We arrived in Nicaragua on Christmas morning after a long flight from Vancouver – San Fran – Houston and then Managua.   Straight to our hotel in Granada in about 40min.  The Hotel Polvora was just what the doctor ordered after our 16 hour trip, a charming little colonial hotel decked out in hand made tiles, made right on site, with a beautiful pool and a spacious and quiet room.   We had an amazing first 4 days in Granada, slowly getting used to the Diacachimba attitude (a local expression loosely translated as freaking awesome).  Other than our favorite pastime, hanging out at street cafes eating and drinking, our visit to Granada was highlighted with a night time visit to Volcan Masaya.

From Granada we transferred to San Juan del Sur with our new best friend Harold, who doubled as my Spanish teacher.   Let’s just say Harold is not great at multi tasking, as with each new verb conjugation he slowed to about 15km an hour to focus on correcting my pronunciation, completely oblivious to the impatient drivers, blasting horns or the slalom of cars weaving past us.  After four more wonderful days at the Surf Ranch Hotel in San Jan del Sur, it was time to say goodbye to the girls and head for Leon.

Our accommodation in Leon is a charming little boutique hostel called Imbir run by a young couple  – she is Sri Lankan and he is Polish – the food is to die for and a combination of their cultures.  This year New Years eve was low key;  dinner and drinks at Via Via, one of our favorite local spots. This night does not disappoint, even after having an early night and missing the the fireworks and the burning El Viejo representing El Ano Viejo (the past year). This tradition involves building a life-sized figure of an old man, stuffing him with fire-crakers and and sitting him in front of your house during the day. The figure is then set on fire at midnight. The figure of the old man represents all of the negative things you want to leave behind in order to start the new year fresh with happiness and hope.  Well I guess, been there done that!  Back to Imbir for an episode, or two, of Blacklist on Netflix.

Well Christmas is for family, but with the New year officially here I am challenged by a friend to post 5 paintings in 5 days on Facebook.  Well I guess it was wise to call it an early night as I am up early to catch the morning light and head for the Cathedral to see what I can find to paint.  Its a little rough as I have not painted like this since last year when I was painting every day here in Leon – but here is my painting of the Cathedral in Leon with the market along side.