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Published: August 1st 2005
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Volcan Concepcion
View from the dock at Hacienda Merida So I am still a bit behind on my journal entering here because I have been very busy without really doing much here in Granada. Doing a month's worth of errands in the space of 5 days makes for some pretty uninteresting blogging.
After we left Santo Domingo on the Isla de Ometepe, we headed to the Volcan Maderas side of the island for a brief stay in Hacienda Merida. Within 30 minutes of being there I wished I had 2 weeks to devote to this place and was somewhat kicking myself for having stayed in Santo Domingo so long. The hacienda is really cool, kind of like a backpacker's resort, with horse rental, kayaks, mountain bikes, volunteer opportunities, Spanish classes available, and .... a real luxury in Central America .... breakfast and dinner buffets. I don't know how many meals I have eaten here where you get done and just think, "Hmmm....I'm still not really full, but do I really want to buy a whole other meal?" And this place was very socially and environmentally conscious; overall I think it is just a fantastic establishment, and even though it cost more than the place down the road at Playa
Volcan, sometimes you just have to think about what you are supporting with your tourist dollars and make a decision with your conscience and not your pocketbook.
The lake on that side of the island is really calm, not at all like the Santo Domingo side, which has waves and lots of wind, so you can swim there more easily. Of course, you do have to beware of the fact that there are freshwater sharks living in the lake, but no one seemed to be too concerned that they would be anywhere near the shores. Actually they aren't really freshwater sharks at all, they have discovered that they are migratory sharks that come up the Rio San Juan from the Caribbean, but it is still an interesting phenomenon. And a scary one for me; I'm already sharky, I didn't take the plunge.
The walk to the next town, San Ramon, was a great experience because you meet so many people. Everyone on the island was very friendly and we got to take lots of pictures with locals and just observe them in their daily life. Everyone is pretty darn poor, but at the same time, they are so
From San Ramon
Isla de Ometepe friendly and always smiling. It does make me pretty sad though to see 6 year olds with machetes working on fences; however, they do have a school there in the mornings, so I was encouraged to see that. I actually found out about quite a few great organizations operating there and wonderful volunteer opportunities and I would love to go back.
While waiting for the dinner buffet and catching the sunset from the huge hammocks on the terrace, I overheard two other guests at the hacienda talking about trying to find other people to share a guide up Volcan Maderas with, so I jumped over and hopped on the bandwagon. It is technically forbidden to climb either volcano without a local guide, since it is jungle up there and very easy to get lost (2 guys died just one month prior doing it alone) so we found this guide who would take 5 of us at a time up.
Being completely unprepared for hiking in terms of footwear, I must point out an important aspect of choosing your travel partners. It is extremely beneficial to check out whether or not you could wear their clothes, shoes, or whether
their camera will take better pictures than yours BEFORE you go traveling with them. Okay, I'm just kidding, but I seriously lucked out that Yogev had an extra pair of hiking boots that weren't TOO much bigger than my shoe size because I wouldn't have survived the muddy hike without them.
The next morning we set out, Aaron & Megan from the other hostel, Margie, a 50 year old lady from our place, my travel buddy, and myself. Margie is a pretty fit little lady, but was having trouble keeping up with us young-uns after a little while so I carried her bag for her and we put her at the front of the pack. The first couple hours of the hike were tiring and hot and not ultra scenic, but then we got into the wonderful part of it. The last 2 hours of the ascent were really climbing -- through trees, over rock faces, jumping down over fallen logs -- and the vegetation was really cool. Once we got into this cool area Margie busted out her camera and we discovered that she is actually a stock photographer for Lonely Planet images. She took quite a few
pictures of us and had us sign model release forms so she can send our pictures to Lonely Planet, so who knows....maybe one day we will make it into a Lonely Planet Nicaragua book if they ever print one up. Oh, and in all our sweaty and very MUDDY glory. At any rate, we got access to her gorgeous pictures of the hike, which is worth it in and of itself.
The summit had great views over the island and Volcan Concepcion, but our real destination there was the crater lake. You need to climb down a rope to get there because there is just a giant rock wall to scale down, which made arriving there even better. After a half hour break there we headed back over the volcano the other way down to Finca Magdalena, which was hell. The trek itself is probably easier, but I would have rather gone up the volcano 4 times than have to go down muddy slippery rocks in oversized shoes again. It is an all out miracle that I got to the bottom without breaking my ankle.
We had to sit and wait for the bus back to Merida for
about 2 hours so we were all famished by the time we got to the buffet, which was halfway gone, but we managed to eat whatever was available. We then convinced Ludovic, the Frenchie, to come with us and Megan, the girl from our hike, to Granada the next day because it was Ludovic's birthday. It was a pretty low key night since we were all bushed.
So, another 9 hour hike under my belt, and I think I am done with that for awhile..... or at least until I find another travel partner that can accommodate size 9 shoes.
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Tot: 0.157s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 26; qc: 105; dbt: 0.1037s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
anonymous
non-member comment
Great info THANKS
Having climbed Concepcion a couple years back I can appreciate your effort and fun! I love your comments and tips! - Cesar