Leon, Nicaragua -- morning

I'm now sitting at a cafe on the parque central, with La Catedral to my left-hand side. Its a clear, blue sky with only a few rare clouds.

The weather was the same when I went yesterday to Las Penitas, a beach on the Pacific Coast about half an hour from Leon. I spent the afternoon with a German named Marcos and a Swiss named Toby. We had a lot of fun boogie-boarding, but since I didn't wear a shirt, I had two red friction spots on my abdomen this morning. It hurts a little bit, but it was definitely worth it for the fun of riding waves.

However, I really didn't like Las Penitas that much. There were no trees on the beach to provide any shade. There was a wicked wind blowing from the south; this helped to create some often vicious waves. But the wind was terrible because it blew sand in one's face if facing south. Also, there were strong currents pulling one quickly toward the north, which made it more dangerous because of rocks (hence, "las penitas") lying both on-shore and underwater.

On one occasion, I had been pulled to the north without realizing it. Toby, who was on-shore, whistled to me to advise me of my position. I had to swim hard to make it straight back to shore without getting pulled any farther north. To speed my efforts, I rode a wave in, but landed on a rock that was unseen underwater. Quite luckily, I landed with one leg on each side of the rock, so that I was straddling it. As soon as there was a break in the waves, I quickly swam back to shore, and to safety.

Another highlight was eating a whole fish marinated with sweet-and-sour sauce and vegetables (onions, red peppers, etc.); on the side, there were platano chips. It was very delicious.

Right now, I'm sipping on a papaya con leche while writing these words. Only Toby and I returned to Leon from Las Penitas; I bid farewell of Marcos. I hope we can keep in touch.

Later, last night, I decided to hang out with Toby, and two other Swiss guys: Gianni and Richard. We went to a quaint restaurant, La Taquezal, to hear live music: a man on a guitar and a woman singing. It was nice. The guitarist was very good, and the woman had a nice voice. I drank my first alcohol in over a month. I drank a 'capuccino taquezal,' which was simply a capuccino with rum. It was good, but strong. I had to ask for more coffee to weaken the rum.

Afterwards, when two Dutch girls had joined us, we left to go to another restaurant closer to Via Via, called El Camaleon. We continued good conversation with many jokes and much laughter. I eventually went to bed at 3am. It had been a while since I hung out like that, so it was a good experience.

I woke up early this morning, at about 7:30am, to go to el Museo Insurreccional, but it was closed. However, it was good that I walked around, because I stopped at a bookseller on the sidewalk to buy two small books, one by Carlos Fonseca and the other by Fidel Castro.

I leave soon with Toby to go south to Granada. As always, I'm very excited to hit the road, especially to a new destination. Nevertheless, I will miss Leon. It is a beautiful city in so many ways.

Last night, while at Via Via, I was standing at the bar, waiting for a lemonade. I started a good conversation with a beautiful Nicaraguan woman. She is 23 years old and a third-year law student here in Leon. She asked me if I had a wife or girlfriend, and then said that I should stay more time in Leon. I explained that I had to move on, but that I, too, would have liked to stay. We exchanged email addresses and will certainly keep in touch. I invited her to the United States; perhaps one day we'll meet again.

All in all, my time in Leon has been wonderful. I leave here with a positive attitude and some new friendships. So, speaking of leaving, the time has come to enjoy the rest of my papaya con leche. And then I will go to Via Via to collect my things, to return to meet Toby on the main square, then hit the road once again . . .

As a postscript, I have to note that I just observed two young boys pissing on La Catedral in broad daylight, now at about 10:30am.