Isla de Ometepe: Charco Verde Day 2

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I'm sitting here this morning in the restaurant overlooking the lake, up before the employees arrive, watching the birds collect twigs for their nests. I really love having the mornings to myself. I'm almost always up before everyone else but when I get to sit outside & enjoy the activities of the wildlife in the mornings, that is my favorite. The birds are all always so busy in the mornings & they sing & sing & sing while working. Now, after sitting out here alone for over an hour, the employees are here & I am already working on my second cup of coffee. Thinking about my third....

Geoff woke up & joined me in the restaurant. Maybe TMI for some people but Geoff mentioned that usually within the first two hours of any given day we talk about poop (this was just after we had discussed our morning experiences). I guess that is what happens when you spend 24/7 together. We usually have some conversation about poop during the day. How things are going. How normal everything is. Etc, etc (I won't go into all the details). Yikes, right? If we can talk about poop every morning without freaking out we're probably going to have a long lasting marriage... 😊

After breakfast we headed out to the highway to catch the bus to a beach that Justin & Karen told us about. Since we don't know where we're going, I told the bus helper dude to let us know when to get off. Also, because the bus is always so crowded & we are standing we can't see out the window to watch for signs. Often the bus helpers are good about letting you know when to get off the bus. However, this is the same exact bus as the other day when they didn't mention our stop until I did my amazing whistle & got them to stop. So, I wasn't so sure. I started asking locals around us if they knew where we should get off. Most said no, but as we were trucking along someone behind me said, in Spanish, "we just passed your stop." So I had to yell again to stop the bus. Oh the joys of public transit! Always an adventure.

We walked down this beautiful dirt road flanked with huge trees to get to the beach. Along the way we encountered a group of horses grazing along the road. It turned into a National Geographic moment when we watched the male horse try to mount the female horse right in front of us. It was kinda funny though because clearly he didn't know what he was doing & although it was very obvious how excited he was, he was trying to mount her from the side. We just watched & laughed for awhile. Then another boy horse came along & they were grumbling over who got the girl. It was all so entertaining.

The beach was beautiful. It is known for this long spit of land that goes out into the lake where the lake comes together with opposing tides. Because of all the rain they got last year, the spit is quite a bit smaller of course. We were walking out toward it & this local guy came up to us to ask if we were planning to swim. We said yes, he said don't go out toward the spit because someone drowned yesterday, a tourist! We did what he said because we want to live. You could tell by watching the water that the tide was pretty serious business & probably confusing to swim in because it comes at you from two different angles.

We sat on the beach & collected shells & watched a group of local guys fish. They spent the entire 2 hours we were there pulling up this one fishing line that we didn't even get to see before we left. I asked how long the line was & the man told me 500 meters long! Whoa. We thought about sticking around to see what they would catch but figured we could be there for some time. There was a new set of guys pullilng up the line now & they were sitting on milk crates, as though for sure they would be there awhile. So, we left. We decided to head into Moyogalpa, the big town on the island, to find some food since where we're staying has only 3 options & they're only ok food. Sadly, we watched our bus drive by when we were getting close to the highway. Since when do the buses arrive early? We decided to hitchhike until a bus came by heading back towards our place. Amazingly, the first car that drove past us picked us up & he was heading all the way to Moyogalpa. I'm telling you the Nicaraguan people are the absolute best.

We had some lunch, checked out the town, bought some cookies & waited for the bus. Our busride home was sooo super packed & it was sooooooo hot. I sometimes worry about Geoff in these situations because he gets a little nuts on the crowded buses. I don't blame him, it sucks, but what can we do?He just gets this crazy look. Like he's about to go Postal on the people around him. Maybe I should bring a mirror so he could see his own face. People in this part of the world have such a different view on personal space. I have been very close & personal with a lot of people thanks to all of our bus rides. This bus ride I had soooo many butts in my face, practically sitting on my shoulder (when I had a seat, until a little old hobbly lady got on & I gave it to her). And the handbags. Wow, they are dangerous. You could get an eye poked out if you aren't careful. We made it back to our place without any major incidents. 😊

We had a nice relaxing evening filled with lake time, hammock time, reading, & of course wifi time. We ended the night with another episode of Weeds. Hooked.

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Photos

A beautiful spot for breakfast...
or lunch or dinner.

Volcanos and Farm Animals
Pretty much sums up Ometepe, awesome!

Punta Jesus Maria
Notice the waves crashing on both sides of the spit.

Another hand painted map of the island.
I hope the artist is getting paid because these maps are everywhere!

Three twin beds.
One for each of us and one for the kids to share.