a moment of ranting and raving

yesterday i updated the blog with 2 entries, one that summed up the last week or so and culminated in many many photos and explanations and the other that talked about the volcano boarding. as you may see the first did not post and i am not amused. i would love to say i will try again, but uploading all the photos and recreating the thoughtful prose and witty asides just may be too much for me.

i suppose i will start with the photos. these first few are from and in the cathedral. the next few are actually from the bell tower of the cathedral at the edge of parque central. it was a beautiful evening and the perfect moment to take photos. the cathedral itself is lovely and they allow visitors to climb up the precarious steps to the bell tower with only this plea, ¨please refrain from ringing the bells.¨now normally i wouldn´t consider it, or maybe i would but then it would immediately leave my mind. but in this instance, with every step i took, i looked at the ropes hanging from the bells and it took almost everything i had to resist the urge to pull. why is it when someone asks us not to do something we are compelled to do it?!from Granada, Charlize, my travel buddy i met in Ometepe (upon realizing we were headed in the same direction we decided to go together) and i headed up to Leon. actually she and i joined with two others who were also heading up as well. always much more fun to travel together, especially when you are going to be switching buses at random locations outside of Managua. we all had formed a tight bond the night before when we went out to El Club in Granada where not only did we girls get in free but also were served the ´ladies drink´for free the entire night, it was a fruity concoction with some rum (not flor de cana) that our sole guy deemed one more reason he was glad to be a guy. El Club was a scene, not only with a DJ and a random mix of music but fog and lighting that would put some clubs in the states to shame.

After a bus, a taxi and a minibus we arrived in Leon where we then walked and walked to our hostel. one more reason i love Nicaragua...3 times during our walk we were stopped by people asking if we needed help or directions. there was no doubt we were tourists and our maps and confused looks surely made it easy for people to see that we were clueless. still, i have had that look many many times in my travels and only on one other occasion has someone stopped to ask if i need help. Even the guy at the hostel who told us there were no beds called other hostels until he found one with space.here´s another reason to love Nicaragua and specifically Leon...the welcoming nature of the people. we went on a tour with one of the owners of the hostel who does ´cultural tours´to watch and learn about the cockfights and not only did i learn a lot (maybe more than i wanted but that has yet to be determined) but was also made to feel completely comfortable by the many men i interacted with there. more than a few times people leaned over to myself or one of the others to explain something that was going on or to answer our questions. and believe me we had many questions. our guide worked hard to explain and answer questions and help us along and his entourage from the hostel also weighed in as well. all in all it was a unique and interesting experience i will not likely forget.