Days 1-3 of my trip to Nicaragua: Managua, Leon and Las Peñitas

One of the many lion statues found in Leon. I didn't get it at first. Then I realized I was stupid.

ANOTHER OLD TRAVEL JOURNAL

The Place: Managua, Leon and Las Peñitas, Nicaragua
The Dates: March 13-15, 2009
Journal Date: March 23, 2009

“Day 1, Friday, March 13, arriving at Managua airport: My friend and I got picked up by the Managua Backpackers Inn shuttle, sharing the car with a young, chatty American couple where the guy was way hotter than the girl. How does that happen so often? …She seemed like the dominant half of the couple. There must be a plethora of mild-mannered, good-looking men out there.

We took a cab to La Casa de los Mejia Godoy, a famous restaurant that has live, traditional music played by either the famous Mejia Godoy brothers or some other hot acts. One of the brothers, Don Luis Enrique, was playing. Although I don’t remember the music, I liked it, and judging by the laughter around me, Don Luis seemed to be a charming host. Marj and I got up and danced, awkwardly, and took our picture with him as though he were a rock star. It was, overall, a decent night in a city most people tend to avoid. 

A display at the Museum of Myths & Legends.

Day 2, Saturday: We headed for Leon and picked Via Via hostel, which looked more spacious and calmer than Bigfoot, its closest competitor. We explored the city, including the Museum of Myths and Legends, which was awesome both for its frightening paper-mache re-creations of traditional Nicaraguan legends (not gonna lie, they were kinda creepy and my nightmare is to be force to spend a night locked up in a room with those creations) and because the museum is in La XXI, a prison for political prisoners under the Somoza regime. There were drawings all around of some of the torture conducted there. All the explanations were in Spanish, though, so our understanding wasn’t as good as it should’ve been.

The best part was our dormmates, Justin, Catherine and Amanee. After Marj and I liquored ourselves up at el Saloon Estrella, we headed back for more drinks – and great conversation – with the other three. Our talk spanned politics, the media, our families, our heritages (Amanee is Iranian AND Mormon, which is the strangest thing I saw in Nica), social policy, etc. it was far and away the best conversation I had all week.

Day 3, Las Peñitas: To get our beach fix out of the way we headed to a nearby beach. … The beach had huge, fun waves – even the surfers couldn’t handle them (I heard that was unusual, though, and that Las Peñitas is actually very good for learning to surf; just not on our day there)… All in all, the beach was lovely, but it was boring. We didn’t need to spend the night. We met some people who said the previous night, a Saturday, got pretty jumping, with a party on the beach. They heard that there’s a beach party every two weeks or so on Saturday, but I didn’t confirm that with anyone else. On Sunday night it was dead. We quietly ate overpriced food at Playa Rica, watched the last fifth of Slumdog Millionaire, and wished we were back in Leon.

What You Should Know: The shuttle from the airport to the Managua Backpackers Inn was US$10 each for two people, and a room to ourselves cost $15 each. Entry to La Casa de los Mejia Godoy was $10. A bus from Managua to Leon in an expreso was 40 cordoba, or about $2. A Via Via dorm bed was $5. Hopefully the Museum of Myths and Legends now has English versions of its explanations (if the American I met who was studying in Leon followed my suggestion to offer to translate). Bus to Las Penitas took an hour and cost 10 cordoba.