Hey mates, Regan here! As we've been running a bit behind, let me give you a sense of the time period we're writing about (yeah, yeah we know, shame on us for being terrible blog-keepers. We're trying!) My part of the story starts on January 1st in Leon and ends with our departure to Granada on February 6th.
So we had an epic time in the city of Leon, but felt we needed a bit of beach and chill time. Enter the Surfing Turtle Lodge, an eco-friendly hostel outside of Leon that also serves as a turtle hatchery and rescue center. Along with our little brother Ieuan, as well as a friend we made who works at Bigfoot Hostel named Tim, and a new Aussie friend named Amer, we headed out for a night at the beach. After a seriously cramped cab ride to Poneloya, we crossed low-tide to the island (shuffling our feet to deter sting rays... they like to hang out at the bottom and do NOT appreciate being trodden on) and then hiked the 20 minutes to the beautifully secluded lodge. We spent a day just reading at the beach and making friends with the girls who worked there. As the only current guests, we had the place to ourselves! The beach was empty, and we spent the day drinking cocktails, swimming, and watching the boys go for a sunset surf. The night was filled with dancing and an awesome poi fire show by Tim.
For those of you unfamiliar with poi, check out some YouTube clips- serious talent involved in this. We first saw it in Thailand, and have seen a few people with amazing skills along this trip. Tim started with fire poi with a set borrowed from the locals, and then switched to a colorful electric set he had brought, which allowed us the chance to try it safely (although I still managed to bruise my shin pretty well. No one was surprised). It allowed us to gain some serious appreciation as to how these people avoid lighting their own hair on fire.
We returned to Leon on Friday and were treated to a night out by Breno, a Brazilian working at Bigfoot. He loaded the hostel truck up with a bunch of us and took us to a great bar/restaurant, whose name I can't remember for the life of me. They were having an open mic night, and we heard some serious talent, including the owner of the restaurant, who treated us to a few songs in a truly beautiful singing voice. I learned to salsa a bit (read: followed Breno's lead and tried not to step on his feet) and Katie and I both had an awesome time. We loaded up the crew again and made for Camaleon, a cheekily named nightclub (check the translation, note the double meaning, and have a little chuckle) that ends up being the favorite late-night party spot. Dancing, tequila shots, repeat.
The following day, hurting a little bit, Katie and I dragged ourselves out of bed (bit of a struggle... we ain't as young as we used to be!) and made moves to go to Rancho Tranquilo, run by Tina the Gringo, who hails from the US of A and has relocated in Nicaragua to run a pretty chill hostel near the beaches of Jiquilillo. Getting there was quite an adventure, involving a serious trip on the aforementioned Chicken Buses. We hopped a taxi to Chinandega and snagged a bus just as it was leaving. Another way to word this is- we were smushed into a bus that was at least 20 people over capacity and had all its fire exits welded shut.
Nearly 4 hours later, we had finally made it to what was by far the most off-the-grid and secluded hostel we'd been to so far. No Internet, no TV, no local bars, just us and Crazy Tina for company. We didn't even know who'd won the Superbowl until two days later when we returned to Leon! Most of our days there were started with morning runs in the surf line and then spent reading on the beach, soaking up the sun and utterly oblivous to time and the real world. I cruised through five books in a few days, leading one of the hostel's housekeepers to declare "I'm very surprised that you don't have a bigger head, because you must have a big brain". Not sure if offended...?
We stayed in blissful isolation until Tuesday morning, when we headed back to Leon, choosing an alternate route that did not involve aggressive jostling for standing room on an overcrowded bus. After a memorable last night in Leon, we hit the road again, bound for Granada.
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