Wednesday, Sept 7

Today we went to Las Penitas beach outside of Leon. It was basically just us there. Really strong waves so we couldnt swim, I basically stayed out of the sun as much as possible but still ended up with crazy burn lines on my legs. Ridiculous. Ive been sick on my stomach but am hoping it will go away soon. We saw Horrible Bosses at the local movie theater, it was funny but really crude. Still having a hard time thinking about Camasca but I try to focus on all the fun places ahead to visit.

 

Tuesday, Sept 6

Finally made it out of Honduras after all our immigration issues. We spent all weekend at different friends houses in Tegucigalpa. Monday morning we were at the Immigration Office all morning to get our special $20 stamp. We took a direct bus to the border and saw our old friends, the Nicaraguan border officials. We took a chicken bus, recycled American school buses, to Ocotal and then another to Esteli, but by the time we arrived in Esteli it was getting dark and was rainy so we had to stay the night there. I didnt get a good look at the town because we left on a 6am bus to Leon. I didnt get a great feel from it though, not much to see. We had a hard time finding a place to have dinner and finally settled on a Chinese restaurant with beachy decorations, reggaeton music, and we ordered sandwiches. Of course.

Leon is great. It has a lot of recent history and the colonial buildings are nice. Our hostal is called Hostal El Albergue, it is run by Nicas and is quite colorful and very laidback. Breakfast is included, but that doesnt mean much since it was white toast with margarine one day and one pancake each the next morning. It is HOT here. Today we spent a while at the central park, the cathedral is really cool and has the tomb of Ruben Dario, the famous Nica poet. We also learned a lot about the Sandista Revolution, FSLN, at the Museum of Heroes and Martrys. Our guide had been pulled into the war to fight at age 16. He said most of the people who fought were young like him. It was fascinating for him to tell us stories and his experiences fighting, right there in Leon. It was upsetting to learn about the USA role in the war but also really enlightening. The guide made it clear that they dislike our government, not us, but who knows. The central park has a painting of Sandino stepping on Uncle Sams head, pretty intense. Maybe that explains why it was so difficult for us to cross the border, even with US Embassy folks pressuring them.

Also went to the Ruben Dario house and to the supermarket to get ingredients to cook dinner.