Nicaragua Day 4-- Volcano Boarding in Leon

Slept in until 9 am. then John Paulo had egg ranchos ready for us. Ate, showered, and headed into town to get some souvenior shopping completed. Found a really cute dress and bags for the roommates.  Then we headed to the hammock shop to get the hammock for 250 cordobas-- which is about 12 dollars. Its pretty sweet. We then headed back and got our bags ready for the volcano boarding and dropped off the souveniors. We wanted pizza and so we sat down at hollywood pizza, at 110 and it would be 25 minutes for the pizza, so we went to burger king instead. got a whopper junior and fries. mmmm. then we headed to bigfoot where we were 10 minutes early this time, boarded the truck and was able to SIT down, instead of standing in the middle. paid 25 cordobas for a beer for the road and set out on the hour drive through the boonies on the bumpy gravel road complete with twigs that would smack you becuase the truck was wider than the road. Met a girl from sweden and a dude from vancouver. Before long, we arrive to the volcano national park where we paid our 5US$ entry fee and used the bathrooms before hoping back on the truck for the 5 minute ride up the mountain. We got off the truck and gathered our orange bags, our sleds and goggles. then we started the 45 minute hike up the mountain. There was an older couple (fifties) that brought in the rear. We stopped twice after 10 minutes of hiking, before the steepest incline climb that took about 15 minutes, then it plateaued again. Got a group picture overlooking the distant volcanos and the distant sea (pacific ocean). Then we suited up in our bright orange jumpsuits. Why-- because they are to prevent road rash if you wreck your sled down the mountain. 

Then Ross (our tour guide from detroit) gave us the DL on sledding. 1. sit back on your sled. 2. feet stay off the sled. 3. if you want to turn to the left tap your left foot twice. 4. if you want to turn to the right tap your right foot twice. 4. if you wreck-- Let go of the sled, and cover your face. Luis-Alberto and I were the fourth and fifth person to go. The first person wrecked. and the second person wrecked. Luis Alberto did not wreck. I went and it was quite intense.... if you lean forward you go slow, if you lean back you go fast. my sled kept trying to turn and i did not want to wreck. made it to the bottom without wrecking. 

A couple people after me, wrecked just beyond the 'bunny hill' portion of the hill where the inclinde drops to 45 degrees. fell off the sled and tumbled about thirty feet down the mountain and his sled came to a stop in the path. just beyond where everyone up top could see. first person after him made it without wrecking. going directly OVER the sled. next person, was the vancouver dude totally wrecked at his sled. tumbled. tried to go up the mountain to get the sled, went ten steps and decided it was too hard to climb up the hill and turned around and went back down the mountain. Finally the dude that tumbled made it to his sled and made it down the rest of the mountain. Everyone else made it down with little concern and Ross our tour guide ran down the mountain. Then we all enjoyed a beer before heading back the hour and a half back to town. Made it back with only a few swaps of the twigs along side the road for our two free mojitos. Cory-- a dude from colorado, Daniel and Jeffrey were a couple dudes from canada and Braeden a dude from vancouver all showered and had a couple mojitos and beer with us before Luis-Alberto and I lead the way to a nearby italian place. We meandered through the restaurant to the outdoor patio where we ordered 5 pizzas (for ten of us) and 3 rounds of flor de cana cokes and soda water. We cheersed and had a great time. Then we went to another place where they had karokee and we ordered two more rounds before Luis alberto and I called it a night. Went home, it was 2am. had to be up at 7am to catch the bus back to managua so i could fly out at 115pm

