Ometepe is a very large island in the enormous Lake Nicaragua (the largest lake in Central America at 8,264 km2). It is dominated by two volcanoes, one active (called Concepcion) and one with a lake in the crater (called Maderas). To get here you have to get a ferry from the mainland that takes about an hour, the lake is huge!
We did well with our journey there, our host at Rancho Chilamate was going into town so she gave us a lift. There we found a yellow bus bound for Rivas. The bus dropped us at a petrol station and we met another backpacker going to Ometepe and agreed to share a ride. We were offered a taxi by a man charging $5 per person, whereas we’d all been told $5 per car. We took our bags away and met another driver, this time very nice and offering the price we expected. He helped us by explaining the correct taxes and ferry prices, and telling us where we needed to go. He asked if we needed transport on the Ometepe side, and then proceeded to call his friend and pass the phone to me to explain where we were going and to agree a price.
Once on the little car ferry, the water was surprisingly rough for a lake! Water was splashing up over the bow and through the door where we were sitting. We spent the journey chatting to Nina, the Belgian girl we’d met by the taxis. Chatting to people on public transport has been great, we’ve received lots of travel tips and it really helped pass the time on long journeys. The twin peaks of the volcanoes loomed closer and we were soon disembarking onto a sunny quay.
We were greeted by our taxi driver Franklin, who was waiting with a personalised sign for us. He took us the hour drive across the island pointing out things of note along the way, it was a nice introduction to the island which is a mix of small farms and villages in the low lying areas around the dominating volcanoes. We were slightly delayed near the end as we got stuck behind a festival procession, there was a brass band on the back of a truck following several people on horseback. We later found out this happens every weekend for a month! We arrived in good time to get settled and watch a spectacular sunset from our balcony.
We spent three nights at The Jungle, it’s a small family-run place near a village called Mérida. The room was really comfortable and had a fantastic view. The hotel did a nice breakfast, as well as evening meals and sandwiches if required. Food was a little more expensive than local restaurants, but all fresh and homemade, with lots of vegetarian options, it saved us the hassle of having to organise transport elsewhere. We chose Mérida as it seemed equidistant from a few activities we wanted to do, we wanted to be fairly central as the island is so large and we didn’t have our own transport.
It was nice staying in a small local place, we spoke Spanish the whole time with the owners and tour guides which was great to practice. We had an amazing compliment from one guide who asked how long we’d been living in Latin America! I find staying in hostels is good for meeting other backpackers, but everyone just speaks English and you don’t really get to learn about the local community.
On our first day we went on a kayak tour. Our guide Nestor picked us up on his moped, with a friend too so we could both get a lift. This was only my second time ever on a motorbike and I was pretty nervous!
The kayaking was great, so nice to be on the water and they were happy to give us individual boats which was so much better in the narrow channels around trees. Chris and I don’t argue much, but sharing a kayak usually causes us to get irritated with the other person pretty quickly! We were out for a couple of hours and saw so many birds, a turtle, iguanas, a family of bats roosting on a termite nest, and a caiman. It was amazing just being on the water and paddling through the swamp around some huge trees. At one point Nestor stopped and asked us to find the animal in a tree in front of us. It took a while but we eventually spotted a little owl sleeping in the branches. The guides are so good at finding these things. It was such a good morning.
In the afternoon we decided we would hire a motorbike from our hotel as there were a few places we wanted to see. Chris had a little user lesson from our host and he made sure we had all the proper documents and helmets, and were comfortable before we set off. Our first stop was Ojo de Agua, a freshwater pool about 13km away. We took it slow along the dusty roads, once past our village there was a paved road, with the occasional large speed bump. There are a few villages along the road, it was rural and poor, with small brick or wooden single-storey houses, and lots of dogs and chickens and pigs roaming around. Ojo de Agua turned out to be fairly large and a bit more commercial than we expected. There was an entrance fee, half of which counted as credit towards food or drink. There were changing rooms and outdoor showers, then a large pool with a rope swing, and a roped off section for lane swimming. The water was clear and refreshing on a hot day. We had a swim, and enjoyed some fresh juice and a snack. There was a mix of tourists and locals there, there was a large speaker playing Latin music and we were surprised to see it taken away by a family group when they left, it was such a big speaker we’d assumed it belonged to the bar! We hit the road again and headed back along the coast to another village called Balgue.
Balgue was a nice little place, a bit more hippy and touristy than where we stayed. Nowhere near Costa Rica levels of tourism, but there were a few hostels and cafes along the road which makes it touristy for Nicaragua! We stopped at Cafe Campestre and had a late lunch/early dinner and more tasty drinks. I was enjoying the Jamaica tea, a hibiscus flower infusion, very refreshing and we’ve found it in every country along the way. Conscious that we didn’t want to be driving in the dark, we grabbed a couple of fresh cookies to take away and headed back to the hotel.
We fancied a few beers so we stopped in Mérida at the first pulpería we saw, they didn’t sell alcohol and directed us up the road. We found another little place with a beer sign outside and the lady fetched a few tins from the fridge for us. On the final stretch back, the road dipped right down to the lake front and we had an amazing sunset view once again. It was great to have the bike and a bit of freedom to explore the island.
The next day we had made the crazy decision to climb another volcano! Having climbed Baru in Panama, and done a lot of walking in Costa Rica, we thought this little volcano (1,394m tall) would be good day out and not too bad. Famous last words! Our guide Danielle was lovely, and we talked quite a bit across the day about family and work in our different countries (especially on the descent when I wasn’t so far behind, I was able to chat to her most of the way down). She set a cracking pace across farmland to start with. We then went gradually slower and slower as the path got steeper and rougher. She showed us some petroglyphs on the way, the island has hundreds of these carved rocks which are very impressive.
As we ascended, the path got steadily less like a path and more of a crazy scramble over roots and rocks, ducking under trees, in some places so tight we had to pass our bags along separately to make it through. There were incredibly steep and slippery sections with sheer drops into the jungle on each side, some with ropes to haul yourself up by. The humidity on the lower sections, and the effort of the climb, meant I was so incredibly sweaty that I could wring my t-shirt hem out and even my shorts were wet! I was afraid I’d slowed us down a lot, but we made it up to the top in the promised four hours. We’d had cloud and a breeze near the top which made it cooler, but also meant no view at all, very reminiscent of walking in the UK! We were starting to get a bit chilly and thinking about heading down when suddenly the clouds blew apart and we got a fleeting view of the crater lake below us. Satisfied, we began the descent. It was a tricky climb down, we took it slowly and reached the mirador halfway in perfect time to see the clouds had lifted from the Concepcion volcano on the other side of the island. Near the bottom, we were lucky to see a troop of howler monkeys sleeping in the trees, we’d been hearing their eerie howls from the hotel but not seen them before.
We arrived back at the hotel sweaty, muddy, and very tired, but with that good sense of accomplishment that comes after doing a long walk. We said goodbye to Danielle and went for a well deserved rest before dinner.
We really enjoyed our stay on Ometepe, a real highlight of the trip. It was a good to have our own transport for a change and to see rural Nicaragua in a beautiful setting. I especially enjoyed getting to meet and talk to local people who were happy to talk and let us test out our Spanish.
