Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua

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Intro to Isla Ometepe

An ecological jewel, Isla Ometepe is still sparsely developed for tourism, making the island all the more attractive for those who like an unspoiled nature and don't mind expending extra effort to see it. Ometepe (meaning "between two hills" in Nahautl) is formed by two large volcanoes: Volcan Concepcion, which rises 1610 meters above the lake in an almost perfect cone, and Volcan Maderas (1394 meters). Lava flowing from the two volcanoes created an isthmus between them and united both in a single island. Concepcion is still active: its last major eruption was in 1957. With a population of 35,000, Ometepe is dotted by small coastal settlements where people live by fishing and farming - bananas, citrus fruits, maize, sesame, beans and other crops all flourish in the volcanic soil. Parts of the island are still covered in primary forest, which harbors abundant wildlife including howler monkeys and green parrots. The gorgeous blue-tailed birds seen everywhere on the island are called urracas (white-throated magpie jays). Ometepe is famous for its ancient stone statues and petroglyphs depicting humans, animals, birds and geothermic shapes, especially spirals. These remnants of Chorotega settlement have been found all over the island, but they are most densely clustered along the northern side of Volcan Maderas, between Santa Cruz and La Palma. A pockmarked gravel road circles the Concepcion part of the island; at the isthmus of Istian it connects to a rougher road that skirts Volcan Maderas. Beyond Balgue in the north and Merida in the southwest, a 4WD vehicle is required to navigate the rutted surface. The island's two major towns. Altagracia and Moyoglapa, are linked to the mainland by ferries. They both offer accommodations and restaurants, but to experience the true charms of Omtepe, travel further out: Charo Verde, Playa Santo Domingo, Balgue and Merida all offer lovely settings amid the island's rich biodiversity.

Our Experience

Since our ferry was an hour and a half late leaving Granada, we arrived an hour and a half late to Isla Ometepe. After de-boating, we were met at the dock's gates by a slew of locals offering us a ride from the dock to Altagracia (2km). We heard someone shout the name of the establishment we had planned on staying at, so we hopped in the back of their pick-up and we were off! The back of the truck wasn't too crowded. I sat on the roof with two kids (approx. 12 years old), and Joe sat in the bed with a couple of locals and our packs. The rest of the guys along for the ride just stood on the bumper and hung on the the metal frame affixed to the truck bed. It was a bumpy 15 min ride, but we made it to the small town of Altagracia just as the last bit of daylight was fading from the skies.

I was absolutely enchanted with Isla Ometepe from the moment we first saw it. The sun was setting as we neared the island (which is essentially two volcano cones), and from the boat the entire island was bathed in a soft yellow-orange glow. Once on shore, the romance of the place only increased. As we bumped along in the back of the pickup truck, the air turned cool and dusk began to slowly settle over all that was around us. We could see one of the island's volcanoes (Volcan Concepción) looming beside us. The road from the dock to Altagracia wasn't paved. Along the way we passed people bicycling and riding horseback. Sometimes we drove through banana tree farms where fireflies were beginning to flicker beneath the trees huge leaves. It was an isolated, serene, and magical place.

Our pickup truck took us to the front door of our hostel. We paid the driver and then checked in. It was a nice place. Clean room. Restaurant. Internet. What more could you ask for? After checking in we had dinner (pasta for Joe... chicken for me) and read a bit before bed.

The next morning we decided to check out the island via bus (rather than spending the day hiking up, down, and around one of the two volcanoes). The night before, Joe noticed he was running low on clean laundry, but by the time we'd had breakfast and were ready to go he'd forgotten about it. (And, I didn't remind him! Hehe.) We caught a bus from Altagracia to Moyogalpa (the island's other major city). Unfortunately, that bus only took us halfway. The conductor assured us another bus would would be along shortly to take us the rest of the way to Moyogalpa. The bus he mentioned came - thank goodness - not long after he'd dropped us by the side of the road.

Once we arrived in Moyogalpa we decided to check out the port and see about the ferries to San Jorge (on the mainland), because our plan for the next day was to bus from Altagracia back to Moyogalpa (and from there we'd ferry to San Jorge on the mainland... taxi to Rivas... bus to the border... cross in to Costa Rica... and make our way south to Liberia. Whew!). Well, we couldn't see any sign of any ferry or any ferry ticket office, so we gave up and went into town. Now, Joe remembered his laundry and I reminded him 1) there was a sink in our room and 2) he had Tide packets.

