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Published: August 25th 2006
today i am relaxing. i just spent two hours on the beach...reading, swimming, listening to my IPOD, watching the birds, listening to the howler monkeys and just chilling. my knees are a little sore today from yesterdays climb up volcan maderas.
it took us 7 hours, round trip, to climb the volcano. johan and i started at 11:30 and the weather at the bottom of the volcano was hot and humid. but as we ascended it started to rain and become cool. it was the most difficult volcano ascension experience that i have had so far, mostly because the water was running down the mountain making the clay and stones slippery. the trail up the volcano was pretty cool....narrow and all natural. there were no man made stairs or paved paths. the terrain changed as we ascended....from stones, to clay, to mud, to clay, to tree roots, to stones, etc. by the time we made it to the top we were completely saturated with rain and mud. so satisfying to reach the top. then we climbed into the crater and touched down into the crater lake. it was amazing...the first time i have seen something like this. the clouds were so dense around us that we couldn´t see how big the lake was...our vision was severly limited by the clouds. when looking up at the volcano, the clouds look like cotton candy, wrapped around the summit.
as we were climbing, we could hear the sounds of howler monkeys. they are relatively small creatures but they make the loudest sound...you would think the sound was coming from a gorilla or an elephant. we started to mimic them...they did not respond to my sound which sounded more like a mouse being ran over by a truck, but they responded to johan. within minutes we began to notice a bunch of the monkeys around us....we could see at least twenty but judging from their sound there had to be at least a hundred just within the small radius surrounding us. at one point they made this amazing sound...imagine how crickets sound when in unison. well this sound came pouring out from one point and then just completely wrapped around us. i have never heard anything like it and will never forget it. it made me a little scared because it made apparent that we were completely surrounded by at least 100 monkeys....alone in the jungle. but the fear was outweighed by pure awe. WOW! i wish i had a tape recording so you all could hear it. we also had the same experience on the way down the volcano, sin the amazing chorus we heard on the way up.
the day before yesterday, we hitched a ride into one of the other towns on the island and walked around for a bit.
some facts about Lake Nicaragua:
-with an area of 8624 km², it is the second largest lake in Latin America, the 20th largest lake in the world and only slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca. With an elevation of 105 feet (32 m) above sea level, the lake reaches a depth of 84 ft (26m).
-it is a fresh water lake and has sizeable waves, driven by the easterly winds blowing west to the Pacific Ocean.
-the lake is connected with the Caribbean Sea by the San Juan River and the Pacific Ocean is near enough to be easily seen from the mountains on the lake's Island of Ometepe. because of this, plans were made to take advantage of this route to build an interoceanic canal, the Nicaragua Canal, but the Panama Canal was built instead. In order to quell competition with the Panama Canal, the U.S. secured all rights to a canal along this route in the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty of 1916. However, the idea of another canal in Nicaragua still periodically resurfaces. Ecocanal is one of these projects.
-ometepe is the largest island on the lake, 276 square kilometers...the island consists of two volcanoes, Concepción (1610 meters) and Maderas (1394 meters), joined by a land isthmus.
-Lake Nicaragua contains fish usually associated with saltwater, including tuna and sharks (the world´s only species of freshwater sharks), which have adapted to the environmental change
today is relaxation day....letting the body recover before beginning tomorrows travels into costa rica. tomorrow i am headed to monteverde costa rica where i will spend a couple of days. it is my plan to make it to tortuga, costa rica by my birthday so i can spend my bday on the beach, observing a sea turtle sanctuary. cool!!!!!!!!
i will post pictures as soon as i have a better internet connection.
sending lots of love and well wishes.
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Laura
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Happy!!!
I know this comes a day early but............Happy Birthday to you!!!......Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu...........Happy BIRTHday dear Suuuuueeeeeee.............Happy Birthday to you!!!!!! My singing is not so great, but I am sending you all the best and want to tell you have a great day:-)