The journey to Leon was uneventful. We walked the three or so blocks to Parque Central in Granada, and took a collectivo (like a public bus at home) to Managua, which took about an hour and a half and was crowded. All we saw of Managua was the bus stop, and after a half an hour wait where we purchased fried plantain and sliced mango, we were on our way to Leon on a smaller minibus. This journey took another hour but was fairly comfortable.

On arriving in Leon, we were pounced upon by people desperate to take us into the city centre, a couple of kilometres away . We hopped on a contraption which was a push bike, with two seats up front (see photo) and were peddled to our hostel. On arriving, we were informed that they had overbooked, and so we were in the presidential suite... or something like that anyway, our Spanish skills still weren't very good. We had a huge room with two double beds, private bathroom and two fans. It was very comfortable. The hostel looked nice, with a rooftop terrace, shared kitchen and comfortable seating in reception. Unfortunately we weren't there long enough to appreciate any of this.

It was a whistlestop tour of Leon. Leon is one of the largest cities in Nicaragua, and is a historic rival of Granada. We wanted to get to Utila in Honduras as quickly as possible, without having to overnight in any of the Nicarguan or Honduran major or capital cities, or gun-toting danger-filled hell holes, as they are otherwise known. We'd looked up lots of ways to get to Utila and all of them involved an overnight in at least one of these places (Managua, Tegucigalpa, or San Pedro Sula) . Time and money were also considerations. Ken happened upon a deal to take us from Leon straight to La Ceiba in Honduras, from which we could get a boat to Utila, without needing to have an overnight anywhere. We decided to go with it, the only downside being, leaving at 2am. We had needed a specific location from which the bus could pick us up, and we were hoping to get some kip before the bus left, hence the need for a hostel. This meant we were going to miss out on some of Leon's charms, such as volcano boarding, which sounded really good fun.

We arrived at our hostel in Leon at 3.30pm. We quickly left to go and see some of the sights. We saw that Leon has a serious rubbish problem, which spoilt what could be a nice looking city otherwise. The Lonely Planet told us we could take a tour of the cathedral's rooftop, so we hurried there. Leon has nice colourful buildings like Granada, so the walk was pleasant through the city. We got to the cathedral and had a look inside, but could see no access to the rooftop . Eventually, another couple managed to find someone who took us to a ticket office on the next street (not attached to the cathedral) and back to a tiny side entrance on the other side of the cathedral, to get to the roof. Ken's sunglasses chose this moment to break, which was really bad timing as the rooftop was gleaming white. After removing our shoes, we clambered around for a little while, admiring the view over the city and the volcanoes off in the distance. The cathedral is massive. Apparently it was approved for building in Lima in Peru, but the architect instead built it in Leon. Tricksy.

We took a wander through Parque Central, next to the cathedral, and set off to find a veggie place a few blocks south west. This was successful and we had the nicest food we've had yet in Central America. Sated, we wandered back through the streets to our hostel, with the intention of getting some sleep before the bus.

Unfortunately we weren't successful . The room was about 25 degrees celcius hotter than a temperature that would be comfortable to sleep in! Despite the two fans, we could not sleep. At 12.30am, we had to get up again, to gather our things, sit in reception and wait to be collected.

Next stop - Utila, Honduras!

Some thoughts on Nicaragua. It's a very poor country, and it shows. We didn't enjoy the hassle, touts and consistent lies. But what we saw of Nicaragua itself, we really liked. Granada and Leon were nice cities, and Isla de Ometepe was special in it's own chilled out island-life way. We'd been told that the country was 'inexpensive', and found that the hostels and public transport were cheaper, but food and activities were pretty much the same cost as elsewhere. We enjoyed our brief time in Nicaragua. It's a genuinely beautiful place.