Ometepe, Nicaragua 01/16/08-01/18/08

Highlights:

• Pushing a truck out of a ditch
• Walking around the island
• Talking to a Managuan pen-pal

Summary

Omoptepe is a volcanic island in the middle of the giant Lake Nicaragua. It is two islands joined by an isthmus. Each smaller island had a volcano at its center. There are beaches around the island and several small towns. Most of the towns are so small that they are not distinguishable as town. The only towns with populations over a few hundred are Myogalpa, where the ferry stops, and the smaller, more laid back Altagracia. I decided to stay in Altagracia.

My intent was to take the bus around the island, maybe go to some of the beaches, and, hopefully, climb the smaller volcano. After walking around the island a bit, I realized that my feet were not in good enough shape to do an 8 hour strenuous hike on a volcano. (My feet have been sore off and on since I was in Tikal.)

I contented myself with my walk around the island and decided to just get on with my trip.

Details

The day I left Granada, I kept waking up in the the early morning, particularly after this wierd dream where I was trying to get a vegetarian sandwich in the middle of the night. in a (non-existant) restaurant in St. Libory known for cooking beans in the can on the stove until they exploded.

I packed and to my horror discovered that the water was off. fortunately, it came back on before I needed to shower.

I took my bag to what I thought was the bus stop for Rivas. Fortunately, I asked a woman there and she and others there told me it was around the corner.

There were a lot of stops along the way to pick up people. The bus got pretty packed. I liked the road we were on, even if the bus did have to veer to avoid potholes. It did not have lines for the first part and had trees along it and was surrounded by mostly flat, non-jungle land. Then it turned to jungle.

When we got to Rivas, people shuffled us to the microbus to San Jorge. For 5 cordobas, they took us directly to the ferry dock. I bought my ticket at the ticket booth, while most just paid on the ferry. The ferry left at noon, about 20 minutes after we arrived. Very good timing.

I did not go on top of the boat for fear of getting motion sickness. I sat in the middle of the cabin and did not see much, other than cheesy Sanish-language music videos. The ride was a bit over an hour. It was kind of choppy, so I was glad that I got the ferry and not the smaller boat.

When the boat arrived at Myogalpa, I hopped on the bus to Altagracia. It was hot, and we waited quite a while. The bus got really packed along the way. The island is pretty, but the towns do not seem to be. An hour or so later, we reached Altagracia. It was disappointing that there were not many places where one could see the volcanoes or beaches from the bus.

When I got off the bus in Altagracia, I walked two blocks south to my hotel. This guy on a bike kept trying to suggest hotels and saying that he could be a guide on a volcano hike. He did not take the hints that I was not interested in hiring someone off the street.

I got to the hotel and got a nice room for US$5, which I then had to switch because of a pluming problem--the water from the sink poured onto the floor.

While having lunch in the hotel restaurant, I asked the woman at the hotel if I should be suspicious of people who talk to me in the street. She said it depends on the person. Lo and behold, five minutes later, the guy on the bike came by while she was at the door. They exchanged a few words. I told her that he was the guy I was talking about. She said to avoid him. He was bad news.

I walked around town a little. There is not much to walk around. A lot of the roads are just dirt. There is nothing here, which is not so bad, except that they do have people trying to get the attention of tourists. That has become my new prime factor in whether I like a town or not. I just want a place where I can be left alone.

I unsuccessfully tried to find the beach near town.

The next day I decided to walk to the other half of the island. It was a pleasant walk down the main road, where I encountered a truck that was sideways in the road with its rear wheels stuck in a ditch. I put down my bag and helped push the truck out of the ditch which with the extra hands, was quite easy.

I found the turnoff to the Isthmus, but after that, I did not know where I was. It was a pleasant walk among plantain and banana groves, with a few corn fields and some animals. I regularly ran across pigs, horses, cows, and chickens just loose in the streets or yards. There were some beautiful blue birds with long tails among the banana trees.

I had planned to go to the big beach on the isthmus, but never found it. The map in Lonely Planet was not very detailed. I thought I had passed the town and was walking on the other island, but found out later that this was not the case. I had turned around and walked to a beach, but not the one I was headed for. There was one family there further down.

I walked back toward Altagracia, passing the little river where I had seen woman washing clothes earlier. It was a very hot, sunny walk. I was sweating a lot Thankfully, my REI sunscreen seems to have held up. Before I reached the paved road, I had to walk through a herd of cattle coming the other way.

I reached an intersection prior to the paved road and decided to head down toward the shore. It took me past farm land. The lane was very rough and rocky and was lined with a stone wall. It was quite picturesque, but I did not go all the way down because I was beginning to doubt that it went to the shore.

Back at the hotel, I used the trash can in my room to wash some clothes in the shower. I desperately needed some clean clothes but did not have the chance to take it to the laundry.

The power went off and on for several minutes at a time that night. That meant no fan, but the evening was fairly cool, so this was not too bad. It didn't help with drying my laundry, though.

During one of the outages, I listened to Spanish lessons. During another, I decided to finally call Oscar in Managua--someone I had met on the net. To my surprise, he spoke English. He had never uttered a word of English in all of our chats and e-mails. He seemed to be quite looking forward to meeting me. From what he says, he has no social life. When I told him that I was thinking of going to Managua this weekend and asked if he had plans, he said, no, he never has plans on weekends.

One interesting thing that Oscar said was that he feels old. He is only 26. He said he sees all of these 15 and 16 year olds and feels old. I asked why he was hanging around so many 15 year olds and he pointed out that most of the country's population is below 20.

I went to bed, pretty sure that I was going to Managua in the morning.

The next day, I packed my clothes, which were still wet from the previous days washing. I walked with my bags to the town square to catch the bus to the pier at Mayogalpa. I sat on a bench an asked the old lady next to me if this was the stop for the Mayogalpa bus. She said that it was, and when the bus came, she got up and signalled for me to follow.

When I got to the pier, I had the option of hopping right on the panga with the potential for seasickness or wait two hours for the ferry. I hopped on the panga. It was a lot calmer than I expected. I sat up top, fortunately shaded by the cabin behind me, and looked backward.

I sat next to an Irish couple, and we chatted a bit on the way over.

When we reached the shore, we saw people wearing shirts that read "tourist assistance" in Spanish. We had a good laugh at that. Someone tried to get me to take an overpriced taxi or shuttle to Rivas. I said I was taking the minibus. He said there was none. I told him that I had taken it to get here, and he left me alone.

When we got to Rivas, I immediately hopped on a bus to Managua. I had them put my pack on the roof, then realized that it would have fit in the overhead rack and that Managua is not a place to have your luggage out of your sight.

One time when the bus stopped, they popped the hood and added water. The bus sounded fine and nothing seemed wrong, but I was wary. Then the bus stopped again. They turned off the engine, popped the hood again, and added water again. People (me included) thought that the bus had broken down and some had started to move off. However, the bus had stopped because of a traffic jam, and once the jam was moving, we got to Managua without incident.