Return to Leon Via Managua and Via Via

After my encounter with Moses I cleared out of my hotel room.  My timing was excellent as I headed back to parque central with my backpack because the Managua express was just leaving and I got one of its last seats.  In Managua I transfered right away for a microbus to Leon.  Unusually, this micro was airconditioned, so it was a nice cool ride.

As we approached the city I could see storm clouds coming in, and I wondered if I really wanted to continue as far as Chinandega.  To put off the decision, I decided to take a taxi into the center for coffee.  It was only 1.00 p.m. or so and I had plenty of time to continue my journey.

But in the city we passed a hotel that I'd noticed before, having walked past it many times.  If I stay, I'll try this one, I thought, rather than go back to the "widower's" place.

That's how I found Via Via.  Though I didn't choose it from my guidebooks, it turns out this place gets very high marks from the Lonely Planet.

I like it for a number of reasons.  First, the bar and restaurant seemed very inviting.  Second, I could tell the place was popular with a certain type of young, western traveler.  Third, even though a bar was attached, the hotel was far enough away from that potentially raucous action, that it wouldn't matter to me.  And fourth, the rooms were really nice, cozy and inviting, with high ceilings, a very clean bathroom, a large bed, and (I always like this rare touch) a reading lamp!  The fan was in great shape, and the room was really big, too.  I was immediately sold on it.  Best of all, it cost only 350 cordobas.

So that's my plug for Via Via--a fine place to stay, especially if you're a traveler of a certain age, and want to meet others like you.  As an added bonus, the restaurant/bar turns out to be popular with young locals, too.  Remember Willy?  He spotted me last night where he was seated at a table with a young woman (his Salvadoran girlfriend?).  "Yo, man, whassup!"  Believe it or not, it took me a moment to remember his name.

"Willy!"  I finally said, as we shook hands.

Via Via has nice large maps on the wall of Nicaragua including a bumpy topographical one with the mountains rising out from and around the country's principal geographical features of the very large Lake Managua and the even bigger Lake Nicaragua.  The walls of the place are full of other useful and not so useful information.

According to one notice, Via Via's clientele in 2008 consisted of the following:

Europeans 53.25%
Americans 19.29%
Canadians 10.41%
Asians 6.07%
Latin Americans 5.85%
Oceanians 4.84%
Africans 0.29%

Via Via has a book exchange with volumes in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and Japanese.

I met a couple Quebecois Canadians, Max and Hugo, who were watching England beat Slovenia 1-0 this morning while the U.S. beat Algeria, also 1-0.  Ghana managed to hold mighty Germany 0-0 until the 60th-something minute.

In Via Via's bar/restaurant and in the courtyard where the magnificent rooms are located, I hear the accents of other Americans (and possibly Anglo-Canadians), British, Scottish, and Europeans including Belgian and Scandinavian.  This smorgasbord of young backpackers reminds me in a nostalgiac way of my younger days as a backpacker in Europe and Asia.  What happens to our youth?!  sigh. . .

Return to Las Peñitas Beaches

Leave it to yours truly to pick the rainiest day of the week to flee Leon for the quiet fishing village of Las Peñitas and its beaches!

I splurged on a $10 taxi to get here and splurged more on an aircon room--a treat to myself after putting up with five very muggy nights in Leon without.

The Barca de Oro, a small family-run hotel/restaurant, is staffed by friendly people, and they serve good, real coffee, not Nescafe or something worse.  Everyone in the village is glued to their televisions now for the World Cup broadcasts.  Prime time in South Africa is just past noon here.

The sound of the big waves is constant and similar to the sound of a jumbo jet aircraft in the distance, but much more pleasant and soothing.  The rain has stopped, but you can see the cloud cover stretching across the entire Pacific horizen, so perhaps there's more to come.  It doesn't matter to me very much because I'm exactly where I want to be today.

My sense is, barring a sudden crisis of boredom brought upon by lack of the usual city distractions here, a couple or three days in Las Peñitas will be good for the soul.