Ometepe: Beautiful Island in the Lake

---

---

We'd heard we just had to visit the lake island of Ometepe. Several people we'd met raved about it and even stayed longer than planned. Ometepe is an island popping out in the middle of Lago Nicaragua (which itself seemingly makes up half the country's area) and consists mainly of two large volcanoes that can be hiked up. Dan did his homework for accommodation and found a nice little place called Hacienda Merida which gives back to the community in two ways: they run a bilingual school, teaching English as a second language, to prepare kids to enter the tourism trade on the island; and they request that all tour guides soliciting business from guests bring four water bottles filled with non-biodegradable garbage (collected on the island) which will then be used as building materials.

The trip to Ometepe is a bit of a trek in and of itself. From San Juan del Sur, you can take a chicken bus to Rivas. From there you can take a taxi to the harbour in San Jorge which is pretty close but too far for walking (we were able to get one for 50NIO by avoiding the initial taxi driver flood at the bus stop). Then you take a ferry to Moyogalpa or San Jose on the island of Ometepe and from there you can take either a chicken bus or a 30USD taxi (which isn't so expensive if it's shared between several people) to your hotel/hostel. The ferry was certainly the most interesting part of the journey. The boat itself looked like it should've been decommissioned 30 years ago and our concerns weren't allayed when water started splashing (sometimes pouring) in from the waves. One girl from Costa Rica and her fancy camera got soaked. We were only a tad more fortunate.

Although Ashley wasn't wowed by the island as other people had described, we still think it's a must-see in Nicaragua and we kept plenty busy. On our first day we went kayaking trying to find the river that runs through the island but being the dry season we were unsuccessful. And by unsuccessful, I mean we couldn't even find the mouth of the river. When we looked at our GPS coordinates later (using our handy dandy SPOT device) we had actually far surpassed the river. Whoops. We contemplated hiking one of the volcanoes but from what we heard the clouds were blocking the view and the walk was rather miserable with rain and mud so we opted out. Instead, we hired a motorbike (35USD to go around the island). It was by far the best way to see the whole island, not to mention the laziest (many a masochist was witnessed peddle biking around the islands). One of the most interesting places was at the Punto Jesus Maria; a really long sand bar that we figure must be created by the winds going around the volcano and piling the sand where the waves meet. But one of our favourite sites on the island are the Ojos de Agua (80 NIO entrance fee), which is a natural mineral spring with pools built to contain the refreshingly cool water; perfect place for a swim at the end of a hot day.

At one point we were approached to teach English at the Merida school. We considered it because, apparently they are in dire need of an English teacher, but decided that due to our overwhelming lack of experience teaching anything and our time (less than two months to make to Mexico City for our flight to Germany in the summer), it wasn't for us at that particular moment.

We were able to find a couple different food places on the island. Almost every accommodation seems to have it's own restaurant, and we did tend to eat at Hacienda Merida more often than not. With good reason: our first lunch was pesto pasta which Ashley got again for supper that night; coconut ice cream (no dairy) banana smoothies were amazing and only a little over priced. We also wandered along the road and found some small places with great fish. If you do wander away from your hostel at night in search of dinner, be sure to bring a flashlight; it's a very dark walk home otherwise.

When we left the island, we opted for the chicken bus instead of a taxi to Moyogalpa where we would catch our ferry back to the mainland. If you choose to do this, be prepared for a 2 hour cramped bus ride. On the plus side, it only cost us 30 NIO each and our stop was at the beginning of the trip which meant we got a seat.

More pictures are available here.

---

Photos

We're on a Boat
I never thought I would be on this boat, let alone survive the ride.

Hacienda Merida
The perfect place to spend a few days enjoying nature.

Volcan Concepcion
At Punta Jesus Maria.

Comments

[Claudia Mom]

So brown are you two! Truly tropical.
Great little stories! Yuck for mud and yeah for riding a motorbike.