Nicaragua day 3-- Leon beach

Woke up at 7 to john Paulo's cooking of pintos gallos (rice and beans) scrambled eggs and fresh squeezed orange juice. We then got dressed for the beach. John paulo drove us the 20 minutes to the beach. We sat at playa rota. Rock beach bar on the second floor and had 3 rounds. Then we walked out to the rock in the water for some photo opps before going down shore a little bit to another beach front property for fish shticks and cocktail shrimp. Delish! Then it was 1130 and we needed to be back in town at 2 for our volcano trip. But john paulo wanted to show us one more place that serves the best seafood consumay. Its like soup with a bunch of seafood chunks in it. Like a lobster, shrimp, veggies, and other sea creatures. It was good. 2 more rounds. Then it was 145. We headed out and called gabby to call bigfoot to let them know we were running late and they made a big stink and refused to wait. We continued back to attempt a refund as we were planning on returning to managua tonight and going to the lagoon tomorrow. No luck. So, we changed our volcano boarding to thursday and decided to hit up the town. Went and did a little shopping, found a green and white hammock I liked for 11$ tried to haggle to 8 but its hard when you don't speak the language. Then we ordered flor de cana the nicaraguan slow aged rum. The youngest is 4 years, oldest is 25. We got the 7 year aged rum. In a 375 ml bottle plus bottle of coke club soda and limes. 1 part rum, 1 part club soda, 2 parts coca cola 1 lime. 3 more of those and we went back to gabby's house for dinner made by john paulo. Then we went dancing with lauren, an american girl staying at the house from the peace core until 2014. However, we got to the dance hall, and the bouncers wanted 80 cordoba at the door (thats like 3.50$). So the girls who are tight on cash didn't want to go. So we went to a nearby bar that had an open terrace. We set up a table and ordered a round of flor de cana. Then Luis-Alberto ordered some food, that ended up being appetizer samplers. Then the german's girl (who is a Chilla -- pronounced chila like the end of a chinchila) is a foreign girl in nicaragua. A chilero is a local who only dates foreign girls) german girls boyfriend came as did one of John Paulo's friends joined. it started to rain, and then it started to pour so we moved underneath the awning. then we moved back because it was too hot with too little airflow. Then the german girl and the chilero left and we went to a karokee bar. The signing was absolutely horrible. at about 2am we decided to call it a night. and John Paulo drove us back to the house and we passed out.

Nicaragua day 2

I woke up on the couch in a sweat. Its hot and humid here. Atleast I had my sleep sheet to sleep on top of. About 9am Luis Alberto came down stairs confused as to why he was in the bed and I was on the couch (after being punched twice I decided I should hust go downstairs instead of dealing with a very tired person). His brother woke up and his mama came to the house. Luis Alberto made breakfast (fried tortilla chunks and scrambled egges) and we enjoyed it over a mimosa. They then moved some furniture and 3 hours later we were back to Luis Albertos house for a shower, a nap, and bus to leon. I napped for about 2 hours after my shower. I was starting to get hungry again. It took us 4 hours to be ready to leave. But we got ready and stopped at mcdonalds. They had a 3$ meal special on a quarter pounder with cheese, fries and a drink. Luis-Alberto got 3 sandwiches and an ice cream. Then his mom dropped us off at the bus station where we got a bus to Leon. It again was a 15 passenger van which was already full, so I had to ride in front and luisAlberto rode in the back. The van had AC and was freezing cold. I busted out my brazil wrap and slept. The van was 60 cordoba (2.25$) for the hour and a half ride. We got to Leon and hopped a cab to Bigfoot hostel. Where we signed up for a volcano boarding tour. You basically sled down the side of a volcano. We then walked the 3 blocks to get to Gabby's house. Her mom and luis-alberto's mom went to college together. Their family has extra bedrooms where they host students. 80$ a month gives them a 6x6 room with a shower. And I think they get breakfast daily from the maid. Gabby got married last year to a rancher 2 hours north and is 36 weeks pregnant. After we settled in and chatted with her parents for an hour, gabby took us to barbaro, a bar down the block to get food. An hour and 15 minutes later, our food was ready. I ordered a burrito, luiis alberto ordered a schneitzel and gabby ordered a pizza. Rumor has it restaurants don't stock the food they need to prepare meals and simply once the order is in, the chef hops on a bike and drives off to go get the food.