Moyogalpa was small and quiet. We had a soda at a restaurant, looked around the cathedral and city park/square, and then decided to see about renting a car or some bicycles. Well, the car rental place wasn't renting... and I vetoed the bicycle idea (because, as we all know, volcanic islands aren't flat and I can't bike uphill to save my life)... so, we pondered. Eventually we decided to catch the bus back to Altagracia... or anywhere... we just wanted to move around the island and see things. But, while we were waiting for the bus we were approached by a man who offered to taxi us to Charco Verde (a beautiful beach where he said we could rent a kayak). Eventually we agreed to take him up on his offer (especially since he provided departure information on the ferry from Moyogalpa to San Jorge). We hopped in his van/taxi and we were off!

Twenty minutes later we arrived at Charco Verde. The beach was indeed beautiful with lots of ebony-colored volcanic sand. We rented a kayak for an hour and headed out into the water of Lago de Nicaragua. (Have we failed to mention that Lago de Nicaragua has freshwater sharks in it? And they aren't exactly small... they grow up to 9 ft. long!!! Well, no worries! We never saw one.)

Although the kayak was a double and we were both given paddles, I asked Joe if he wouldn't mind doing all the paddling. Of course, he said he'd be glad to (hehe). I took pictures, provided lots of stimulating conversation, and - occasionally - moral support.

The kayak was a great investment. We had a wonderful hour out on the water. Joe took us along the shore and around a bend so that we could see the other volcano on Isla Ometepe. Then he paddled us out further into the lake for a panoramic view of the entire island before steering us back to the beach. It was a lovely trip!

After kayaking, we walked back up to the main road and waited for a bus to Altagracia. When we arrived back in town, we walked around the downtown area and then went back to our hotel to change out of our wet clothes. I suggested we eat dinner at another restaurant (instead of the one in our hotel). We settled a restaurant in the other Altagracia hotel. I ordered fish with Ometepe salsa and Joe got breaded chicken. When the food arrived, we were astonished! Joe had half a chicken fried. HALF. A. CHICKEN. (It was huge!) And, I had two large fish. TWO. LARGE. FISH. It was a little scary because these fish had been pulled straight from the water and slapped on a frying pan. They had heads, eyes, fins, and scales! I'm not a squeamish eater, but I wasn't especially hungry and having my dinner looking up at me was the remaining appetite I had. In the end, Joe ate both our dinners.

Joe's Note: I am the king. I think I ate over half of Noah's Ark that night. Joe: 1, Edible Animals: 0.

After dinner I worked on our blog, and Joe washed some of his clothes in the sink. After our respective chores, we had some sodas and read for a while on the hotel hammocks. Then it was time to shower and sleep.

The next morning we toyed with the idea of trying to get up at 6AM and catch the 7 or 7:30AM ferry from Moyogalpa. Well... that didn't happen. We slept in. Caught the 8:15AM bus from Altagracia to Moyogalpa and missed the 9AM ferry by minutes. Bummer. The next one left at 11AM, so we decided to have a leisurely breakfast and then hop on. Everything went according to plan and by 10:59AM we were chugging away from Isla Ometepe and towards San Jorge on the Nicaraguan mainland.

From the dock at San Jorge we took a taxi to Rivas and caught a bus to the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border. The bus dropped us at the border and we did the usual immigration-walk-change$-walk-immigration bit. Everything went smoothly despite the fact that there is only one roadway border crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica (which is typically jammed with tourists and semi-trucks vying for north-south passage). Once we were across the border, we started looking for a bus to take us the rest of the way to Liberia - but we didn't see one or two or any. In fact, we didn't see anyone. We figured we'd probably missed something, but we kept walking. Eventually, we found a bus stop of sorts and eventually a bus came. It was a long hot border crossing, but we survived and did it in classic budget style!

The bus from the border to Liberia was greyhound-esque (goodbye old US school buses?) and sped us down the coast... ah! the beautiful pacific... and then inland towards Liberia.

Up Next

Our introduction to Costa Rica. Hola Liberia!

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Photos

Passengers Chillin' On the Deck of the Ferry Bound for Ometepe
Smart passengers brought hammocks and strung them up on deck.

Lila's Feet in the Kayak
What can I say? Joe was paddling and I couldn't exactly take a picture of myself. Sigh.

Comments

[Gloria Colley]

Joseph, your website and trip look fantastic!! We loved CR. Trying to get your mom and dad to go with us on a bike trip there next Feb. Have a safe trip home! Love, Gloria

[Jane]

a little fishy....
my sister once had fish delivered to the table like that .... my father put a plate over it's head so it would stop looking at him while he ate....

[Tiney]

I get fish like that all the time.
Dude, whatever. Fish has been served to me like that throughout my life. That's how my parents make it, that's how my grandparents make it. That's how it's traditionally served in good Chinese restaurants. Course, they don't come with fries if it's Chinese. My family eats the eyeballs, it's good for you! Not that I would eat the eyeball.. But it's funny to stick your fork into the open mouth of the cooked fish. Bwahahahahaha!