#11 Finding it too hard to leave Nicaragua

Nicaragua, Isla de ometepe and Playa Gigante
The day after Sunday Funday...Monday in San Juan del Sur, I even surprised myself when I got up at a reasonable time and decided to head to Isla de Ometepe. I arranged to meet everyone else the next day on the island.

The route from San Juan was:
- Chicken bus from San Juan del Sur to Rivas. $1. Roughly one hour.
- Taxi from Rivas to San Jorge dock. Roughly 70c. Fifteen minutes.
- Ferry from San Jorge to Ometepe island. $1.70. 1.5-2 hours.

Ometepe island is located in the fresh water Lake Nicaragua. It is famous for it's two volcanoes towering over opposite ends of the island, Volcán Concepcíon and Maderas. The island is also known for its waterfalls, wildlife, fishing and kayaking.

I travelled over with a guy, Markus I met on the bus in San Juan Del Sur. We both wanted to hike the Volcán Concepcíon the next day, the hardest volcanic hike in Nicaragua sitting at 1600m (what better way to shake off the Sunday Funday hangover). We decided to stay in a hostel in the main town of a Moyogalpa as it was closer to the volcano for an early start the next day.

The evening we got there we decided to take a tuk tuk with a French guy and Dutch girl we met in the hostel to watch the sunset on a beach called playa punta Jesus María. It was one dollar entry to walk down the black sanded bank jutting out into the lake. We just got there as the sun was setting and it was beautiful. One of the guys in the hostel told us we could swim in the water but the whole week I was at the lake we didn't swim in it once, the water is very murky and with tales of fresh water sharks, I wasn't keen to take a dip.

Sunset at Punta Jesus Maria

Volcán Concepcíon 

The next morning...this time before sunrise at 4.45am, Markus and I left to meet our tour guide David to take a local bus to Volcán Concepcíon. It was the morning after the presidential elections, so we were both pretty sleep deprived and still in shock at the disastrous result. By the time we got to the park, paid the $3 entry to the park and $20 for our guide which is compulsory and stocked up on 3 litres of water each it was 5.30am and we started the hike. The first two hours through hot, sticky jungle where we saw howler monkeys, lots of spiders and insects and thankfully no snakes. The last ascent however took nearly three hours and consisted of clambering up bare rock face, dodging falling rocks from above and trying not to stick your hand on boiling rocks from the volcano. It was a really hard hike.in total it took us 8 hours to the top and back down (although we were told it can take up to 12 hours)! When we got back down we also ended up having to walk the 4km from the volcano back to Moyogalpa after much confusion about transport back, our tour guide storming off and us trying (and failing) at hitching back to town...but that's a whole other story. We finally made it back to town by about two o'clock. With it being the sixth volcano I have visited since I started my Central America trip, it has definitely been the most challenging and I'm now happy to take a little sabbatical from exploring further volcanoes for the time being.


I had arranged to meet friends from San Juan Del Sur on the other side of the island that evening and Markus decided to come with so without even having the chance to shower or take our hiking boots off, we grabbed our bags, had a bit of food (more chicken, rice and beans) in a local comidor and took the last chicken bus of the day at four o'clock to Santa Cruz, It took about an hour and a half, cost $1 and I was standing for a solid hour. We got dropped off at a hostel called Zopilote, a permaculture farm and Eco lodge. We arrived just as the sun was setting so it was a dark fifteen minute walk uphill with all our bags, still in our hiking clothes. When we got to the  reception we were told that it was another ten minute walk to a dorm....after nearly crying with hearing this but realising I was close to a shower, I dragged my stuff up to the dorm room and had a very refreshing (cold) shower in the dark...outside. The toilets were also composting toilets and everything was solar powered. The only wifi and main common area was a restaurant back down at reception, when I got down to the restaurant I met back up with some of the others who had come over from San Juan that day.

The next morning my legs felt surprisingly alright. About ten of us from the hostel took a twenty minute chicken bus to Ojo de Agua, a natural swimming pool a few kilometres down the road. It was $3 entry each. It was a really nice place to swim and chill out for a few hours especially after the hike the day before.

It's recommended that the best way to see the island is by renting motorbikes or scooters however the roads are full of potholes and can be pretty bad if you've never driven a bike before. As there were six of us we decided to rent a beaut of a red jeep with four wheel drive for the day. We wanted to explore the island and a waterfall called 'Cascada San Ramon''. The jeep cost $50 for the day plus some fuel between us all. We were able to drive most of the way up to the waterfall and hike for 30minutes instead of an hour, which was a nice relief as I was done with hiking for the time being. We got to see lots of the island, taking it in turns to drive (and sit in the boot) and picking up hitchhikers along the way.

Cascade San Ramon

After deciding to put off Costa Rica for another few days, seven of us set off from Ometepe island to go to a quiet surfing beach called Gigante. We got the ferry back to the port of San Jorge. Unfortunately for us we had decided to travel on a Sunday (its very hard to keep track of what day it is) where there is a serious lack of public buses. We arrived at the port to be told there wasn't another bus to playa Gigante until three o'clock...it was about eleven in the morning at this stage. Not wanting to hang around the dirty town of Rivas, we ended up getting two taxis to bring us all the way to the beach about forty minutes away, stopping at the supermarket along of the way for about $6 each. We stayed in Monkey house which definitely has the best location I have ever seen, placed on a headland jutting out into the sea overlooking the quiet Gigante beach. It had a lovely little gazebo with hammocks and benches, salt water showers, basic kitchen and easy access climbing over the rocks down to the beach. I only stayed for two nights but could have happily set up camp for longer. We spent the day swimming, attempting to surf and body surfing in the waves. It is owned by an ex pro Nicaraguan surfer called Oliver and his cousin. They are so chilled out and the people staying there seemed to have the same idea, choosing to surf, play cards, read in hammocks and cook. We also discovered the best burrito place about two hundred yards down from monkey house, where we had 'our last supper' before three of us went to Costa Rica the next day.

Hammock views overlooking the beach 

Next stop: Monteverde, Costa Rica
Food/drink: so much flor de caña rum in little Morgan's in Ometepe.
Bars/restaurants: Local food in Moyogalpa, Zopilote hostel for cooked typical breakfast , huge fresh fish burritos ($4) in playa Gigante.
Stayed: The landing hostel in Moyogalpa (main port town), $8/night
Zopilote $8/night Santa Cruz in Ometepe
Little Morgans $8/night Santa Cruz in Ometepe
The Monkey house in playa Gigante $10/night. Surf boards for rent for $10/day.