Day 92      Perhaps you get what you pay for.  I paid a $1 for a haircut from a man who missed his calling as a butcher.  With Lady giggling and me wearing a hat, we visited several museums.  Our favorite was in a old convent and included an eclectic mix of ancient stone petroglyphs, turn of the century photos opf Granada, and wacky modern art.      Later, we travelled an hour north to the market town of Masaya.  The town was underwhelming in most aspects, but we did have fun at a political rally.  We heard excited speeches by the opposition party who denounced the corruption of the current government.  We found most of the crowd was actually waiting for the rock and roll band that followed.  The band covered everything from Latin classics to Brittany Spears.  Hotel $10; Food $27; Trans. $1; Tour $2; Random - haircut $1, internet $1, laundry $3;  Total $45

Day 93      With all of Nicaragua, we celebrated the start of national holidays.  Today is Defeat of William Walker day and tomorrow is Central American Independence day.  And for the school marching bands, it is the culmination of months of practice.  We enjoyed the big parade of the region�s finest.  Each school had its own character - some had the sassy dancers, some marched at attention and white gloves, others included their student government leaders (complete with identifying sash), and our favorites were dressed in traditional costumes.       So who was William Walker?  The short story is that he was a crazy and bold  man from Nashville.  Seeking great glory, he invaded Nicaragua in 1855 with 40 soldiers of fortune and became President (he was aided greatly by infighting between Leon and Granada).  He was ousted one year later.  He launched several unsuccessful attacks to return and was ultimately killed by firing squad in Honduras in 1860. Hotel $12; Food $12; Trans. 4; Tour $1;  Total $29

Day 94      The day started out well enough.  We took a bus to Managua and were looking forward to a few days of sightseeing in the capital before going to Leon.  Our bus dropped us at the far terminal, several miles from city centre.  Because taxis were charginbg 3 times the rate in our guidebook ($6 instead of $2), we decided to take a local bus.  When we asked for final directions, a really "nice" lady said to just get off at the next stop.  When we stood up, we were crowded and jostled.  This is quite common for Central American buses, but this time it was different.  When we finally got off the bus (after just a few seconds), I had been pickpocketed of the cash in my (not very) secret pocket and Lady�s backpack had a 10" slash with our glasses and watch gone.  They were pros and robbed us of our sense of security in addition to our things.  Shellshocked and nowhere near our destination, we took a taxi to buy bus tickets back to Costa Rica. Hotel $12; Food $15; Trans. $5; Random - internet $3, toiletries $9;  Total $43

Day 95      Our bus left at 5am and went directly to San Jose.  It was a long day.  When we arrived, we booked a flight to South America. Hotel $10; Food $13; Trans. $21; Random - exit fees $9, internet $3;  Total $56

Day 96      We spent our last day in San Jose trying to spend all of our extra Colones and visiting museums.  We liked the history of Museum of Gold, the fun at the Children�s Museum, and the creativity at the Bienial Art Exhibit. The exhibit included works of all mediums from all over Central America.  Not that anyone asked, but we disagreed with all of the judge�s picks.  We did like the show winner by a Panamanian photographer.  He alternated pictures of a windmill with him sleeping.  As uninteresting as that sounds, it really was an incredible piece. Hotel $10; Food $23; Trans. $1; Tour $16; Random - movie $7;  Total $57