Leon and Granada (Managua in Between)

Lately we have been doing a bit of a new style of travel; with the backpackers of Central America! In Leon, we stopped in a high traffic foreigner hostel to stay two nights. The city was nice with lots of spaces to check out and see. I was sick the second day we were there so we mostly hung out in the hostel, but it was nice because we got to hang out with fellow travelers. We met a kid who told us how to make it to South America around the Darien Gap cheaply! We also had to start our search for a front derailleur for Merilee's bike since her's decided it would be fun to fall off. With no luck finding the part in Leon we had to turn our sights to Managua.

Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, is huge and sprawling. When we arrived into the city limits me and Merilee were rather clueless as to how we were going to arrive where we wanted to stay. So we stopped a woman on the sidewalk to ask directions. As she started to tell us, she changed her mind and told us just to follow her in the car. And slowly but surely we followed her through the labyrinth that is Managua. That night Merilee got sick! It seems if one of us gets sick, then the other gets sick. Yuck. Anyhow, the next day we went on a search for a derailleur. We went to a fancy mall, and after pulling the her bike into the mall the security guard was quick to tell us "no bikes allowed" and "there is no bike shop here". Oh well. Eventually we found one though, and bought a new derailleur.

Next day we headed to Granada. Granada is probably the nicest Central American town we have visited thus far. It is very clean, has brightly painted buildings, a nice plaza, and old churches for checking out. That said, it is like San Cristobal de Las Casas because there is a lot of foreign owned business and HUGE tourist traffic. In particular one street is almost completely owned by foreign investment, and houses near there are selling away fast. So the city is really is beautiful, but there appear to be a lot of things lurking under the surface that may not be completely healthy for local people. Overall though, we are both mostly healthy again, we are going to be headed for Ometepec, the island in Lago de Nicaragua and enjoying ourselves. WHoot!

The video is of the street outside of where we are staying in Granada. It is pretty hectic!! Yesterday I saw one of the door boys on the bus shove an old man out of the road because he was moving too slow.

Pictures: Granada, Leon and Lago de Managua

P.S. Does anyone read this? With no comments it is hard to know. Don't be shy show us some love! (We get real excited when we see even one comment!)

P.S.S To the men/boys of Nicaragua, we are not your amores. The kissing noises have to stop.


P.S.S.S (this is getting outta hand) I just watched the video, and I thought I'd let everyone know sunglasses as cool as mine can be purchased at Sports Authority in Jantzen Beach!