Nicaragua is known as the land of lakes and volcanoes. Our ten day adventure in Nicaragua had us exploring both.
Our first stop in Nicaragua was Isla Omtepe. Formed by two huge cone shaped volcanoes in Lake Nicaragua, Isla Omtepe is 31 km long, and is shaped like a figure eight. One is never far from the slope of a volcano on Isla Omtepe.
Getting to the island was an adventure in itself. Here's what we did:
From our hotel in Liberia, Costa Rica, we took a taxi to the bus station. From there we took a bus to Penas Blancas border station.
At the border, we passed by a seemingly endless number of money changers, vendors, hustlers, bicycle taxis, and persons willing to help us out with process...for a small tip of course. We paid an exit fee in one building, went to another building and got an exit stamp, leaving us free to walk to Nicaragua. We walked about 300 meters past some Costa Rica Officials who verified (again) that we had paid. We continued on past some Nicaragua officials who looked at our passports but did not stamp them. There were no hustlers in this zone. We paid a municipal entrance fee, a national entrance fee, got a paper, 2 receipts, and a stamp, and walked past more taxis, tourist buses, vendors, and hustlers to get on a bus that goes to the city of Rivas. The bus fare was 20 Cordobas (66 cents) and everyone knows this. The pusher / money handler tried to charge us 30 Cordobas. To the amusement of the other passengers, Twylla was having none of that nonsense. The old school bus went along quite well, and almost everyone had a seat. There were no chickens on this particular bus. We drove 10km before the military checkpoint. Two soldiers boarded the bus with AK47s. They looked at documents. The did not open our passports. Only counted 4 passports, 4 blonde people. No further issues. "Tranquillo" my seat mate said.
Upon arriving at the round about (rotunda) in Rivas, the pusher on the bus nearly tossed us out with our luggage, because this bus is going to the capital city of Managua. Immediately there were 3 taxi drivers hoping to take us to the port of San Jorge on the Western shore of Lake Nicaragua. We negotiated a fare of 80 Cordobas because a kind hotelier from Omtepe wrote to us with check in information advising us that this was the standard rate. Upon arriving at the dock, the driver wanted $4. (Equivalent to 120 Cordobas). Twylla was having none of it. She may have said, "Fine, 70 Cordobas or the ride is free. I'm Canadian I don't have any USD." The taxista chased her all the way to the boat hoping to collect his fare.
At the ferry port, we paid 50 Cordobas each for the 1 hour crossing from San Jorge to Moyogalpa. We boarded the boat found seats on the second deck. For the next 30 minutes there was a line of vendors passing through the boat selling cashews, popcorns, apples, grapes, peanuts, coconut cookies, plaintains and yucca chips, ice slushies, water, and cola. The apple vendor came past 5 or 6 times. Finally we left and enjoyed the relatively calm and smooth crossing of Lake Nicaragua. The lake is reported to be the only freshwater lake in the world which contains a population of bullsharks. The huge lake is often rough, and some of the small lanchas sailing on the half hour looked pretty sketchy. We were glad for the larger boat which could accomodate 4-5 vehicles and about 40 people, 30 of which were extranjeros (foreigners/tourists).
Upon arrival in Moyogalpa, we walked just five blocks to arrive at our home for two nights, casa moreno. It was a lovely 2 story hotel in the Latin American sunflower yellow with arched doorways, and handmade hardwood rocking chairs on the terraces.
For dinner, we found the traditional restaurant serving charcoal broiled chicken, rice, beans, and plantains for 70 cordobas ($2.30). They did not serve drinks but you could buy beer at the hotel ($1) and bring it with you to the restaurant. Try that at home.
So what was the purpose of all of this? Simply to experience the beauty and simplicity of Isla Omtepe. The island is agricultural with plenty of oxen and horse carts being used for transportation of wood, hay, plantains, and produce. There are pre-Colombian stone carvings and Leftist Political Murals. The Volcanoes are an imposing presence. Plus, there is a natural swimming hole on the island known to the locals as Ojo de Agua. (Eye of water).
To get to the swimming hole, we rented motorbikes (scooters) and rode 21 km along the hand-laid all grey, perfectly level brick road. It was a fun ride. Just long enough. No traffic. Perfectly safe... Well, there was that part where the brick road actually crossed the airport runway, but what's a little bit of motorbike traffic across the runway? If a plane needs to land, the ropes can be moved out of the way.
Ojos de agua is a natural pool which is fed by a natural spring and enhanced a bit with some stone work and cement steps. It was turqoise in color, perfectly clear, and lined with palms and tropical vegetation. Most importantly of all, from Meritt's point of view, it had a Tarzan swing.
