtown area I didn’t think it was worth $50/night. We passed by La Perla which is probably the nicest hotel in the country. Kat wanted to check it out but I was certain that it was going to be way out of our budget. I went inside and asked and was surprised that the rooms were only $80/night! Even though it was over our budget we decided that we should treat ourselves for the next two nights. The hotel is incredible – it’s an old colonial mansion that has been completely renovated. The entire hotel is plush with an elegant air conditioned restaurant, pool, plasma TV in the bar, robes in the room, etc. It would easily cost $300/night in the US. They are building a casino across the street and Mark showed me the construction and told me I could park the rental car inside the garage.





After getting settled into our room we dropped off some laundry we needed done at trhe front desk and then went to the hotel bar for some beers and met the owners, Mark and Jim, who were both very personable and gave us a lot of information on the history of the hotel and places to go in the city. We were hungry and expressed our disappointment of missing thanksgiving and they said that they had some turkey left over and had the cook make us some turkey club sandwiches. Before we decided to head out Jim told us that the entire downtown area was completely safe. They organized other hotel owners in Leon to contribute to a fund to pay for 10 tourist police officers.

First we went to the Centro del Arte museum which was really nice including a Picasso and a paintings by Diego Rivera (among many others) and was well worth the $2 entry fee. From there we walked around taking pictures of the many political murals along the streets.





We then went to the Central Park and watched a “La Gigantona” performance.


People were also setting off fireworks and rockets in the middle of the street. One cop even stopped traffic so a guy could set off a rocket! The schools were having graduation ceremonies and there was a parade through the street complete with a marching band and the carrying of the Virgin Mary at the end – very cool!




We then got some more cash from an ATM inside the bank with really cold air conditioning and went to the supermarket to buy some rum and coke to drink in our room before going back out later.

When we got back to the hotel we found that all our laundry was done and nicely folded. After a few drinks in our room we headed out to do some more exploring and find a place to eat dinner – we ended up at the Via Via bar/restaurant which is attached to the hostel of the same name. The bar was pretty crowded with a good mixture of travelers and locals playing pool and drinking. We got some seats at the bar and stayed for a few drinks. I thought it was definitely the coolest bar I’ve been to so far in Central America. The bathrooms were also impeccably clean which gave me an even better impression of the place. After a while a band was setting up so we thought things might get too crazy for us to eat dinner there so we headed back out. We found a lady barbecuing meat behind the Cathedral. For $2 each we got tortillas with a big piece of meat and a salad. It was really good! Around us were a lot of really skinny dogs hoping for a hand out. We walked a few blocks to the supermarket and I bought a big bag of dog for $2 and went back and poured it out for the dogs to eat.
Next we went back to the hotel and took a dip in the pool to cool off and then back to our room, watched a movie on TV and then went to sleep.

Day 2 - Granada

Day 2 - Granada

The next morning we woke up and found that the shower had no hot water - only tepid which took a little getting used to first but since it was generally so hot outside it felt kind of refreshing.

We went downstairs for breakfast (fresh fruit, juice, coffee and a huge croissant with butter and jam) and found that when paying for or beers the night before "seis" was our room number and since the beers were only $1 each the guard left our change with the owners. This was a good first impression on the honesty of the hotel employees.

Victor, the hotel owner, gave us a map of the city and pointed out some places that he thought we would enjoy along with where we were located, a quiet side street just off Calle Xalteva and 3 blocks from the central plaza and cathedral. We then set out towards the cathedral but took a wrong turn on Calle Xalteva and ended up going the opposite way. We stopped at a park across from Iglesia Xalteva to get our bearings and some school girls posed for our first photo.



We decided to keep walking and head to the Fortaleza La Polvora. According to the guide book it was built in 1748 to protect the city's gun power supply from Pirates. Later Somoza's National guard used it as a military post and jail. When we arrived the gate was locked but a man inside was doing some gardening and let us in. We walked around and climbed two of the guard towers for a great view of the city.


where they stored the gunpowder


view from the guard tower


We then made our way east towards the center of town, stopping to watch some kids play baseball in a park before going in the Inglesia de la Merced which was built in 1534. We walked around inside the church and then and paid $1 each to climb to the top of the bell tower for an even more incredible view of the city.


Kat in the Bell Tower



From there we walked to the central park where there were lots of people selling things and offering tours, horse carriage rides, etc. It was pretty hot but there was a nice breeze coming from the east over the lake - we definitely needed a beer so we made our way to the Zoom Bar that was recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. We had a few Victorias (our favorite) and met a few of the local ex-pats including Bill who was originally from Seattle by way of New York and is now living on an island in the Isletas in Lake Nicaragua. After a few beers we walked down to the lake and then back into town and got some really good Italian meat combo sandwiches at the Garden Cafe which is a pretty sweet spot for lunch. In the central park we saw La Gigantona - a Nicaraguan tradition where a giant lady is paraded down the street and dances with a big headed dwarf called El Cabezon the accompaniment of drummers. La Gigantona is supposed to be a tall Spanish lady, and El Cabezon represents the native Nicaraguan, shorter, but much more clever.



Since it was so hot out we needed some more liquid refreshments and headed back to Zoom to sample the Flor de Cana. We then met Cat and Tom from England who had been traveling the world.



After a few too many drinks we made our way back to the hotel for a short nap and shower before we headed out to find somewhere to eat dinner. The main street, Calle La Calzada, east of the park is blocked off to vehicles and restaurants set up tables in the street. We went to Nectar for a drink along with some chips and salsa. Nectar is a pretty sweet bar with some nice ambiamnce inside but we wanted to sit outside and enjoy some people watching. Lots of kids would walk by and try to sell us stuff - on past trips I would always tell them "yo ya tengo" which translates to "I already have one" and would then usually be left alone - some wouldn't take no for an answer. One kid made us a pretty neat grasshopper and a heart with an arrow going through it out of leaves - it was pretty cool so I gave him $1.

For dinner we ended up at El Zaguan, a steak house behind the cathedral, where we had some great fire grilled steaks, along with wine, bread, and salad for $40.


It was still pretty early so we went back to Zoom bar for some more beers - on the streets there was a live band and some kids break dancing which was kind of weird to see them do without any hip hop to accompany their moves. At Zoom we met one of the bartenders who used to live in the states but was enjoying his night off - he hooked us up with free beers and we had a good time watching the show outside. We finally stumbled back to our hotel at 11pm and hit the sack