The flight out of Big Corn this arvo was on a little 12 seater. It was a pretty good flight cos we were closer to the ground so could see more. I even got a photo of Ometepe Island.( you will hear more later in the week)
Back at Managua the ******* with the shuttle, that quoted me last week were trying to double the price cos only one of me. I told them to shove it. The taxi mafia was also trying and they know the going rate so they were asking the same. I said I will just catch a bus. The cabbie quoted me $20 to the bus station. (That is about 560 cordobas) I told him it only cost me 200 to get here and that is all I will pay. Another cabbie said $8 to the bus station and I agreed. Lucky cos I don't know where the bus station is. On the way he offered my $50 to Leon. I said Quarenta ($40) and he finally agreed. Again lucky cos I wasn't sure if the busses would be still running.
On the trip here my guts was playing up and eventually I had to say to him "alto, including minute, banks" so he stopped by the road and I dived into the bush. I dropped my ducks to do what I had to do and looked down and I was covered in mosquitos. Bid fat ones all going for it biting me. There was nothing I could do about it cos I had other pressing thing a to take care of. I am probably going to get Zika, or worse Chickengunya, all because I had to take a dump?
The cabbie dumped me at park central so the hotel was easy to find, especially with the help of a dero I met along the way who thought he might get a quid out of me. The hotel is dark but is ie pretty nice and I couldn't check in quick enough cos nature was calling again.

Leon was the nations Capitol for a long time ans still is the ecclesiastical centre for the entire region so there are heaps of churches. The Basilica de la Asunction is the biggest in Central America. It is a small colonial town but now with all the tourists. It is the number one destination for people coming to Nicaragua. Most people skip Managua and head straight for Leon or Granada. I am in a backpacker ghetto, with the biggest just over the road. There are tour shops everywhere, people selling stuff on all the streets and even food trucks near Park Central. I will be here for a few days.

I didn't do much today. Booked a tour for tomorrow and walked around. I did a Lonely Planet walking tour that I copied out of another book. I think I got to all the right places. Maybe it is better to just copy the map and not the directions. I've just put up pics of all the churches in walking distance of here. I am going to get some pics at night so I will load them tonight if I get time.
Iwent out and got pics. I thought all the churches would be lit up but most weren't.

Today I climbed the most active cinder cone volcano in the world. Cerro Negro (black hill). Then I chucked myself down the side of it. It wasn't too bad a climb. In 1971 Cerro Negro blew out one side of the crater and it now has two craters. The whole mountain is covered in volcanic scree so now we go volcano boarding on it. To get there is through some of the poorest farmland. They still plough with oxen and drive horse and cart. They live in wooden humpies and have no running water or power and an outside dunny. On the climb up I convinced myself it was going to be ok so at the top it didn't scare me at all. It is basically the same as sand boarding. We had to put on safety gear. Overalls and goggles. For some reason I was soo **** at it. I couldn't get the front of the board up and it kept digging in. I didn't even record a time at the bottom, although at places I was going ok. The fastest girl today was going 69km at the bottom. At times I was going 5km and trying to push harder. It was pretty disappointing but I can put it down as another experience
When Bigfoot put up their pics I will get some more and hopefully not look soo bad. Lucky I went with Bigfoot, they are the biggest operator and looked like the best to me.