Granada and Leon — The road liss traveled

Nicaragua’s homely colonial cities, characterized by colorful buildings, Spanish architecture, cathedrals, and charming centrals parks. They’re both places with a seemingly slower pace of life that almost beckon you to find a coffee shop and watch life go by, sipping a cappuccino. When I arrived at Granada it was a Sunday afternoon, although at this particular moment I had no time to waste. It was 2:10 and the Packers conference championship game started at 2:00, so I put down my stuff and rushed out the door to find the main bar strip. I stopped in the first bar I found that had the game on, an Irish pub, although I was the only one there. I learned that everyone was watching the game at a sports bar down the street called Margarita’s, so I headed there at half time, very contentedly...

Well we all know how that game turned out, so let’s just say my time in Granada did not start out very well. Nice coaching Fat Mike. After getting a hug from a drunk, sweaty, shirtless Seahawks fan I ambled the cobblestone streets for an hour trying to piece together what had just happened. Well, at the least the nice thing about traveling is you can always disconnect yourself from the things happenings back at home! So no sportscenter replays, radio discussions, facebook updates, etc for me. Back to traveling. I hung out in Granada for another full day, just riding a bike around and nothing really. The only thing that made me nervous was that on three separate occasions as I was wandering around people told me to be careful or not to go this way on account of the camera around my neck. Apparently once you’re just outside the main tourist area it’s not as safe as it might appear…

After Granada it was off to Leon, which is pretty similar to Granada, although less polished and bright. I liked it’s more rustic feel however, and I enjoyed that when you go to a bar it feels like a good mix of locals and tourists, not just either/or. I gave myself one day of mostly nothingness and another day for volcano boarding which is the big ‘adventure’ activity around Leon. There’s a volcano called Cerro Negro, which is basically a hill of steep volcanic gravel. You hike to the top and then slide all the way down either on a snowboard-like apparatus or a sled-like one. It’s kind of a silly, novelty type thing, but it seems like almost everyone in Leon does it! They put you in these crazy looking full body suits that resemble hazmat suits to minimize cuts and scrapes, if you were to take a bad wipe out. I opted for the standing up board (not really sure why, I suck at snowboarding) and it turns out that everyone else went with the sled.

After about an hour in the bus we started hiking up the volcano, carrying all our gear. To be fair it’s almost worth it just for the lookout point at the top. You get a nice panoramic view over the volcano-dotted Nicaraguan landscape. Although looking over the edge from the volcano-boarding launching point was pretty intimidating. It looks really steep! You feel like you wont be able to stop and you’ll end up hurtling yourself at breakneck speed down the mountainside. But our guide assured us it was totally fine…right. So we all threw on our suits and goggles, and I got strapped into my volcano snowboard. At this point I wasn’t feeling particularly reassured being that I was the only one not using the sled.

Photos courtesy of the internet, I was afraid to bring my camera

As it turned out, our guide deemed that I would be going first, so there wasn’t really much time to think about it, off I went! Nice and slow at first. Because it is gravel, there is a lot friction, but at the same time, if you keep your board straight and make no effort to cut back, you will pick up speed, and fast! So I zigzagged my way down the volcano face, wiping out once or twice when I thought I was building up too much speed. It was hard work! You don’t realize how much stress you’re putting on your calves and your ankles. But I made it down in one piece, thoroughly coated in dirt and ash. I watched as the rest of the group made their way down on the sleds and then it was back to Leon. I don’t think I would do it again, but it certainly was an interesting way to spend the morning! Next stop, the Nicaraguan highlands…

Here's some photos from around Leon

Hanging out in doorways and on porches is a popular activity

no shortage of bananas around these parts