Our first stop…Granada! Well actually, our first stop was a gas station on the way to Granada so we could grab some water (it was almost 100 degrees outside), a few bottles of Flor de Cana (Nicaragua’s famous rum), and… a HOT DOG (yup, all of that from the gas station)!
We opted to enjoy our meal in the courtyard in the back of the restaurant instead of outside directly on La Calzada (part of the reason for this was to avoid people trying to sell us their wares) but that didn’t deter an overly dramatic but highly entertaining little boy from trying to get us to buy something from him. 
After a fantastic and filling meal, we headed out in search of a horse and carriage for the tour of the city. On our way to Parque Central to find one, we passed the Catedral de Granada which was as beautiful and impressive looking in person as it looked in pictures. 
Resuming our journey toward the Parque Central, we ran into a Nica local offering tours (one of which being a horse and carriage tour). The price for the horse & carriage tour was exactly what I researched prior to the trip ($20US total for about an hour) so we decided to arrange it through him. Little did we know that he would be our guide as well! This arrangement actually turned out to be exactly what we needed since we had a lot of ground to cover in a little bit of time.
After making a few random stops at tourist attractions none of us were familiar with, the first “real” stop on our tour was the Dona Elba cigar factory where we purchased cigars. I’ve heard Nicaraguan cigars are supposed to be even better than the coveted Cuban cigars (though I’ll probably never know since I don’t smoke!). 
We then headed to La Merced church and proceeded to take a VERY narrow staircase to the top of the bell tower. The staircase was so narrow, there were a couple of times we had to backtrack to let people come down. It was definitely well worth the climb though as the views from the top were great.
On the ride back to Parque Central to meet our driver, we each got a turn at the “wheel” steering the horse and buggy. A little terrifying for me since the horses didn’t seem to “listen” to my directions (clearly I was just bad at it!).
After meeting back up with our driver, we then headed to our next stop for the day: Masaya! While there, we strolled through the market looking at the handcrated souvenirs. We saw tons of beautiful hammocks that we all wanted to take with us but since this was a short trip, we wouldn’t be able to fit it in our carry-ons 😦
We then stumbled upon a cute place called Ceviche El Pollo where we decided to get a drink (it was SO hot). There were some intriguing tables and chairs that Lesley and I decided to climb to the top of while we waited for our drinks.
Though the drinks were resfreshing and delicious, it was only after we tasted them we realized the place didn’t sell alcohol! Oh well, they were still delicious…and super cheap 🙂
After our short stint in Masaya, we finally headed toward Leon. Though it was a 2 hour drive, it went by relatively quickly (perhaps because our driver played reggaeton and salsa music videos the entire way). After checking into our hotel (Hotel Azul), we quickly changed and walked to the restaurant I researched prior to the trip which was only a couple of blocks away (El Bodegon). The owner was really nice and friendly and explained all of the dishes to us because the menu (which was on a chalkboard hanging on a wall) was all in Spanish. We were so busy eating the delicious food (the lechon was so tender!) that we didn’t take many photos here and only had one of Lesley pouring an extra shot into her drink 😉 The food and drinks were delicious and so cheap – we each paid less than $10 US for a drink and our entree (including tip). We were a bit in a food coma after that and went straight to bed.
Our second day was the day of the big adventure. Our transfer to the Tierra Tours office arrived right on time and after paying for the tour at the office, we were on our way to the volcano. It was about a 30 minute drive to the volcano but went by pretty quickly since we were all anxious to go volcano boarding. After a brief safety instruction, we began our hike up the volcano named Cerro Negro.
It was extremely arduous because it was 100 degrees outside, extremely windy, and we were climbing up rocks for the most part to get to the top. We did take several rest breaks (thank God!) and after an hour and a half made it to the top…but not before I, as well as my board, nearly fell down the volcano because a bee flew onto my hand (yes, I have a phobia of bees).
After reaching the top, we put on our overalls, goggles, and gloves. Upon seeing how big my overalls were, Lesley noted that for me “one size fits all doesn’t really fit all” (I guess she was right!).
Although I looked over the volcano as others in our group were boarding down, I couldn’t see much. When it was my turn, I was a little nervous but just went for it. It was awesome! I had to remember to keep my mouth closed because the volcanic rocks were flying fast and furious at my face as I boarded down the volcano. I was just happy that I made it all the way down without falling!
Tasia actually did fall but quickly recovered.
All in all, it was a great experience. After everyone had their turn, it was a short walk back to the bus to head back to our hotel to change and grab a quick lunch. We wanted to explore the beach in this area (since we didn’t have enough time to head two hours south to San Juan del Sur) so called our driver Gerson who ended up taking us to Suyapa beach. The water was actually extremely rough (great for surfers though) so we decided to forgo actual swimming and took photos and had a few cocktails instead 🙂
After a couple of hours there, we went back to the hotel for another quick change for dinner. We decided to go “cheap local” for dinner and went to Antonino’s pizza for a meat lover’s pizza pie ($6 to share between the three of us!) and then Tip Tap for chicken (pizza was delicious; chicken not so much). On our way back to the hotel we stopped at El Bodegon (the restaurant at which we ate the night before) for cocktails to go (yes, they were that good and the owner remembered us) and decided to make that our night cap by the pool.
After a quick breakfast at the hotel (after all it was free!), we headed out to Iglesia de la Merced but actually ran into Leon Cathedral first, which is the biggest cathedral in Central America. Unfortunately, when we did arrive at La Merced, we were not allowed to go up to the bell tower so we opted to just quickly look around instead. Not much to see really as the highlight is supposed to be the views from the top of the bell tower.
There was a crafts market a few blocks away so we walked around there for a bit before it was time to head back to the hotel to make our way back to the airport for our flight home 😦 Although it was a short trip, it was a great action-packed girls getaway weekend!
Toya's Travels 