Leon

This is from when we went to Leon, a city about an hour away from Managua. We went to go sled down an active volcano. For those of you who have seen me sled down snow, you can laugh. I did when I looked at the hill. So, here's the work we went through to get to the top of this hill. Wes, Emily, David, and I drove an hour to Leon. After we got to the tourist shop that we had previously arranged with, we drove another hour to Cerro Negro (the hill). After that, we had to hike an hour and a half carrying our sleds. David and Emily both said how tiring that was, which was funny because they didn't carry their sleds. During the hike, we took a detour (my favorite) to look inside the crater. Correction. We WERE inside the crater. That part was pretty awesome. It was hot, and smelled like sulfur, and we were SO close to the center of the Earth there. Or at least it felt like it.

 This is from when we were going up the hill:

(You just can't quite get how steep it was.)


By the time we got to the top of the hill, we were in danger of being blown away. The wind was so strong, probably at least 25 miles an hour. I was carrying my sled, which all of a sudden became a sail for the wind to carry me back to Managua. The store that we arranged with had us bring backpacks (provided) that had jumpsuits inside. the jumpsuits were hideous. We looked like Sarah Fairweather's corn cob costume.

Here we have a video of me sledding down the hill:


After that, it was back down the hill in the car. I wanted to see some sights in Leon, so we drove to this old Cathedral. I believe it was the oldest in Nicaragua, but I could be wrong.

There were many different likenesses of saints there, that kind of creeped me out. They were just not very realistic, but very bloody. Kind of like mannequins, but I'm not saying that to be disrespectful. They really did look like mannequins. But I mean if people pray to that, then that's totally up to them. Just not my cup of herbal tea.
There was one thing we saw that had a lot of historical significance to it-- the crucifix from when the conquistadores came through "converting" Nicaragua. It was HUGE. I'm glad it was wooden, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to carry it around. It was awesome to look at that, and realize how much history this piece of wood contained.

We also saw the "Eye of the Sun", which the Sine family had been told contained a huge black opal in it. Turns out it was just painted wood. Scammed.

 
We got onto the roof of the cathedral by paying someone (you can get anything you want that way), and looked out over the city of Leon. It was beautiful, and I got some great pictures of the view:

 After we got off the roof, I found a mural that was painted after some college students rioted and the Samosas sent the police to kill them. The same mural was also found in Sports Illustrated, and it was taken with kids playing football in front of it:

K well sorry this is late. Culture shock and all that from coming home, I"ll update on more tomorrow! Next stop-- the JUNGLE!