Ometepe, Nicaragua

---

Our second stop in Nicaragua was the island of Ometepe. Ometepe is a small island that has 2 incredible volcanoes seperated by a small isthmus. It is located in Lake Nicaragua which is a huge lake that you cannot even see across. We left San Juan del Sur early, said goodbye to Dennis, and it was a short 45 minute taxi ride to San Jorge. From there, we took the ferry to San Jose del Sur on the island. It was SOOOOO windy. We were supposed to take a fast small boat once we arrived from the Hacienda we were staying at, but it was so windy when the owner met us he told us that we were going to drive instead. We also found out that we were on the last ferry due to the weather and that they wont restart the service until the weather improved. There was a chance that we might be on the island for more time than we expected. Oh well, stuck in paradise, I could thing of worse places to be. Although it was only about 5-10 miles to their place, it took well over an hour because the roads were not good.

The place we stayed Hacienda Merida was awesome and we had so much fun there. The owner was a Nicaraguan who had lived over 20 years in Miami and him and his wife had a cute little 2 year old girl, named Itzia. Our room had a balcony overlooking the lake and a big hammock. I also loved the mosquito net that surrounded the bed, and felt like a princess. The restaurant was really nice with great food and I met a lot of other tourists. I had a lot of fun with Danielle and Mike, a couple from the USA, As well as another family (Greg and Wendy) who had a 5 year old daughter also named Sophia. I had fun coloring, playing in the hammocks, and running around with Sophia. We planned to meet up with them in Granada as well.

I went on a horse as well as met a donkey. However, I was not a big fan of the donkey...after I kissed it him, he knocked me over. Oh well. There was so much open space around the Hacienda and I loved playing, especially around a neat looking table.

The owner does a lot of really neat environmental things and good things for the community. He helped daddy find a local young doctor to not only give syringes/needles, but a microscope. As daddy's clinic got new microscopes, they let him donate that one in Nicaragua. It was very heavy and daddy was glad to get rid of it, but the doctor was even more happy to receive it and she will be taking it to the only lab on the island.

My favorite part of my stay on the island was going kayaking in a river between the 2 volcanoes. It was soooo cool and very relaxing. We saw howler monkeys. Daddy had studied howler monkeys in Costa Rica 20 years ago so he was even a bigger fan of them than I was. We also saw big birds and an iguana on a creepy looking tree. The views of the volcano were great and made me think of "lava girl" from a movie I like a lot. Daddy told me that we were going to see inside a different volcano in Nicaragua soon.

The winds had died down and after a short 2 nights on Ometepe, we were able to take the fast boat to the ferry and then we were off to our next city in Nicaragua....Granada.

---

Photos

Kayaking with Daddy
Volcano Concepcion

Kissing Ass
before he knocked me down on mine

Me and Daddy kayaking
Volcano Concepcion

Me, Sophia, and Itzia
Probably should have finished chewing first

Me and Daddy
Volcano Concepcion in background

Sunset
Ometepe

Comments

[wendy perry]

Hi Sofia
The pictures are great! Here are a few words from Sophia to Sofia: Dear Sofia, I really miss you and I want to see you very much. I hope I'll be seeing you soon. Well, hopefully. Love, sophia

[wow]

thats looks cool