Shit this aint livin'

After 10 hours in a bus from the not so beautiful San Salvador we arrived in León, Nicaragua. I had received an e-mail from a surfer guy called Fito that we could couch surf at his place so as soon as we arrived I called him up. He asked us to come to a newly opened hostel called Cama Léon so we came there and he showed us a double room and said we could stay there for as long as we wanted.

Volcano boarding is famous in León so the next day we went out on a trip to Cerro Negro (Black Hill) for a wicked ride down the volcano. It is the youngest and most active volcano in Nicaragua. The last time it erupted it rained dust for several months. The slope at Cerro Negro is 550 meters and the speed record, 80 km/h.

Ready, set... swooosch!

The guide told us to shut our mouths. “The pebbles are big as apples”. The stones just flew everywhere on the way down and suddenly you realized that you had survived and reached the bottom! My score was 49 km/h and Christoffers’ was much better actually… 50 km/h :)

Christoffer competed with a german guy who now is known as the man, the myth, the legend. There was a tunnel of smoke next to Christoffer and out of the smoke flew this historic man in 82km/h. A new world record was set!!! A good start of the day so afterwards we went back to town and celebrated with some mojitos.

After that it was time to dust off our noses and go to the place we all love. The beach. Fito had asked us earlier if we wanted to come and spend the weekend with him and some friends out on a lodge he owned. We said yes without blinking.

Before the beach

The party of 8 consisted of:

Fito. The proud and crazy Nicaraguan who hates silence. He is all about adrenaline. Three years ago he was in a big motorcycle accident. Was in bed for a year. As soon as he could walk again he went out to the sea ready to surf again and broke three ribs. He has good projects going on (his company is called 505) and if you ever come to León look up this guy.

Greg. The gringo from North Carolina. Everything he owns, his whole life, is in this guy’s truck. Greg is out with his dog Sola on a never-ending road trip together with his bible “The Adventurers Handbook”. His hobbies are eating, spear fishing and surfing. He lost his job in the US and that’s when he decided to leave the country. “It’s better to be poor here than in North Carolina”.

Martin. The proud fiddle player from Ireland. Who needs Google? This guy knows everything.

Visean. Roots in India but raised in Manchester, UK. Knows a lot of dirty jokes.

Kajsa. Probably the happiest girl from Gothenburg. Presumably because she left Gothenburg and came here. A beautiful voice and can sing every single nubbe-song there is.

A happy party of 8 left León and arrived at a lodge just meters from an endless beach. The best thing. Nobody there but us! We had the whole beach just to ourselves. It was a good weekend!

The second day we visited the leader of the local community who's had real problems with big corporations eating their lands. We visited some of his properties and saw the damage that has been done but we also saw beautiful beaches that are the reason they’re trying to steal them.

After that Christoffer and I tried to surf for the first time. Both Greg and Fito are addicted to surfing so we had four boards with us to the beach. Both of us fell in love with the surf from the first second so it will be a lot more of that in Bocas del Toro, Panama.

The Sunday everybody was hung over after a great party the night before so we just relaxed in the hammocks all day, ate good food, watched the sunset and then went back to León where we spent two more days because it’s such an awesome place to stay in before heading off to Costa Rica.

Amor y paz!

Steffi

written by

Steffi & Chris on October 14, 2009 from Leon, Nicaragua

from the travel blog: 212 days

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