Monday 26th August
We were up, out and walking to the bus station with our bags at 6.20 this morning. We managed to get our bags up there and wait in our seats for the 7am set off. The buses are usually packed so we were determined to get a seat and next to our bags this time. It was about anhour and a half, Liam was panicking more and more the closer we got due to the horror stories we had read about Managua. We got charged for our bags which we knew was a scam but with limited Spanish it's hard to be 100% sure and hard to refuse when you have somebody standing over you demanding money in Spanish. That was our first scam of the day. Then we were told it was time for us to get off for our taxi, and because our bags were being moved off, we got off, and the man was trying to charge us a stupid amount of money. The whole thing was very confusing and quick that it was hard to keep up with what was going on. We took our bags out of the taxi boot which somebody had already taken and dumped in there, saying it was too much and tried to get back onto the bus. Then we started getting talked to very quickly in Spanish and the bus left. I would have been happy to pay half of what we paid and stood on the side of the road until another taxi came or the taxi driver relented. Liam on the other hand was panicking about being on the road with our bags and agreed to pay double what we were supposed to in order to just be on our way.
The taxi driver kept talking to us and asking us questions in Spanish despite it being obvious we hardly understood anything he was saying. I think it was a technique to make us feel disorientated because once we arrived where we had told him he started saying no buses to leon left from where we were. He kept saying in Spanish there were no buses,even though we knew there was. He began trying to drive away from the place, god knows where he was trying to take us but Liam shouted at him to stop and let us out, all the while the taxi guy saying we wouldn't get to leon from here.
Low and behold when we got out we saw the microbus very near with " leon" written on the front, and the taxi driver had the cheek to ask where we were going as though he didn't know, then point out which bus. What an idiot, extorted an extra 5 dollars out of us ( which is a lot to them…and us at this stage in our trip), tried to take us away from where we needed to be, then acted like he was indeed trying to help to try and get a tip. Don’t think so!
Anyway we squeezed into the mini bus and Liam got talking to a lovely man who could speak fluent English. They spoke for the whole hour and a half and even exchanged email addresses, with the man helping us get a taxi for the right amount to get to town.
The nightmare wasn't over yet, with the only direction for the hostel being " tell the driver to drop you near the hospital". That's what we did and we asked several different people where the hostel was, all of which gave different directions which we could only understand about 60% of on top of that.
By the time we found the hostel we had been walking around for a good 45 minutes with our big bags on and were absolutely dripping from the heat! The hostel is cheap and simple, and definitely out of the way and a bit quieter than the last few we had been in. We both fell asleep for a little while because we were so tired, then the music started. It's not loud music as such but they just seem to enjoy having the bass turned up in central america and the bass just booms on every single track. I felt like I needed to kill somebody so we went out.
Leon is an interesting place. Liam isn't as keen on it as I am, he prefers Granada. Although granada is more clean cut I like the character that comes with leon. It's an old colonial town which has seen quite a lot of civil war over the years. I'm sure one of the hostel staff said it had actually been “bought” by the UK but I'd have to check that. The buildings are great, old looking and run down but it adds to the character of it. Lots of white washed walls and nice stone work, lots of walls with lovely paintings on. Then you have the surroundings, all the locals in their run down cars and bikes, people selling absolute tat from make shift stalls and vendors selling various bits of food. The pavements are full of holes and not free of rubbish but that's something we don't exactly notice anymore, and the roads are a little bit manic. After having a little walk around we found a little local restaurant and opted for a typical nica lunch of chips (like Doritos I suppose) with different dips, rice, fried plantain, pinto beans and some weird mish mash of meat in whatever sauce they serve it in which looks like posh catfood – looks manky but tastes just fine . We walked some more and came across the bakery that the Scottish couple had mentioned from when they had been so decided to take a look inside. We sat in a lovely airy courtyard which was nice and quiet, and had a chocolate eclair and lemon meringue pie. The chocolate was nice but was completely over shadowed by the pie, it was just perfect. Which isn't something you find often in these countries so we were amazed and for a sweet tooth like me it sadly made my day…well actually my last few days! Things were starting to look up in Leon.
Tuesday 27th August
A better nights sleep, and not nearly as hot and sticky, although it needed to be more after all the not so good nights recently! After struggling to get up we managed to get into the courtyard for the pancake and banana provided for breakfast (which was very nice) before heading out on the quad bike with the owner of the hostel. We were in a trailer on the back whilst he drove to the volcano. It took maybe 45 minutes if not more to get there, but the journey was interesting. First of all we drove through the streets of the town then turned off and started heading down rural roads. We picked up a guy on the corner who worked up at the volcano and he told us some small facts about things we drove past, although I have to admit I only caught about 30% of what he said mainly due to the sound of the bike drowning him out. I did catch that a lot of the fields we drove past were peanut plantations which apparently are 100% exported to be packaged out of the country and then they come back to be eaten in the packets.
He spoke to Liam as well but when I asked him after what he'd said I don't think Liam caught a lot of it either.
We drove past so many farm houses and farm yards, all rickety wooden houses or made of tin. Again we saw lots of horses who were very skinny, people plowing fields and transporting things using horse and cart or big bulls pulling them. Lots of pigs and chickens wandering about and lots of people ready with a smile and a wave.
