Blogs from Isla de Ometepe, Southern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean

Dear Blog Readers, We left Liberia and Costa Rica behind with a spring in our step fueled on a good smoothie and the most charismatic salesman on our bus to Penas Blancas, the border with Nicaragua. The border crossing was without doubt the worst so far. Dodgy money was changing hands, the bloke giving us entry stamps genuinely didn´t believe Laura´s passport was hers until she got her bank card out. Ridiculous. The only thing that gave me any pleasure was the thought of anybody actually buying the ceviche that a man was trying to sell from a cool box in 35 degree heat. The bus ride to Rivas was decidedly dodgy and we pretty much kept hold of our bags the entire journey. Once at Rivas we got a taxi to the port and a ... read more

Hola amigos! La Isla de Ometepe, an island born from two volcanoes that rose from a lake and merged together. Despite what the brochures say, Ometepe Island is not the world´s largest island in a lake, but nevertheless it is an impressive chunk of land. We spent some quality time in the Charco Verde area enveloped by nature. There are a lot of great hikes in the area and we spent many hours marching through the lush forests that wrapped around the lakeshore. Watching the howler monkeys swinging in the trees was quite mesmerizing, as was searching for the Arraca, a beautiful Magpie that is fairly abundant on the island. On our days in the Reserve we were being watched by countless lizards and even a snake or two, a truly amazing place! On the North ... read more

I said my goodbyes to Alfie once again as we dropped him off in Rivas on route to San Jorge. It was me and Mike the Ozzie now in the taxi on our way to San Jorge where you catch the boat to Isla Ometepe... which is an island within Nicaragua made up of 2 volcanoes and is surrounded by a lake. When we arrived we took glance at the water and knew we were in for an interesting ride with it being so choppy due to the strong winds. A guy working for the information place told us there was a boat leaving at 9am but it was a smaller boat and then there was the ferry that was leaving at 9:30am which is a lot bigger and he recommended that one to us due ... read more

Today we bid a fond farewell to Sr. Carlos and El Encanto. For the past few days we had been the only guests; upon our departure he had an appointment in Moyogalpa, so he drove us back there, no charge. (I insisted on paying him a tip, which he accepted on my third try.) On the way we talked politics, Nicaraguan and otherwise. Carlos pointed out that if Ortega were to lose his bid for re-election, which no one expects, government officials all the way down to elementary school principals would be replaced, causing great turmoil. Plus, the outgoing pols would steal as much as they could, followed by new thefts from the incoming pols, to the general detriment. So continuity of party in power is cheaper. From where Carlos let us off, we walked a ... read more