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Published: March 26th 2012
Volcan Concepcion
Rising 1610 metres from the lake. The larger of the two volcanoes that make up this fairytale island.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 of the Island we stayed in the town of Moyagalpa, a cheerful place with plenty of eateries and coffee shops. We rented bikes for a day and hit some of the quiet back roads that twist through fertile farmland and small traditional villages. We stopped for a break at a beach where a sandspit streched into the lake, many local families were enjoying
Volcan Maderas
The smaller of the two volcanoes that make Ometepe Island the day and some were using fishing nets to pull in the catch of the day.
Sometimes the English to Spanish translations that we stumble upon just make us giggle... Even though English is not their mother tongue, there are generally plenty of native English speaking tourists around that they could politely ask for a quick proof-read... But clearly that isn't always the case... The following was a sign in an internet cafe in Moyagalpa...
In Spanish..."Recuerde: Que este es un sitio publico, por lo tanto te recomendamos mantener el orden y silencio."
The English translation..."Remember: This is pubic place, we want like are customers comfatable at working her."
Curious?!
Just a couple of fun bits of trivia:
1) Isla de Ometepe ranks as the 9th largest island in a lake - the Largest is Canada's Manatoulin Island which is more than ten times the size. Incidently, the second largest island in a lake is also Canadian.
2) Lake Nicaragua (which also lays claim to being the largest lake in the world according to some Nicaraguan texts) is in fact the 19th largest lake in the world. It is the largest lake in Central
Urraca...
The Blue-tailed Magpie. America though.
3) Lake Nicaraugua has bull sharks - the only known type of shark that can pass from the sea to fresh water. However, there are not many left in the lake due to over fishing!
T y D (Los trotamundos)
P.S. Moyagalpa is also the main port on the island, we caught the ferry back to San Jorge on the mainland then headed south...The ferry ride was really quite pleasant! (If you haven´t read our previous entry on the other ferry to Big Corn Island, then you cannot truly appreciate this statement!)
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MOM
non-member comment
beautiful places
after staying in those beautiful hot places, are you ready to go back to good old churchill and freeze your butt off, Ha! Ha1, get your underwear out,. saw you on the bike, and Dave near the lake, There is a beautiful silhouette of the Fairy Tale Island,. Maybe I could do a silhouette painting of that island??? maybe, Hasta la proxima, MAMA