With my new Norwegian friend Arnfinn, I trekked a scorching half mile to catch a bus the the Pacific beach town Los Penitas. It's only twelve miles from Leon, yet the bus (50 cents) took a sweaty hour to reach it.
Our arrival made it all worthwhile though, as smooth black sand beach gave way to surfable waves. I rented a shortboard ($5) and caught a couple. We had lunch with Luc, Irene, and Carla from Holland at Hostelito Oasis. Oasis has a great elevated thatched roof hut, several hammocks, cold beer, and non-existent service. 
Some kids tried to sell us shell necklaces to no avail, and when that didn't work they dragged out a horse on a tether. I'd never ridden a horse, so I gave the kids a dollar and rode the skinny nag up and down the beach. It wouldn't respond to any of my commands (it probably doesn't speak English).
The Dutch folks were staying the night, but Arnfinn and I were taking the last bus back to Leon, so we bid them adieu and walked to the bus stop. We waited. Alone. In the dark. The bus never came. Dejected, we walked back to the Oasis, to find the Dutch playing cards, listening to an MP3-phone on speakerphone mode, thoroughly sloshed on happy hour rum n coke's, and thrilled to see us still in town. They tried to convince us to stay the night in sleepy Los Penitas, but we opted to shell out the big bucks for a $15 taxi ride back to Leon. I had an appointment at 9am for Volcano Surfing I couldn't miss. Always an adventure in Nicaragua.
Today I paid $30 to go volcano surfing with Bigfoot Hostel. What is volcano surfing? It consists of carrying a wooden board covered in metal sheeting up a1000ft high active volcano, putting on a bright orange denim jumpsuit and goggles, and sliding down on crushed rock at 25mph holding on for dear life.
A wild horse delayed our arrival at Cerro Negro. It was galloping in the middle of the road, and when we tried to pass it, it would sprint to hold us off. Awesome.
We donned our prison jumpsuits. Right before sliding down the rocky 41 degree slope of an active volcano, a member of group realized none of us even signed a waiver. Our guides response; "T. I. N. This is Nicaragua."
It was a good excursion, maybe not $30 good, but worth a try once. They had a guy with a radar gun at the bottom. I clocked in at 39kph, and smoked the guy I was racing against. The fastest guy in the group hit 56kph. If I had been up against him, I think I would have taken more risk and could have gone faster. There's something about getting smacked in the face by rocks at high speeds and knowing the nearest decent hospital is about 1000 miles away in Texas that slows a man down.
We finished off the day with a great night out. By day three in Leon, I had like a dozen new friends and we got a United Nations pub crawl going. Leon is a really fun town, and I was sad to leave the next day. Such is the traveller's dilemma; just as you settle into a comfortable groove in a nice place, it's time to move on...
