January 29 :: Leon, Nicaragua

January 29 :: Leon, Nicaragua :: 107km / 2014km total

The road started off terribly this morning... it was so bad that I was faster than the transport trucks, and I passed and left a group of them well behind. I only have to seek out 1 inch wide of ridable surface which does come in handy sometimes. After about 20km the true pavement began, and it wasn´t too long until the trucks caught and passed me, waves all around.

The bulk of today´s ride was circling around 3 sides of a massive, steaming volcano (San Cristobal). The plume coming off the volcano, plus one or two of it´s neighbours, provided shade at times and helped to keep me out of the Sun for a few hours. Other than that a fairly straightforward ride into Leon. At this phase of the trip (tired, getting ready to come home), uneventful rides are exactly what I need.

Leon is completely overhyped in the guidebook and tourist literature and is quite a letdown... only being a letdown because of the hype. Sure, its marginally nicer than some of the places I´ve seen, but it sort of looks like a very poor, rundown European town that hasn´t seen a speck of fresh paint in 20 years. If you were in Europe and came across Leon you´d be mightily unimpressed... to say the least. Even the churches - the highlights of the town - are beaten up and haggard on the outside, simple and uninteresting on the inside. Still, it was a bit of a shock to come in out of the ¨backcountry¨ to this tourist town and see guided tour groups being led around the place. Its wierd being the only gringo in town for days or weeks, then coming back into this.

Tomorrow´s ride is 93km to Managua, where I will seek out a box for my bike, and a TACA airlines office to see if I can bump my flight back to Cancun up a day, without penalty. If there´s an empty seat, I don´t see why it should be a problem... but that´s me.