New Years Nica Style

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Yesterday seemed like one long series of crazy drives. We enjoyed tasty banana pancakes and gallos pinto at Amigos, then finished packing for our 8:30 am shuttle. Failing to recognize that we were now on Nica time, we started to panic when our shuttle was over 20 minutes late. Especially since it meant the next bus to Rivas wouldn't be until 11 am. Once we found our ride, our driver did his best to make up the lost time, flying down pot-hole riddled streets at speeds that convinced us we would either kill someone or die. The couple from Brooklyn coped best, breaking out Tona beer by 9 am. We arrived at the ferry with another traveler, Yael, an Israeli girl enjoying an extended Central American vacation. We joined her for the ferry to Ometepe, a "luxery" boat complete with Spanish soap operas on board and a full service bar. Once we arrived in Moyagalpa we split a taxi to the town of Merida, located near Volcan Maderas on the opposite end of the island, a mere 1 1/2 hours away.

In Merida, we snagged a private room at the Monkey Island Hotel where we quickly made friends with the owner's son, Angel, and ordered some food. We have found the company of both the owners and the guests at this small place to be quite outstanding. After our quick pasta, beer and water (the way we've been eating you'd think we were in Italy), we went with Yael for a walk toward the town of San Ramon. We were greeted with empty roads, gorgeous views of Lake Nicaragua and the volcanoes of Concepcion and Maderas. We made it all the way to the entrance to the waterfall, which we planned to hike the next day.

New Year's Eve was spent trading stories and making new friends, including a German/Jamaican couple from Canada (the Canadians are taking over Nicaragua!), a couple from Seattle, and Yael. It was also spent consuming 3/4 of a liter of Flor de Cana Rum. The 7-Year Grand Reserve, of course. Our hosts made an outstanding rum chicken and launched numerous firecrackers from the backyard. We only made it to the east coast New Year before giving in to sleep. Most of the night was spent listening to the rain on our tin roof and the noise of firecrackers and celebrations. At least we had mosquito netting to keep out the bugs!

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Photos

Isla de Ometepe
From the launch in San Jorge

The OTHER ferry to the island
Ours was bigger. :-)

The Road to San Ramon
Starring Wes and Yael

Monkey Island Hammock Time
I wish every day was hammock day.