Yesterday I left Ometepe at around 10am with a fellow traveller from the hostel. We hopped on the ferry and about an hour and a half later we were in San Jorge, the point of embarkment/disembarkment to get to Ometepe island (it’s in the middle of a giant lake in Nicaragua). We shared a taxi straight to the Costa Rican border for $15 each and then walked across the border (which happened to be the most annoying and confusing border crossing I have ever experienced). From there I found a bus that would take us to Sardinal, which was a bit further than our intended destination of Monteverde (the cloud forest). Not only was the border crossing terrible but the traffic was also the worst I’ve ever been in. Coming from an ex-Beijing resident and a longtime London local, this is a big deal. By the time we got to Sardinal, it was already 9pm and the last bus had already left.
At the petrol station, seemingly stranded in the middle of a motorway that was getting emptier by the minute, several minibuses and cars offered to take us to Monteverde for a fee. Some of these didn’t seem too legitimate, especially as we were two young women standing on the side of a dark highway. Eventually, after some time, a minibus that looked vaguely reputable (it was actually very nice) came along and I negotiated our way up to Monteverde, for another $15 each.
The day before that I rented a scooter and drove around Ometepe, although it started raining as soon as I left Charco Verde, a lake and butterfly reserve within the larger Lake Nicaragua (lakeception). I was frozen to the bone and my clothes were drenched through. Speeding down the highway really didn’t help either but I didn’t really have a choice.
I finally found a little comedor in Merida and chatted with the family who owned for several hours, they were so incredibly lovely. Apparently the government here gives kids present on Christmas day. Their porchetas were delicious too.
I bought a wavey shirt from some random local workwear stand further down the road because I was so cold and wet. It had a couple of insects in the seams and probably hadn’t had a wash since it had landed in Nicaragua from some charity in the States (lots of the market clothing here have random American corporations or schools on – I saw a kid wearing an old “Grade 5 Biology Club” t-shirt with some very small-town American names on the back). The shirt did the trick though and kept me warm all the way back to Life is Good, the hostel I was staying at. I didn’t envisage the shirt and I continuing our journey onwards together so I gave it away to one of the Aussie boys staying in the hostel at the same time, who had a similar ***vintage*** style going on.
On my way back across the island, I was in a rush to get back before sunset (can tell you already that didn’t happen) and I came across entire stretches of road where the trees and fields on either side were absolutely BLANKETED in spider webs. It looked like something out a horror movie and this went on for acres! I was alone, the air was damp and cold from the recent rain and I hadn’t come across any traffic for quite a while. A nightmare.
Life is Good was such a nice hostel – so cheap, especially compared to some of the other hostels on Ometepe further in town, and purveyors of delicious food. The moped rental ended up being quite pricey, especially as I didn’t realise I had to fill up the tank at the end of the trip and had to pay extra.
The day I arrived on Isla de Ometepe was a long travel day from San Juan del Sur. I left San Juan at about 10am and got on a chicken bus to Rivas ($1 = 30 cordobas). I waited around for ages for a bus to San Jorge that never arrived, so I paid 40 cordobas for a colectivo (shared taxi) with an old man and a Nicaraguan taxi driver. People were so kind at the bus station. Boys on the bus were trying to get me in a taxi for $10 (for a 20 minute ride – a bit silly) but I ignored them. I walked out the station and asked some people in a local shop where to get the bus to San Jorge from. They dusted off a seat for me and told me to sit, keeping an eye out on the bus for me and helping to wave it down when it passed. So lovely. I then got a ferry to Moyogalpa (the port on the island) that was about an hour’s ride, really bumpy and very uncomfortable.
Upon recommendation by the owners of Life is Good, I went down to Punta Jesus Maria for the sunset. It was incredible. There’s a little strip of sand that juts out into the lake really far in a westerly direction, so you can see the sun setting over the water on both sides of the strip. The water laps gently over the sand on both sides (as it’s a lake) and repeatedly goes back and forth over the land in this way. It’s so hypnotic and mesmerising. I received many comments on my Instagram story asking me where exactly this was – great success! Standing on this strip of sand and facing inland, another stunning view of the two volcanoes on the island appears in front of you. The large volcano (Concepción) had a large cloud over the peak the day I went which looked very cool.
Had a massive plate of fresh fruit after dinner (bananas, pineapples, watermelon, papaya), all homegrown in the hostel garden, except for the papaya. Delicious. Dinner was a fresh grilled fish with green papaya salad and platanos.
