Tag: Nicaragua

Leon Cathedral Tour and Volcano Boarding with Via Via – 20220819

Today I got up and walked to “mañana mañana” for breakfast. I was feeling a bit tired but I downed some delicious coffee and went to do the cathedral tour. It only costs $3 and you walk up these little tiny steps that take you up to the rooftop. The view of the city up there is amazing. The whole cathedral is all perfectly painted white. I don’t know how they keep it so white, they must repaint it every couple of months.

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The rooftop of the Catedral – Basilica

La Catedral – Basilica

I then headed back to the hostel where I lazed around until 2pm when I went on the volcano boarding tour(the reason a lot of people come to Leon). It cost $35, a pretty steep price for Nicaragua, but in the end I felt like it was worth doing. The tour was through Via Via, I think there is another option in town, but a Dutch guy I met got wrecked doing it with them.

I wasn’t expecting too much but was pleasantly surprised. The hike up has amazing views of the landscape. You can scrape away some of the black earth and feel the heat still coming up through the ground from the volcano.

You can also see tons of bugs crawling in the black rock. Our guide explained that was the process of a new volcano turning into a mountain. The bugs get some minerals out of the ground, die there, leave some fertilizer and slowly but surely new plants and trees will start to grow there.

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Arriving at Cerro Negro in the truck

The crew to Cerro Negro

The hike is about an hour and had some remarkably gusty wind almost the whole time. I was sure someone would get blown off the mountain as the board for volcano boarding is its own airfoil and each person was carrying their own, but no one did.

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Super gusty winds

Dumb pielut

The view from the top

We then rode down and you only get about a minute of riding. But, it was pretty great. Just dust and stone flying everywhere and you go down so fast with an amazing view the whole time. The goggles were all in awful condition however.

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On the way down!

The view on the way down

This chick was hilarious. Just kind of yelled at us the whole time about everything. But chill

I then headed back and ate with one of the guys from the tour. A nice English guy. We found some amazing street food. The pork was sooo good.

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Sunset on the ride back

Managua to Leon! – 20220818

Today I checked out of the Airbnb in Managua and headed to Leon. The collectivo to Leon cost 78 córdobas($2) and I used Ray on my phone to grab a taxi which cost like 150($4) for the ride to the hostel from the station.

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Collectivo ride

I’m staying at Poco a poco hostel which cost 32 per night for the private room. I got here, walked around, ate something, and ran into a free walking tour that happened to be going on right then.

The tour was fantastic. Maybe the best one I’ve ever gone on. The guy talked about the history of Leon and Nicaragua. How there were some great poets created here in Leon but enormous struggles for Nicaragua.

https://goo.gl/maps/gyVKTvPCU8bGwQCP8

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Iglesia al Calvario

Iglesia la Merced

One of the most the things I found most interesting was the guide talked of how Nicaragua has always been in talks of creating a canal like the Panamá canal. Apparently China wants to build it. That would be a huge deal if they did. It would go straight through Ometepe.

Free Salsa night. But there weren’t even any chips

I then went to free salsa night at the hostel which was alright and went out with the hostel goers to a bar called geckos right nearby. It was loud music and we danced and drank some until around midnight when I called it a night.

How to Renew Moto Docs in Nicaragua(30 Day Extension) – 20220815

I went to the Aduana in Managua. I was a little nervous as my registration had already expired but I figured I would give it a shot anyways. I read that if I did not extend it it would cost $50 plus $1 per day after which actually did not seem that bad to me.

GPS Coordinates

DGA entrance: 12.151187054576848, -86.23322431085462

https://goo.gl/maps/f2YuhPnjjHBLQjz38

Bank for payment: 12.15115621136764, -86.23382223957317

https://goo.gl/maps/BumJB8uQdaPgAFCRA

I showed up to the Aduana, was forced to wash my hands, dry my hands on my muddy pants, and mask up. Then they took my passport and added my name to a list and told me to sit. My name was immediately called so I went to Escritorio #4.

Waiting a brief moment in the “DGA”

They only asked for my old import paperwork and passport. They then handed me a little slip of paper and told me to walk 30 meters down the road to the bank to pay $10 USD.

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The slip of paper to take to the bank

So I walked down, got doused in sanitizer, got told not to use my phone and had the bank lady ask me 10 questions all of which I didn’t hear a word of due to her mumbling, wearing a mask, and the thick wall of plastic between us. She just kept rolling her eyes and eventually figured it all out for herself as I walked out 10 dollars poorer but with a receipt.

Recibo en mano

I walked back to the aduana, was forced to wash my hands again, again dried my hands on my muddy unwashed pants now damp from multiple handwashings, and again they took my passport and told me to sit. They again immediately called me and I went to Escritorio #2.

He wanted the receipt, old paperwork, and passport. He called me up 3 times for random bits of info like where I was staying. He then told me to come back Wednesday at 2pm with the little slip of paper that he put in my passport. Why couldn’t I get the paperwork then? Who could ever know, you don’t ask questions about those kinds of things in Latin America. Maybe they were just out of printing paper.

Follow-up: I went back on Wednesday at 2pm and after washing my hands and then drying them on my now washed pants they promptly handed my 30 day motorcycle import extension. Woot.