Days 59 to 61 - Esteli, NIC to Leon, NIC

Day 59:

 

We woke up the next day a little slow, since we partied pretty hard (for our age anyway... :) the night before at the horse festival in Esteli. Since the festival was finishing that day, we decided to pack our stuff and take off for Leon, about 130 km from there. 

The riding was fun enough in the beginning, but eventually the road got real flat and straight for most of the way. It probably around 35 deg. C that day, and all three of us had to fight hard not to doze off. 

In Leon, we found the two major hostels in town, which were actually both on the same street, right across from each other. Since the nicer Via Via didn't have room that night, we stayed at the Blackfoot, even though they wouldn't let us park the motos inside. Fortunately, we were able to arrange with the manager of Via Via to let us leave the bikers there, once we let him know that we would move to his hostel the next morning.

Che mural in our room at the Blackfoot hostel in Leon

Our 3 bikes, plus a BMW GS 1150 from Oregon, parked at Via Via

Via Via hostel. Great place with tasty food as well.

Flor de Cana... Great Nicaraguan rhum. Cheap in Central America.

Day 60:

On our second day in Leon, we moved our stuff from Blackfoot to Via Via, and then jumped on the bikes to check out the nearby beach, about 20 km away. The place was a disappointment: pretty deserted, and not that nice either: littered and with gray, volcanic dust-like sand. We hung out a bit at a local hostel, and then had lunch at a nearby seafood restaurant. About 15 minutes after downing a plate of seafood pasta, my stomach started to feel a little weird... Fortunately we made it back to Leon on time, but it  was close call ;) 

Later that night, Josh and I went to get a haircut. As much as the barber in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, did a good job a few weeks ago, the one in Leon came up with the worse haircut I've had in the past 20 years... It was NOT worth the 2$ I paid for it. (a week later, I am seriously considering about getting it fixed by someone else.. it's that bad... :)

 

Beach near Leon. A disappointment.

The USA/Canada connection at the beach

Day 61:

The next day, we intended on checking out the nearby Cerro Negro volcano, and to doing some ash boarding. The place was only 25 km from Leon, but the ride was more challenging than expected, as the road was very sandy.

Once there, we leased two boards, and took off with our guide to climb the volcano. The hike took about 40 minutes, and I was out of breath for most of the way: the trail was steep, made of soft volcanic material, and I am out of shape. Once on top of the volcano, it was extremely windy, but the view was awesome.

The surfing part wasn't actually that fun: the boards don't have bindings, but straps, which don’t provide any ankle support for carving. Also, they are too short and keep sinking in the volcanic dust. I am still glad that I did, but it's now off the "to do" checklist and I wouldn’t care about doing it again.

Crater of the Cerro Negro volcano

There are a few other volcanos in the region. You can see the smoke on this photo.

On top of the volcano... Finally. I was a sweaty mess.

Mihai getting ready to descend.

Then it was my turn... Pic taken by our guide.

We went back to our hostel, re-packed our gear (the part of the trip all moto travellers dislike the most...packing and unpacking), and headed to town to snap a few photos. The next day we had agreed to head to Granada.

Kids playing soccer, with a few skaters on the side.