Ometepe

During the last weekend of Semana Santa, I traveled to Isla De Ometepe (a large island in Lake Nicaragua, formed by the lava of the two volcanoes) with Hannah, Dan and Tom (Dan and Tom are friends from St. Lawrence University who recently came down here to do some volunteer work as well, for a few weeks).  With only two full days on the island, we went with a very specific mission: to hike Volcan Maderas.  

  On Friday we left Granada, caught a crowded bus to Rivas, from Rivas to San Jorge and from San Jorge we took an hour long ferry ride to the island. In total, almost four hours to simply get to Ometepe.. but even when we arrived, our travels did not end. We arrived on one side, where Volcan Concepcion is.. but we needed to get to the other side of the island, to stay near Maderas. Transportation on the island is far from convenient. There are few taxis and only 2 buses that run from one side to the other every day... therefore, we were left to hitchhiking. Thankfully, being with two guys, this was a fairly safe maneauver. In the back of a pick-up truck, we enjoyed the wonderful breeze and appreciated being off of our feet in the middle of the hot day. Unfortunately, the guy who we got a ride with was not going all the way to our hostel, so we hopped out and took a taxi the rest of the way. Never in my life have I ever driven with someone who drove so slow. Now, maybe it was due to the fact that there were four of us packed in to a small car with all of our backpacks and therefore the vehicle was weighed down a bit... OR the fact that the car was nearly falling apart and every time we drove over a tiny pebble, i felt as thought I was about to drop through the bottom of the car... OR because the muffler was dragging on the ground... OR maybe it was a combination of all of those things, why we were not traveling more than 20 mph on the main road.

  Anyway- we arrived. Finca Magdalena, a hostel planted at the base of Maderas and in the middle of an organic coffee farming area, with a lovely view of the lake and the other volcano.  We settled in to our rooms, hung out outside playing cards and reading, ate dinner and headed to bed early to make sure that we had enough rest for a big hike the next day. From other people at the hostel, and other volunteers, we heard that the hike was going to take us roughly four hours to reach the top and that it wasn't a very easy hike with the steepness and mud that made the one trail slick. With this in mind, and knowing that we also wanted to hike down in to the volcano to see the lake in the crater, we figured that this was going to be an all day adventure.  So, on Sunday morning we woke up early and ate a good breakfast and headed off on to the trail around 7am. Within the first hour we stopped at a few lookout points, since these were the only places where you could see beyond the trees, out over the island and the lake. The view was gorgeous and we were excited to get to the top to see what fabulous view was awaiting our arrival. Thankfully, the volcano is covered and therefore we were protected from the sun (both from the trees and all of the clouds that hovered mid-way up the volcano)... though because we in the wet forest, this also made for quite a bit of humidity (and yes, a few very sweaty gringos).  Though not many flowers, it was still nice to see so much green.. and on top of that, we were able to see a few different types of monkeys, numerous kinds of birds, and two different kinds of snakes!  

  At 9:30ish, we got to the top. Out of all of the hikes I've ever done, this was by far the most anti-climactic arrival at the summit. All of us had expected some spectacular view, a large area where you'd be able to sit down and enjoy the scene... but instead, we could see nothing because of the thick forest still at the top, and the 5ft in diameter space at the top simply wasn't enough space for five of us to sit and leave space for any other possible hikers.  I climbed a tree and got a quick glimpse of the lake, and just enough to take a picture... but still, we decided, it was a beautiful hike. From there, we hiked another 5 minutes down in to the crater to see the lake and hang out for a bit since we now, had plenty of time on our hands.   We took our time hiking back down, stopping to chat and enjoy each lookout point, figuring out what other things we could do to fill our day since we were going to be back several hours before we had planned.

  All-in-all, the hike took us five and a half hours and was certainly not as strenuous as we thought is was going to be... but wonderful none-the-less. 

  For the rest of our time in Ometepe, we explored the small towns that were close to our hostel, we played many card games and watched the sun set over Volcan Concepcion, and had many good conversations and laughs over meals consisting of gallo pinto and fresh, organic coffee. Yum.