Twin Volcanoes Tower out of a Huge Lake-- Isla de Ometepe

Saturday July 8th- Tuesday July 11th, 2006
Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua

From Granada on Saturday I took a cab with two really cool people I met at the Bearded Monkey hostel- Blake and Jaquie. The girl was from Canada and the guy actually spent some time growing up in Atlanta and went to Sprayberry High School. They told me of a ferry which goes direct to Ometepe, a long way south of us, nearer to Costa Rica than Honduras (see the previous map of Nicaragua to find the islands in the middle of Lake Nicaragua). We ran into 4 fellow gringo travelers on the boat and the 7 of us hit it off really nicely. We quickly nicknamed the boat the SS Minnow, as we looked out toward the West, as we traveled Southward, and saw rain and storms sweeping across our path. The 15 cents I paid for Dramamine before I got on the boat was BY FAR the greatest cost/benefit ratio of any item I purchased on my trip. A couple of the girls were seasick but managed to keep it in their stomachs.

The volcanic island is extraordinary. Volcan Concepceon to the north shoots upwards, 1610 meters, with a wider base, while it's little sister, Volcan Maderas, extends 1394 meters high, but with a much steeper slope. The kids I was with already had a hostel staked out so we hired a car to take us to Maderas, from Concepcion, on some of the worst roads I've ridden on yet. Hardly a thing is paved on Ometepe, but that's part of the beauty of the place.

The hostel was amazing. Hostel Merida is situated on the west side of Maderas, nestled between the huge volcanoe and the lake. There's a dock, and plenty to do. Buffets are served every day for breakfast and dinner, and the food there is excellent. I met Alvaro the owner and we talked a lot about potential medical projects on the island. He runs a charity medical foundation there in his spare time.

Sunday was devoted entirely to being lazy. We all recovered a bit from our seasickness and eagerly awaited the world cup final between Italy and France. Don't ask me why so many people, especially Americans, wanted the French to win, but I was so happy to see Zidane take himself out of the match by headbutting an Italian man, and elated to see the Italian squad win. I've been following the cup with ferver here in Central America since it began a month ago. The laziness of Sunday was enhanced by the fact that there was a huge island party on Saturday night, and people had come from all over the island to be there. Apparently there is only 1 party a month on Ometepe and it's a big one- DJ, dance floor, and lots of cervezas and rum. The only problem- of the 100 or so people packed into the open air dance and bar space, no more than 10 were women!!! A fight was imminent, but I definitely managed to stay out of trouble and leave a bit before the scuffles began (which they did later).

On Monday I got up in the morning, met my two british friends from the boat, and we hired a guide to take us up Maderas. Not only would it be extremely idiotic to hike into the cone of Maderas without a guide, it would be illegal. The hike, or actually CLIMB, I should say, was both terrific and terrifying at the same time. Maderas is an active volcanoe with steam vents and a crazy volcanic lake inside it's cone. The ascent to 1394 meters takes place up a 7 kilometer trail, and the decent back over the opposite side is another 5 kilometers... plus the time it takes to get into and out of the cone. As you ascend the terrain changes, from Jungle first to Cloud Forest, and the wildlife and especially plant life, is truly amazing. Within a couple of kilometers though, the "hike" turns into- no joke- a serious climb. I mean, I was using my upper body as much as my legs, pulling myself up sheer rock faces. We had to climb through the root networks of 200 year old trees in the cloud forests, under and over roots. We ascended into the clouds and it got cooler, but we generated so much heat from the hike that T shirts were okay. We saw troups of monkeys, several different species, although the howler monkeys were definitely the most memorable. I faced down a couple males, exchanging howls from the ground as they scowled at me from the trees, in defense of their women who had little baby monkeys clinging to their back.

The hike was by far the hardest thing I've done on my trip. We departed at 8:30 in the morning, got to the bottom again at 5:30pm, and I swear we only stopped once for 20 minutes to eat lunch. Because it's the rainy season there was mud and slippery rock everywhere. We slipped and slid up and down, but I do really think down was harder because it was so perilous and so hard to get down without falling. I managed not to fall, along with our expert guide, who first climbed when he was 8. My two british friends bit it several times, and managed to make it down quite muddy and bruised up. Nevertheless the trip was truly amazing. The trees, vistas, and wildlife were incredible. We ate packed sandwiches at the crater lake and chilled with some friends we knew from the hostel. It was a proud moment to make it back to the bottom, joints killing me, muscles sore, but having not fallen down at all I was "relatively" clean.

That was Monday. Tuesday (yesterday) we got up and lazily packed. Myself, the brits, Jaquie, and Blake got on the short ferry direct to the mainland at San Jorge. We took a quick cab to the town of Rivas and split up- Blake and I to Costa Rica, the others headed out to the beach at San Juan del Sur. I decided to get to Costa Rica and then make my decision about what I wanted to do. It was nice to cross the border with a friend, even if he doesn't speak much Spanish. Just to have a companion so I could get a bite or make a phone call and leave my bags was nice. I got in touch with Bill Norman, a good family friend, who is vacationing down here and he invited me to come on down and meet him in San Jose... so here I am. Blake and I didn't get here til 1am, but Blake has spent a lot of time in San Jose and knew just the hostel. We took out dorm beds at this sweet place and we took a cab to ensure our safety. So here I sit, updating you all, and I'm about to close out this post and meet up with Bill at his buddy's house in San Jose. We'll hang out here for the day and head out tomorrow for the Nicoya Peninsula, Playa del Coco, where Bill has a house and has invited me to be a guest. Then on Friday I fly out of Liberia, in Northwest Costa Rica, for Atlanta.

I may have time to post once more before I'm home, or I may just post when I get back on Friday. I'm home around 7pm so call the cell if you wanna find out about my trip! I'll have lots of photos to post later!

Peace and love,

Ben