We got covered in all kinds of muck on the journey, mud and animal poo all sprayed up. We were splattered from head to toe but it was all part of the experience and we didn't mind so much- isn’t manure good for the skin? Once at the office we had to sign in and collect our boards, and we also had chance to clean ourselves off slightly and look at some work they were doing with iguana conservation. Apparently the locals like to catch and eat them so they catch them and keep them safe instead.
A bit more up the hill on the quad and we parked up at the base of the volcano. It's not a big one, about 800 meters high and very odd looking because its just a mound of rocks and stones, mostly black. We began the assent which wasn't easy, we went sort of up and around it along a "path" of rubble with the boards. The sun was so strong and it was quite difficult to climb in the heat. About 20 minutes or so in we got to a ledge where we could see for miles and miles all around, it was beautiful. We saw 3 other volcanoes in the distance, apparently one of them you can see lava at night but we opted out of doing that because of the prices they try and make you pay to see it. The volcano we were on is still active, although the last eruption was in 1999 and you can't see lava.
We climbed more, and reached the top about 45 minutes later. There were already a group of perhaps 10 up there so we set our boards down and went to walk up to the highest point to look out, we were lucky because the visibility was great so we could see so far. Liam pointed out there was rain coming which we looked forward to because it was so hot.
When we got back to the slope everybody had gone, so it was just us. We were taught how to use the boards, which really is just a slab of wood with some metal sheeting underneath to help it glide. There's a handle which is a bit of rope and plastic attached to hold onto, and you control it with your feet by putting them down in the direction you want to go. The slope was pretty scary, it was 800 meters down at a very steep incline which looked almost vertical in some parts. The guide went down it by about half way with his camera to get shots of us coming down, and Liam went first. He didn't go particularly fast because he was unsure of how safe it was, I reckon he was perhaps going about 40km an hour. It seemed like a long time for him to reach the bottom, it was a long way down and I lost sight of him after a while.
When my turn came I just leaned back and went. It was a bit scary because it felt like I was going quite fast. The board wobbled from side to side quite a lot and it was a bit hard to keep it under control, rocks and bits of debris were flying everywhere. When I got to the bottom I was covered in black soot all over my face and body and gravel had made its way into my goggles and was all in my hair. It was great fun, Liam was gutted he didn't have the camera with him at the bottom to film the whole thing but never mind about that. The guide we were with reckoned I was going about 60km an hour.
He went to get the quad and came back holding 2 beers for us to celebrate making it down then said we could have a go on the quad ourselves. Liam went first and was going all around in the black rocks and big hills looking like he was having a great time. Then I had a go and It started to rain so I got soaked but slightly cleaner. We ended up getting soaking wet because the weather was too bad to drive on the quad and watched a few people coming down. They wernt happy because the water made the boards stick in all the gravel so they didn't go down very fast.
Liam drove us for about 20 minutes or so with the trailer on the back before the guide took over again and was going very fast. Unfortunately we didn't get many photos of the journey because it was hard to capture stuff but the sights were so interesting. More of the same as when we were on our way there, farm animals and people going about their daily lives. He ran over a chicken at one point which shouldn't have been funny but it was actually hilarious because he hadn't realised, the chickens just dart in front of stuff and we couldn't help but burst out laughing.
We got back and we were filthy and wet so got right into the shower, it took me forever to try and get all the black grit out of my hair and my ears - we miss warm showers every day but they were missed a lot more today.
We relaxed in the hostel for a little while before heading out for something to eat at about 4pm. We went back to the bakery because it was easy to get to and we loved the food there yesterday.we were there for a couple of hours just relaxing and eating dinner. The rest of the evening was spent booking hostel for next place and the usual stuff. We got to have 2 free mojitos because I went fastest on both the board and the quad but I gave one to Liam because I'm nice like that ( also I don't like mojito).
Wednesday 28th August
Again im writing this a week after actually doing it, a bad habit ive got into. We woke up naturally today, no alarm set but awake by around 8. Pancake and banana for breakfast, washing done (by that I mean washing clothes in the shower and sinks with our soap) and hung on the line and out of the hostel for about 10.30. We looked forward to today just walking around fairly aimlessly and taking in the sights. We did a lot of walking, watching people selling all kinds of stuff on different stalls, people piled onto one motorbike or piled into vans in ways you just wouldn't see at home.
Leon was founded only 2 months after Granada so is sort of the second city, but for me it is the better of the two if you're looking for culture. Granada is beautiful but so nice it's almost like its painted over the cracks where as leon shows a few and is proud of it. There are lots of beautiful looking churches and colonial architecture to look at. You can feel the history of it as you walk around, I believe there have been a few revolutions in the area and it has been trashed and burned a few times because of it.
We spent all day just wandering around people watching and going to see the main tourist points of the city which are mostly just churches. The cathedral is the largest in Central America and is beautiful as are all the churches and cathedrals we see. We also went to the revolution museum which was not very good at all. It was just a room with lots of boards with Spanish on it newspaper clippings. There was a man who spoke English who talked us through it all but I could barely understand him and the bits I did understand I wasn't that taken with. I will be the first to admit that warfare and politics don't interest me! We were also taken up to the roof to view over the city, and he really did mean the roof. We were walking on the tin roof of the top of the building which didn't seem safe at all so we didn't walk about too much. It was worth it for the view though, you could see the volcanoes in the distance and look out over the square. I think that part was him after a tip but the tour we had already paid for was so rubbish and the extra so dangerous he didn't get one.
We also spent time at a local cafe with some cold drinks which was nice, if there's anything we've learned since being away its that we like to sit in cafes and people watch.
