Exploring Nicaragua - Leon and Lago de Apoyo

The Boom Wave. What can I say about the Boom Wave? Well, I tried surfing it every morning for 5 straight days. In the end I broke one board, cut my face with my fin getting rolled on a duck dive, had several hold-downs, and only managed to catch 1 good wave. If you've been surfing since you were 4 years old you'll probably rip the Boom. But for a middle aged gimp like me, it was time to move on.

We left the beach at the crack of noon after our routine 9 cups of dank coffee, (that's per person Folgers Bitch!). Our first stop was the city of Leon. This famous city is where all the left wing radical revolutionaries hung out, so you can imagine it was high on Stevie's list. Although all the tourist books give it rave reviews, we honestly found it a bit dumpy. There are some beautiful old churches and buildings, but it was obvious that the war had taken its toll on this place. We shot some photos and decided to move on.

We headed toward Lago de Apoyo which was recommended to us by our probes from ADVODNA. We cruised good roads and took in the insane views. Nicaragua is a country known for it's volcanos. There is a chain of volcanos that run through the entire country from north to south. Driving past them is absolutely breathtaking. Check this one out smokin from the top...


The cars in Nicaragua have to compete with the other street traffic, which happens to be a surprising number of horse drawn carts...

After a gorgeous 4 hour drive we arrived at the rim of our destination. Lago de Apoyo was created when a giant volcano imploded on itself over 20,000 years ago and then filled with water.  The deepest measure point of this lake is over 200 meters making it the lowest point in all of Central America! It is also one of the cleanest bodies of water so the swimming is supposed to be amazing.

Despite the expensive price we had made reservations at a swank hotel called San Simian right on the water. When we arrived I was thrilled when the manager had no idea who we were. They had lost our reservation. Stevie is a veteran all-pro nomad and went right into tear mode. We're not talking hard core I-spilt-my-milk weeping mode, but light misting in the eyes followed by comments like, "Honey, what are we going to do. It's going to be dark soon." The manager rushed around making phone calls and was thrilled when I told him we'd be willing to sleep in our van in the parking lot.

He refused when I offered to pay a couple bucks for camping and started feeding us free drinks. Cars were immedietly moved and a level parking spot was made for the Sprinter. We were given full access to the entire facility, including free use of the kayaks. He even offered Stevie his private bathroom so she could take a hot shower. I squashed that offer immediately. He was a finely groomed Euro and spoke 4 languages. This ain't my first rodeo buddy, check the ring on that finger. We opted for a swim in the lake instead and settled into gin cocktails for the night. Life is good. TREE