Leon II

After our night in Granada we hopped on a bus to Masaya for one last walk around the artisanias market and smoothies on the corner of the bus terminal. Then we took a bus to Leon. Finding a hotel was a little tricky as everything is so expensive and most of the good places were full. By nightfall we found Hotel America. It had high ceilings, so was nice and cool but had quite a strong religious theme to it. Oh and they shut the wifi off between 10 and 8.

Kacie glamming it up before the Leon central cathedral

Our main purpose for visiting Leon again was so the three of us could go volcano boarding on Volcan Cerro Negro, but after a couple emails we were told there was a red alert on all the volcanos because of the earthquakes the country has been experiencing. The tour guides said it would probably only be a day or two til they reopened so we found other activities to pass the time.
We toured the Museum of Legends and Traditions in the afternoon after checking out the cathedral. The museum featured papier mâché figurines traditionally created to make fun of the Spanish against murals painted on the walls of methods the Guardia National used to torture prisioners. The museum is displayed in the former prison. Most of the rest of the time was spent relaxing and eating delicious Italian food. Kacie has a love affair with pizza...

Buying coffee to return to Canada

On the third day we decided to try and make it to the beach. After just barely making it off the bus before it took off again we found ourselves in a town where the beach was blocked off by the official port, so we had to take a tuk tuk to the actual beach, 6km away. The beach was nice without many people and the water was perfect. The area is a known surf spot and for good reason. The waves here were huge! And the people riding them fearless.

Reliable tuk tuk transport around the shore

Evaporation pools for salt production

That basiclly marked the end of Kacie's time with us. We took a mix match of vehicles back to Managua and ate at a very nice restaurant just a couple blocks from our hotel for supper before hitting the hay early. Also after checking our email, we got news the volcanoes were open again and could have gone boarding on Cerro Negro, sigh.
Bright (well not so bright) and early I rode with Kacie to the airport to see her off.