Val-cano

Yesterday we traveled by bus all day and got to The Hotel Hacienda Merida in Merida in time for dinner. We have a fan in this room!! This hostel is beautiful and the grounds are right on the lake. There hotel offers kayaks for rent, horses, guided tours all over the island, has hammocks all over the place, dogs for friends, and best of all it is quiet. The hostel employs 18 and much of its profits are returned to various community schools and organizations. Also, the manager Alvaro Molina, has planned the hostel to be a "green" example for others in the area. They grow many of the vegetables used in the dishes they offer, have self composting toilets and whole grain bread and rice. Also, they don't serve beef, as Alvaro feels this is one of the worst contributing factors to global warming. Anyway, today we hiked up the smaller of the two volcanoes on the island of Ometepe which was 1400 meters (4300 ft) or so. It's called Volcan Maderas and it's the wildest place we've ever been to. It's also the hardest hike we've ever been on. A true jungle, sopping wet, green, lush, and howler monkeys giving us a concert during the middle third of our trek. It was exceedingly difficult to reach the crater and laguna on top, but worth the effort. We took some good pictures along the way and promise to post them once we get a chance. Thats all for now guys. Jolly Rogers out!

ps: Lisa is two beers deep and wants to remind everyone not to end a sentence in a preposition. Do you want to come with??

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