Leon, Nicaragua: A City Among Volcanoes

As he lay in a hospital bed, during which I can only presume he reflected on his decision to ride a bicycle down the side of an active volcano, Eric Barone had just broken the land speed record on a gravel surface. He descended the Cerro Negro volcano in Nicaragua at an astonishing 172 kilometers per her (107 mph), albeit breaking every bone in his body after the bike capsized once it reached the bottom where the slope angle decreases sharply. So, naturally, someone later decided they should charge tourists $30 to slide down the same volcano on a toboggan. I was one of those tourists.

Of the many volcanoes surrounding the small city of Leon on which visitors can explore for a variety of activities (hiking, camping trips, viewing a sunrise), Cerro Negro has a distinct look with it's black ash and gravel slope on what I believe was the eastern side, and a sizable open gap in the mountain on the west that is clearly the result of recent eruptions (the Google satellite map of this area looks amazing!). In fact, if you run your fingers through the gravel at any point while on the rim, you will immediately feel the warmth, nay, heat still emanating from the earth - evidence of the millions of exothermic reactions as a result of the isotopic decay of inner earth elements inside the underlying magma chamber. With this information in mind, I volunteered to be the first person in our group to get down the volcano, and I did so at 55 kilometers per hour. Not record breaking, but fast enough to make you smile the entire time. A big thanks to Big Foot Hostels and Volcano Boarding for a great experience.

As for the city, Leon is filled with many hostels ranging in prices from $6 to $10 per night for a dorm bed, and private rooms anywhere from $15 to $30 depending on your tastes. I stayed at three different spots over the course of my two weeks in the city and I became quite fond of Lazybones for it's laid back vibe, plethora of hammocks, and a swimming pool. Of course there are also hotels, but my three month travel budget would have been drastically cut short if I had stayed at too many of those places.

Most of the lodging spots in Leon also offer opportunities to book most of your other travel needs. Whether it's planning a thee day camping trip or to schedule a shuttle to another city if you're not comfortable maneuvering your way around a Central American bus station (some days I was, others not so much). While relaxing in the city I ate at many small restaurants and discovered a delicious chicken burrito truck near the main square. It's the red truck near the corner. You can also take a walking tour to explore the Museo de Revolucion, cathedrals, and the central square with a small market.

On my first day I visited the ruins of an old church of which the namesake was St. Sebastion. Not only did this present a different type of place to visit in the city, but St. Sebastion was also the name I chose while I was going through the Catholic Confirmation process in high school. Although my current spiritual outlook is not much aligned with the Catholic Church, they still have me registered as Dustin Edward Sebastion Waite (the confirmation name goes after the legal middle name). Sebastion was the patron saint of athletes and once was shot with an arrow and lived. Apparently, at sixteen years old, that was all the reason I needed to choose that name to represent my spiritual well being, and now it was also the reason I explored these church ruins for a few hours in Nicaragua last month. Oh the reasons we do things...

The crown jewel of the city would most definitely be the Cathedral de Leon, a beautiful white building in the heart of the city on which you can walk around the rooftop and get a good view of the surrounding landscape of volcanoes. In order to get up there you need to find the "hobbit" door located on the back side of the building. Not the rear entrance door up the small staircase, but an actual hobbit sized door just a few feet down from that where two tiny Nicaraguan women will sell you a ticket through a locked gate that they refuse to open for some reason. Once you receive your ticket, return to the front side of the building, and along the left side (if facing the front entrance) there will be another small door where a very unofficial security guard will take your ticket, fold it twice, and then clip it with a single hole punch. You will then ascend the small staircase until you reach the bell tower where you will be instructed to remove your shoes and begin your twenty or so minutes atop the cathedral. Although the view from this spot is nice, I was more impressed with my view looking up at the cathedral at dusk time while enjoying a late night cafe at the nearby Restaurante El Sesteo.

With any other time you have I would recommend Buho Books, a small shop owned by a woman from Finland (It may have been Sweden, or the Netherlands, I can't remember), and it is across the street from Glaze, a cupcake shop with air conditioning and free WiFi where you can read your recently purchased book. For me, it was The Polysyllabic Spree, a small collection of book reviews by Nick Hornby. My recap would also be incomplete if I didn't mention salsa dancing on Thursday nights at La Olla Quemada, a small dance bar with a quaint outdoor patio. However, the floor can get filled quick with expert dancers while a plethora of white expat women stare at the floor from all sides refusing to put their dance lessons to use. Seriously, they have all taken and paid for lessons as most will proudly tell you. However, over the course of three Thursday nights I was able to convince only three women to join me on the dance floor for a song. Their loss. I'm a great dancer.

After a few weeks in Leon I decided it was time to move on. I mapped out a route that would take me to the southern part of the country before working my way back north towards Honduras. If you ever make it to Leon, I hope you find the city to be as welcoming as I did. I will return with some details of my time exploring the rest of Nicaragua soon. Thanks for reading!

-Dustin