Nicaragua & Costa Rica – Day 8 Las Penitas to Leon

Saturday January 20, 2018

Boo hoo, this is our final morning in this little paraiso. I have even become accustomed to our noisy little doves and geckos. I would love to stay for longer, but there are many other places to see in this gem of Central America.

Misslady diligently prepares our ‘factura’ (invoice) by hand and we joke that’s it will take forever as we have spent so much time here. She laughs and claims, ‘no, you should stay longer’. Bags packed and ready to go we take last minute photos, and say our goodbyes with a promise to return soon, maybe even next year.

We wait patiently for the chicken bus, the local transport to Leon, only 20km away. The fare is less than $1 for both of us! The bus is relatively empty when we start out, however as we get closer to Leon it gradually fills up with local people heading to the city. The day is already quite warm, however we are kept cool with the speed of the vehicle and all windows down – it is actually a very pleasant ride.

The beaches bus ‘station’ is still 20 blocks from El Plaza Central and our hotel, El Convento (Yes our hotel is a convent converted into a luxury hotel). We take our favourite mode of transport, a tricycle, and before long we are here.

We are too early for check-in, so we store our backpacks and walk to the Mercado Central. It is hot, noisy and crowded so we opt to walk a few blocks extra and have lunch at Imbir Restaurant, which was recommended to us by several people. Imbir (ginger in Polish) is owned by a young Polish fellow and his girlfriend who is from Sri Lanka. The fusion of foods from their respective cultures along with an element of Nicaragua makes it an incredible taste experience. We tried small plates of pyrogys, along with Indian style quesadillas, house salad with samosas and local Nica smoked cheese with cranberry sauce. Incredible!

Back to our hotel to check-in, we are very impressed with the hotel and the ample rooms. We hit the pool until the sun disappears behind the hotel. We hear drums beating down the street and head to the Plaza Central to find a drum band entertaining a large crowd – a pleasant surprise.