Gabbys brother and friend met us for a beer at the restaurant where we talked John Pauol into bringing us to the beach in the AM before our volcano tour. We then retired early.
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Nicaragua day 2. Travel to Leon

I woke up on the couch in a sweat. Its hot and humid here. Atleast I had my sleep sheet to sleep on top of. About 9am Luis Alberto came down stairs confused as to why he was in the bed and I was on the couch (after being punched twice I decided I should hust go downstairs instead of dealing with a very tired person). His brother woke up and his mama came to the house. Luis Alberto made breakfast (fried tortilla chunks and scrambled egges) and we enjoyed it over a mimosa. They then moved some furniture and 3 hours later we were back to Luis Albertos house for a shower, a nap, and bus to leon. I napped for about 2 hours after my shower. I was starting to get hungry again. It took us 4 hours to be ready to leave.
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Nicaragua Day 1

Woke up at 640am to shower (with no hot water and very little water pressure) threw on a sundress and met Luis Alberto in the kitchen where he made me scrambled eggs and toast. His mother got ready and we packed day packs to go to the lagoon. His mama brought us to the bus station. You get in the back of a 15 passenger van they stuff with 23 people, no air conditioning and they drive off. Stopping all along the way to pick up people and let people off. We were going to the last stop Marasaya. Where we were going to catch a "chicken bus" a school bus overflowing with people to the lagoon. We were late. The 30 minute bus took about 50 minutes and we missed the bus to the lagoon.

Quick thinking luis alberto and I decided on Granada. A "gringa" town (full of foreign tourists). This bus was another 50 minutes. When people wanted to get on or off the bus slowed and you jumped. Good thing we were going to the end of the line. Arrived and climbed up atop the bell tower in one of the three cathedrals. Saw the view of the town complete with volcano background. Then we went to Kathy's waffle house for american omelets and homestyle fries. Amazing. And like 4$. We then did a walking tour of granada. Stopped at an irish pub for some cereveza. Then worked our way down to the water front where we were picked up by guys in a horse drawn carriage for a 1 hour tour of the town (for 8$). Saw all there was to see.

Went back to the irish pub for maracua (rum plus FRESH squeezed guava juice. 2x3.50$. We had 3 rounds of those, but shortly into the second round it started pouring. We seeked coverage inside, ordered tostilla chips with cheese salsa and beans while watching american football bowl game. About 430 we started the hike to the bus station where we hopped a mini coach bus (of course overstuffed with people) where I feel asleep on the 45 minute ride back to managua where Luis-albertos mom was waiting for us.

She had some business to take care of (signing lease agreement for a new tenant) so we waitied in the house while they checked to make sure everything was okay. We then stopped at the supermercado for cranberry juice, redbulls, and sprite before heading back to luis albertos house for a quick nap before heading to his brothers to welcome in the new year.

We napped for about an hour, then made pizza and Luis-Albertos mom brought us to his brothers house. There were many people here and appetizers. We arrive about 1120pm. Rang in the new year with noisemakers and sparkly hats. Then we started dancing and having a good time. People started leaving around 3am and I finally laid down on the couch here at 345am.
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Arrival to nicaragua

The flight to nicaragua was completely full with shorter leg space than normal. The seats were also a little tighter. In true for I got the window seat and had an 52 year old nicaraguan dude in the middle seat. Luckily he was skinny. We swapped travel stories although I would have preferred sleeping. He informed me of places I needed to visit and even offered me a ride incase Luis Alberto didn't show up.

Landed 3 hours later. And the humidity had already set in. I was literally the last passenger off the plane. Border patrol wasn't too horrible, I got stamped then I made up some lost time through customs as I only carried on my bags, didn't need to wait for my bags to drop. Xavier (52 yo dude from plane) informed me of the terminal and how to find Luis alberto. Made it out and into the hall to find him as the first person through the doors. He noticed the crew and thought something happened to me. His mama was waiting in the car right outside the airport to bring me to their house. About 30 minutes from the airport we got to his house, he showed me to my room (his room he's giving up to me while I'm here) and we had a cheers of local beer before passing out at 1am.
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