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Published: March 26th 2008
After two days in Granada full of relaxation, cooking our own meals, beautiful colonial buildings, and bars with names like "The Zebra Lounge," we were OFF! to the pinnacle stop in our trip...Isla de Ometepe! for volcanoes, farming, nature, and welcome isolation.
We had planned all weekend to take the 3:00 ferry across the choppy, expansive vastness of Lago de Nicaragua (seriously, look at a map, it's huge) and were proud to arrive early to the dock (early for us, though it may have been 2:45) only to discover that the twice-weekly trip books up quickly... too quickly... and tickets had been sold out for over two hours. Whoops!
Sitting in the cab, bummed, bursting with excitement and momentum, we made the split-second decision to take a bus south toward Rivas, the other town with ferries to the island, hoping that maybe, just maybe, we would catch the last boat out of Rivas onto Ometepe.
After a tense cab ride, fingers crossed we'd make the bus to Rivas, we did! and were on our way south to the magical ferry.
Feeling overly stressed and rushed for such a wonderfully laid-back, take-it-as-it-comes vacation, we realized that rushing to
Rivas, where we would have to rush to find a cab, which we hoped would speed to the dock, which would arrive at the ferry, which wouldn't arrive at the island until after dark, was, well, trying too hard.
About 10 minutes outside Rivas, following an hour debating during the bus ride, we changed plans (ah, sweet spontaneity), and decided we wanted to see the Pacific Ocean - so, San Juan del Sur? Sure!
The bus took twice as long as expected due to construction, and we left our food bag and a bracelet on the bus, but we didn't let it get us down.
San Juan was nice if quite a bit gringo-fied (surf bums working in coffee shops and cruise ships in the harbor).
We didn't spring for the trips to the isolated, gorgeous beaches surrounding the town, but instead kicked it on the town beach as the tide came in unexpectedly, washing us (and our clothes, and our books) in muddy sand.
We had some tasty coffee, found some books for trade, but after a nice drink and a cigar, watching the sunset over the ocean, we realized it was time to
One of the more interesting sites in town...
Our laundry lady's living room wall.
Manly grandma or grandpa in drag? You decide.get back on track.
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