Iron like Lion

Yesterday mid afternoon I decided that I had enough of Mangua, so I got a bus to Leon, or rather I got in a really long line for a bus to Leon. There was an America in line who was cool enough, until he started bragging about all the places he has been...Don´t make me pull out Cuba man. Its pretty much the ultimate trump card when someone starts down that line. He wouldn´t stop, so I had to say it and that ended that. He made a really big deal of knowing all about where he was going and what he was doing and then he got out of the bus 3 km from Leon acting like he was exactly where he wanted to be. I had to smile a little as we drove off and he was surrounded by taxi drivers that he would eventually succumb to for the remainder of his trip into the city. I saw him earlier today, he made it just fine.

This is the main church in Leon, with the tomb of famous Nicaraguan poet and eventual madman, Ruben Dario:

Leon is beautiful. Its a little bigger than Granada, I think. Its similar though in that it has retained its colonial heritage. I am staying at a pretty cool hostel called Lazybones; its nice, bunk beds, a pool, relaxing places to read and talk with the other guests. I ended up going out last night with some Texans who were making their way south hitting every country in Central America except Belize and El Salvador. We grabbed some food and then headed to a night club. Pretty typical for me, hanging out with Texans and going to night clubs. It was a good time though with an open bar and plenty of dancing.

There are some really beautiful murals in the town depicting various events and realities of Nicaraguan life. Leon has retained its revolutionary culture more so than many places in the country like Grenada where I did not see any murals. The conservatives have historically been in Grenada, while the liberals maintain a presence in Leon.

You can see the letters CIA on the snake in this one:

This one depicts an actual shooting that took place in this square:

A cool wall with lots of revolutionary history:

Woke up this morning to fire works right on the street in front of Lazybones; not the best, but not the worst alarm either. Jumped in the pool and had some breakfast before I took a little tour of the city (pictures to follow). Made it to a sports bar to watch the Euro final and luckily saw the only goal of the match before the feed cut and we lost the game. Esapana!!!!

I wandered out after that and wanted to grab some food. Walked over to the main market area and found a street stall where the woman used nothing but her hands to put everything on my plate; rice, cabbage, meat, tortilla. It was spectacular, maybe the best meal I have had yet especially for $2.50.
I am meeting Syd Frey in a few hours and I am really excited to see what she is up to here, hopefully there will be something I can jump into for the next few days. Things are going well overall, this country is starting to grow on me.