We read that most people admire the beauty of Granada, but they leave their heart in Leon. We still haven't visited Granada, but we have already fell in love with Leon. However, an important part of the experience was also getting there.

The journey from Utila to our favourite town involved an hour ferry trip and a gruelling 15-hour (small) shuttle journey. Even so, we'd still chose this option, in favour of 3 bus changes and having to spend a night at, not-so-gentle Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. Since there is no railway system in the whole of Central America, there are, on average, more trucks on the road than there are cars. I will put no more detailed comments on the driving experience here, but if our shuttle went any faster, we'd probably take off!! Since we traveled during the day, I chose to take my mind off the constant road dangers by taking in beautiful sights; kilometres and kilometres of perfectly aligned, tall Palm trees, on the plantations along both sides of the road,grown for the Palm oil production; people harvesting sugar cane; the change of scenery from lakes to rivers; mountains and a variety of flora; roadside markets selling exclusively ceramic pots and fruit stalls heavy with locally grown pineapple and bananas. However, the most unexpected sight in one of our stops was a truck with the tigers in cages, including the two white ones...there were around 10 altogether and the sight of them made our hearts sink.

The Nicaraguan border crossing is the least official and the dirtiest one that we've ever been to. Two stray dogs made their way into the waiting area and fell asleep, while the passengers gathered around them and waited for the long and badly organised passport procedure to be completed. I entertained myself by standing behind a counter and "joining" an official on duty watching a movie starring Tom Hanks.The 40 or so inch LCD tv was very much in contrast with the rest of the place, except that it was secured between the desk and the wall with the sellotape!! We finally finished everything and payed more than was originally said and surely with no amount noted on the official receipt. Just when we were desperately ready to leave this place, our driver reported that the brake fluid from one of the wheals was leaking and we might need to wait for 4-5 hours to be picked up from there. Luckily, they managed to temporarily fix it and we were off for the final 2 hours of our journey :)

And finally, Leon. With its colonial architecture and the hot and dry climate, the proximity to the Pacific Coast and the volcanoes, fruit stalls, beautiful if not in the best condition houses, delicious and often cheap food in the comedors (a cheap type of a restaurant), the reminders of the revolution and the passionate resistance of its people depicted in murals across the town and a youthful spirit of a university town...we were captured by the feel of the town. After having a (few) drinks at the Via Via bar, the memories of my own carefree student life kept on resurfacing. We also visited Pan & Paz (so far I've learnt enough spanish to know that it means 'bread and peace') a French bakery, beautifully decorated place with a very fairly priced natural juices, that were by the way a leitmotif throughout our stay here.

The biggest surprise during the sightseeing was awaiting at the top of the cathedral. The cathedral itself is beautiful but in need of a makeover, the originally white colour now giving way to the streaks of grey and black. We payed for the ticket hoping to have a little stroll on the roof, enjoy the view and take a few photos. We found ourselves on a blindingly white roof where we had to take our shoes off to access it. The shapes of the domes reminded us of walking across small dunes and the reflection gave a buring sensation on the skin. It was very peaceful up there, the whole experience was slightly out of this world.

We then went across the road to the museum of the revolution. All the guides at the museum fought during the revolution, many of them still in their teens. Now, in line with the familiar script created for the men of war across the globe, they are practically jobless and have very small or no pension at all. Carlos,our guide spoke to us in Spanish and we got the overall sense out of what he spoke about, but I'll have to refer to online sources to make sure I've got the details (from his side of history) right!

After 3 hot and enjoyable days, we set off on a 2 1/2 hour journey to the airport (peace of cake) and took a less than an our flight to the Corn Islands. This is when we learnt that it is NOT a myth that in these parts of the world, the rum flows freely, whereas the water is not readily available. The air hosted generously poured the rum with my coke until i signalled it was enough, yet she almost rolled her eyes when another passenger asked for some water. She didn't have it on the trolley and went somewhere at the back of the plane to get it.

So, here we are now on the Big Corn island, going to the Little Corn tomorrow. So far, we've been enjoying an amazing beach and we already feel we've balanced the lack of it at Utila. We're looking forward to more of them on the smaller island from tomorrow.