Isla de Ometepe: Merida to Charco Verde

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We've decided to leave this morning & head to another little town on Ometepe. Mix it up a bit. So, we did our usual packing & had our last yummy breakfast. We have been running a tab here, which so many places like to do, so I'm a little scared about the total. Plus, I've learned to add it up myself after they give me the total. Something about math skills here. No judgement but it is really an issue. For example, when you buy something at any little store, & they have to make change for you, they definitely bust out their oversized calculator to figure it out. Even if the change is something obvious like it costs 195 & you give them 200. Out comes the calculator. It's kind of a trip & has been a fairly consistent part of our entire journey. Not like I can talk, if it's not basic math then I definitely need a calculator too. So maybe I should just be thanking them for excess calculator use? Our tab was quite reasonable. $100 for 3.5 days including our room (which cost $10 a night). I could live with these prices all the time. 😊

So, off to the bus & the long rock filled bumpy road. It actually wasn't as bad this time since we knew what to expect. It's funny how the return from anywhere always seems easier than the unknown way in. I like the bus etiquette that I'm becoming accustomed to. For example, if an obviously pregnant woman or a woman with a baby gets on the bus then someone usually offers up their seat. Certainly for elderly folks seats are offered. It's all such an education really. I'm afraid I won't remember how to drive when we get home. I may just have to stick with buses.... Yikes traffic! I can't even imagine right now.

We had a brief 10 minute stop in Altagracia so that food vendors & such could get on the bus or you could get off & buy snacks. Only fair, we'd been on the bus a whole 1.5 hours already! 😉 I, of course, had to purchase some snacks. My favs the thin plantain chips, yum, & I got Geoff some homemade donuts & a pink juice in a bag. Not sure what the fruit type is that the guy told me, but it had lime in it so I bought it. It was good. Pink flavor with lime. Basically. I'm going to have to learn how to make plantain chips when I get home. They are sooooo good. I will definitely go through withdrawal without them.

On the road again. I had asked the guy to tell us when we were at Charco Verde, the town we're heading to, but I think he forgot because we barrelled right past it. So I stood up & somehow did a whistle just like the one they do to one another, that signifies stop the bus/get a move on/look at me/etc, & they all looked at me (along with everyone else on the bus). No pressure. Where I had to yell in Spanish, I think we just passed our stop, we need to get off the bus. Pretty funny stuff. I was actually quite impressed with myself for my whistle. Geoff said it took him a minute to realize it was me who whistled. 😊 So, they stopped, got our bags & directed us on where to walk to get to the town we are looking for.

We headed down a long dirt road towards a hotel & finca. It is really beautiful. Right on the lake & super clean! Always a bonus. We're paying big bucks here. $20 a night with our own very clean bathroom though. We looked at the hostel next door but the bathroom didn't have a toilet seat. Why? Not the first place we've seen without a toilet seat. That is more than I can handle for sure. So here we are at Hotel Finca Venecia. http://www.fincavenecia.com/.

Apparently there are normally black sand beaches all around the island but last winter they received somewhere in the range of 5 meters of rain in 6 months. So the lake is really high & the concrete docks are all damaged & the beaches are underwater. There are still tiny beaches here & there though that are really pretty. I cannot imagine that much rain. Wow.

After getting settled into our room, with three twin beds (I guess we're sleeping solo tonight), we headed out on a walk. We walked by a mini lake that is a bit inland & along the beach/mud up to a cliff overlooking the bay we are in & the bay next to us. On our walk we saw just about a million lizards & 3 teenage local guys riding one horse. The horse was not happy about it. He kept trying to buck the guy on the back off. I don't blame him, they were probably too heavy for his little legs, poor horsie. They were just laughing & laughing. I felt bad for the horse. Especially because we saw them on that poor horse several times over the next couple of hours.

We have our first new creature as a roomate. A little Garden snake that for some reason lives in a little hole above the bathroom sink. I've seen him numerous times now & he's actually kind of cute, primarily because he doesn't come out of his hiding place. Except he did have his head poking out when I came into the bathroom at one point today. Still kind of cute.

There is really not much to the little town we are in. 3 hostel/hotels, each with a restaurant, one pulperia (snack shop) on the highway, & houses. That's it. We ate lunch at a hotel on the beach along our walk. Super pricey (like getting lunch at home) but pretty good. Pasta & caesar salad. We sunned & swam in the lake & then headed up to the highway to check out what else is here. Not much. Bought a much needed orange Fanta. It's sooo hot right now!!!

Back at our hotel we enjoyed more hammock/reading time. Our shower is super high pressure. So nice. After a little QT with the computer & wifi, all while looking at a field full of horses & Volcan Concepcion looming in front of us, we headed in to have dinner.

While sitting in front of our hotel tonight & working on our blogs (the only area with wifi) we were able to witness so many fun things. For example, directly in front of us was the looming Volcan Concepcion. Directly in front of us was the cutest little black pony, who clearly was a newbie to this world, who was learning how to run. He would just run in a big circle, stop, look around, run a straight path, stop, look around, repeat prior steps. Soooo stinking cute! Then as we're laughing about the pony a little pre-teen chicken (pretty sure I'm an expert now on their developmental stages) walks towards us on the dirt path. During this time we can hear Howler Monkeys in the background & the ocassional pig/dog/bird sound. I am pretty sure we love everything about it.

Speaking of pigs, Geoff jumped out of his hammock earlier today saying "is that a baby crying or a pig?" My response: "it sounds like a power drill, I think they're working next door." He said he was having memories of El Remate & the pig he saw being killed. We got up to explore & saw a guy in the lake washing his pig. The pig was making soooo much noise. He did not enjoy bath time in the slightest. It was kind of funny to watch to be honest. I'm not sure why he was washing his pig but he finally let him run out of the water, snorting & making angry noises the whole time he ran off. Not something you see every day.

We shared a grilled steak dinner & then sat on the beach watching the stars & talked & talked & talked. We always seem to have a lot of things to talk about. You'd think we'd run out of things to say to one another but there just seems to be more & more instead of less. It's certainly a good thing we like eachother so much. It's so quiet & peaceful & the only sounds are from the bugs & little waves crashing. I just love these evenings...

Of course, back in our room, we had to watch an episode of Weeds. tee hee hee.... Hooked on the series already.

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Photos

Our last meal in Merida.
We really hated to leave the wonderful food here.

Geoff packing in our cute little room.
That fan was amazing!

Turist Information
They could really use spell-check.

The driveway of Finca Venecia,
our hotel in Charco Verde.