Step 3: Halfway There: Ometepe Island
From Granada, we chose to take a 4-hour ferry to Ometepe Island. It was a very wavy day on the lake, but despite this and the questionable state of the ferry that looked more like a carnival tent than a passenger-worthy boat, it was an enjoyable ride. All four of us counted the life jackets, life rafts, compared that to the number of passengers and promptly made a strategic plan for how to get to the limited supply first. Thankfully we found very nice lounge chairs (called perezosos – literally “lazys”) for rent on the deck that kept us from having to go inside the main cabin from whence every so often a person would burst out of looking like they were gasping for air. We had a running bet on which person coming out was going to get sick first.
Ometepe Island (check out the map here) was a lovely 3-day break in the middle of our journey across Lake Nicaragua on the way to the Rio. But first, some reality checks:
“Ometepe never fails to impress…the surprising few travelers who make it out here” (Lonely Planet). Actually, considering both how tricky it is to get here, and that most of the roads are impassable without a 4WD, it’s surprising they have travelers who make it.
“The island’s fertile volcanic soil, clean waters, wide beaches, wildlife population…have landed it on the shortlist for the new Seven Natural Wonders of the World” (Lonely Planet). The soil is certainly fertile, with lots of fruit and flowers about, but the ‘clean waters’ are a bit less so when the herds of cattle shit their way along the shoreline, and the beaches are only wider than a pencil in the very dry season (which is not the tourist season). Incidentally, according to the official New 7 Wonders, Ometepe didn’t even make the short list (http://nature.n7w.com/). All this considered, it is in fact a beautiful island.
Our stay was definitely enhanced by another stellar place and ex-pat host: El Encanto (The Charm), and Carlos from El Salvador. The small hotel was located on an acreage that he transformed from a banana plantation into a botanical garden. There was a perfect view of one of the two volcanoes from the dining room where we spent timing waiting for the giant marshmallow cloud to move off so we could see the top of the crater. There were many options for long day trips to walk up or around volcanoes, which we traded in for two full days of laying in hammocks surrounded by birds and hibiscus. We did make it out for a bike ride and to a perfect little swimming hole one afternoon. The evenings were extraordinarily dark and with a new moon, John spent each night exploring the sky and southern constellations.
Three days later, we left Ometepe Island the way we came in: on the carnival ferry. But this time, it was a calm, starry evening that set the stage for our 10-hour overnight journey. John appeared to be struggling with seaman superstition when they started loading on bunches upon bunches of bananas, but we survived the crossing without spiders or other incident. I had a great 6 hours of sleep, wrapped up with my sleeping bag over my head (Indian style) in a perezoso chair, out in the fresh air and clear sky. That beats a bus any day.
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