Isla de Ometepe

One of the things we really wanted to do when in Nicaragua was visit Ometepe island. Ometepe is basically two volcanoes that have made an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. Of the two volcanoes, only the larger (Concepcion) is active but both can be climbed.

From Granada, we caught a chicken bus to Rivas, then a taxi to San Jorge. From there, we went to the island in a rickety old boat which looked like it had seen many years of faithful service. We were just hoping it would keep going for another hour or so and see us safe to the other side. The views on the way were amazing. Concepcion looked like a huge conical cake with a ring of clouds around its peak and rivulets of red streaking down the sides through swaths of bright green forest. The rest of the island looked completely green and gorgeous.

We had met up with a couple of American students who were keen to stay at a cooperative, organic coffee farm near the smaller of the two volcanoes, Maderas. We liked the sound of the place and figured we could share a taxi, so we tagged along with them and luckily there was space for us all at Finca Magdalena. Approaching it as the sun went down and fireflies randomly appeared, everything seemed magical. We had dinner together and decided we'd have a go at climbing the volcano in the morning. Despite being smaller than Concepcion, Maderas is still a 5km hike up the side of a 1400m volcano and usualy takes about 8 hours. At the summit, the crater has filled with water to form a huge lagoon which you can swim in, providing a respite from all the hiking and giving you an opportunity to wash off all the mud just so you can get all muddy again on the way down!

We got up bright and early (5:30am!) to get an early start before it got really hot. Unfortunately we'd been plagued by rodents during the night and hadn't slept well. Also, the kitchen only opened for brekkie at 6:30 and our guide didn't show until 7. Luckily we were able to get a decent breakfast inside us and get sandwiches for lunch. So we set off at about 7:30 to tackle the arduous climb to the summit. Things started off well, but I quickly felt a bit queezy. I figured it was just the early start and the interrupted sleep. However by the time we reached the 2km point I wasn't feeling so well at all and was falling further behind the suspiciously fit American students. (They're 19 years old, and they live and hike regularly in the North Carolina mountains. They didn't break a sweat or pant for air once, and the guide very annoyingly kept their pace.) By 4km I was getting ready to turn back, but the thought of missing out on the lake and having the volcano defeat me was too much and eventually we reached the summit.


Although we'd brought swimming gear, we were so wet and dirty from the ascent that it was easier to swim in our hiking clothes rather than get changed. After washing the clinging clay mud off our shoes we took the plunge into the crater lake. The water was pretty cold, but very refreshing after the sticky, humid climb up. I could feel the sweat and grime of the ascent wash off me as I swam around. I was only troubled by the thought that we'd need to get all the way back down again. Also, the cheese sandwiches we'd been given had egg in (which we'd asked them to remove) although even with the egg taken out they were still pretty nasty. After what seemed like a terribly short time (but must have been at least a half hour) our guide gathered us for the trip back down.

Coming up was tough, but the descent was dangerous. The smooth rocks were lightly coated in wet clay soil from the boots of other hikers as they went up or down the path, making footing extremely treacherous. It seemed like we'd been walking for hours when we passed the 3km sign – only half way down. I was physically and emotionally spent when we reached the 1km sign. Everything started to look a lot more familiar and the terrain flattened out. When we got back to the farm we could do little other than flop down on the bed. The electricity was out so the fan didn't work – we went for cold showers instead. Luckily when we got back the fan was working again so we spent the rest of the evening in front of the fan drinking water and resting our aching muscles. When we finally made it downstairs for dinner we found our hiking companions talking with some friends of theirs from Granada. When asked how they were feeling, they said that all they'd needed was a cup of coffee and after that they were fine. Oh to be 19 and fit again... Ho hum.

Besides the swim at the top, the other things that made the climb worthwhile were amazing views and spotting some wildlife on the volcano. On our way up, we were delighted (and somewhat surprised) to see a medium-sized crab on the trail. He very anxiously and menacingly snapped his pincers at us as we passed by him. Unfortunately, in our rush to catch up with the guide and kids, we didn't have time to find our camera in the backpack and therefore didn't get any pictures of him, but he was ace. We also saw a tiny, gorgeous frog which sparkled in the sunshine. He was so tiny, pictures of him didn't even come out clear; by the time we saw him, we were beyond caring about catching up with the guide and kids, so we took time to find and use the camera! We also saw and heard howler monkeys, always a treat. Plus there were the usual assortment of birds and cool leaf-cutter ant groups.


We spent the night there at Finca Magdalena again, but this time we were so exhausted we slept through the rodents getting into our leftover sandwiches from the hike. (We forgot to throw them away. The rodents clawed or chewed their way through tin foil, leaving bits of it all over the floor, and we slept through it all.) We slept as late as possible and then hung out at the Finca for a couple hours until it was nearly time to catch a bus to Moyogalpa on the other side of the island. We walked a kilometre (very slowly thanks to Trace's aching muscles) to the bus stop and then waited nearly an hour for the bus driver to feel like leaving. We didn't mind waiting; there was a set of 5 piglets to watch, so we were happy!

Eventually the bus started off. It took us about an hour in the taxi from Moyogalpa to Finca Magdalena. Getting back to Moyogalpa, the bus took twice that long on the mostly rocky, unpaved roads. Still, passing through so much greenery with views of volcanoes peaking through made the journey pleasant indeed. We arrived in Moyogalpa and made our way to "the Ritz" of the island, Hotel Ometepetl. We thought we'd treat ourselves since we were so sore and tired. We tried to find a laundromat, but after much searching and asking for directions we wound up at a hotel with "the only laundry service in town", and their dryer was broken. We planned to leave early the next day for Costa Rica, so there was no time to wait for our clothes to dry outside; it's quite humid here. We figured we'd just wait until we got to Costa Rica.

We really took it easy for the rest of the day. We read a lot, had some pizza, used a painfully slow Internet service, and prepared to get up early for making our way to Costa Rica the next day. The next day, the alarm went off at 7am, and we both agreed we weren't going anywhere; both of us ached from the volcano climb. We figured that we should at least get something worthwhile done - so we decided to do some laundry, use the internet and get some breakfast. After a few hours of listening to the local crazy ex-pat America, we'd got our laundry done (turns out there's more than one laundromat in town!) and heard all the latest conspiracy theories. Now we're catching up on all the latest Internet happenings before getting ready for Costa Rica tomorrow.