Corinto, Nicaragua

April 19

Woke up a few minutes before the alarm was set to go off at 8:00.  As usual, I watched the morning show as I got ready and met my tour group on 8:45.

We had a private tour of Leon scheduled through Julio Tours.  There really isn't much to see in Corinto so we drove the 45 or so minutes to Leon which was the "First Capital of the Revolution".  We drove around the city first seeing the major sights and then had some free time in the main square.

Gasoline is very inexpensive in Nicaragua - about $1 a liter.  There are still attendants that pump your gas - self-serve is not allowed.

A little after noon we walked about a block to the restaurant where we were having lunch.  There were some dancers before lunch.  The lunch was very good but it took about two hours from the time we arrived in the restaurant until we finished.  It took our table close to an hour and a half from the time we arrived until we were served.  We left the restaurant for about half an hour visiting an art museum.

Back to the ship and onboard about 4:00.  Went to the Crow's Nest and met up with my trivia friends.  We tied a number of other teams but lost on the third tie-breaker.
Q. How many passengers did the Concorde hold?
Q.  How many hairs sprout on the average head? (the question we lost on)
Q.  What was Cinderella's given name?

Had just enough time to get ready for the Master Chef Table dinner with six of my Cruise Critic friends.  When I was initially asked if I wanted to join with this group I read the menu and hesitated.  Would I actually like some of these foods I had never had?  Would I like the wines since I don't like many?  In the end I made the right choice.  What an amazing meal!  I liked most everything I had and only didn't care for one wine - a merlot (too dry for me).   We had champagne and canapés before the meal, five wines during the seven courses and then a very strong after dinner drink and petit fours before coffee and tea.  We met at six and finished at ten.  I hope I am not hungover from all that wine tomorrow (not much of a drinker)!

Trivia - 100, 100,000, Ella

Smooth sailing until next time!

                                                                    University in Leon

a local bus

                                                                      the local market

street scene

main church in Leon

lunch

street scene

band playing on pier

appetizers before dinner

crabmeat amuse bouche

goose liver, mache, avacado with raspberry kiffir vinaigrette

frappe of lobster and porcini

potato and mustard seed crusted cod fish with caviar (my least favorite course)

lime and candied ginger granite

duo of veal, black truffle, pearl onion, and pueed artichokes

"dialogue of chocolate seduction"

petit fours

cheese board with "After Eight Delight"