Tranquilo island
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2008
1
15
59
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Ometepe Island,
Nicaragua
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tranquillo (spanish for "tranquil" or "peaceful", in case you couldn't figure it out) is the word I heard most described by every local on La Isla de Ometepe, an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, formed by two volcanoes - Concepcion and Madreras. Although considered a tourist's must-see, it remains pretty untouched.
To get there, Mark figured out that we needed to take a bus to Rivas, another to San Jorge and then a ferry. But when we got off the bus in Rivas, we were immediately attacked by a swarm of taxi drivers shouting out competing fares to San Jorge, trying to grab our bags. Two things you should know about me... 1) I don't speak spanish and 2) I hate haggling over prices, which is a Central American survival skill I lack.
On our way to Ometepe
Overwhelmed, I looked around for Mark. Instead, I found myself alone and completely surrounded... Mark had left me! Sneaky dork was using me to occupy the swarm, so he could walk away to get his bearings... Grrrr... But after awhile, Mark came back and magically got the fare dropped from 50 to 15 cordobas per person, in a matter of seconds. WTF?!?So a cheap taxi and a ferry ride later, we arrived in Ometepe. We decided to check out the Charco Verde Hotel that was recommended to us, which looked to be a short 5 min walk from the ferry according to a crude map drawing we had. Not quite the case. It was a 20 minute walk at high noon, carrying all of our belongings... Sweating through our clothes has started to become quite the norm! Anyway, the hotel seemed nice, right on the lake... so we checked in.
After lunch and a quick uneventful walk to the so-called "haunted" Green Lagoon, we decided to explore another part of the island 9 miles away where apparently more tourists visit - Playa Santo Domingo, which is a small beach right between the two volcanoes. With a couple of crappy rental bikes from the hotel, we set out on the main road... again, we misjudged how difficult the ride would be. 1pm, high heat and an hour of pure incline. And you guessed it, we were drenched in sweat again..
Land Ahoy!
. but luckily, for all things that go up, they must also come down, which we welcomed and used the downhill wind to dry off. LUCKIEST MOMENT -- On our downhill fun, I suddenly heard Mark yelling at me to stop. I turned around and his chain had fallen off the gear and actually bent it! Quite a long walk from the hotel, we were at a loss for what to do... until one of the locals pointed to a shack / home / BICYCLE REPAIR SHOP that was 10 feet away!!! As mentioned, Ometepe is not at all developed with a repair shop on every corner. So you can imagine our astonishment and surprising good fortune! AND, it turned out that the shop was also located right at the turn off to Santo Domingo, where we wanted to go. If Mark's bike hadn't broken, we would've missed it completely!
The Santo Domingo beach was nothing special, since the water in Lake Nicaragua is a bit on the brownish side. We had a few beers, chatted with some other travelers and decided to make the 2 hour journey back to the hotel before dark...
And dark it got... It didn't help that my legs were so tired from ride earlier that I had to get off the bike and walk the uphill parts
Mind blowing pic 1
. So by the time we got to the downhill part, it was almost pitch black. But we got back on our bikes anyway, because it was getting so late. Mark could see the road better than I could, so he led the way. Even still, I could barely make him out in front, especially when he was further than 5 meters ahead, and almost crashed into him on multiple occasions. Needless to say, I was scared shitless. Fortunately, a local came by on his bike, who Mark befriended (mostly because he was skeptical about his intentions). He ended up being really nice... so nice that he guided us back to our hotel using the light from his cell phone!So of course we had to thank him with a beer at the hotel. The hotel staff, especially one in particular, was NOT happy that we brought a local farmer to their establishment and almost wouldn't let him in. Obviously, we ignored them and began complaining about the crappiness of their bikes and how it was their fault we were late in the first place, since we had to get it fixed. Stupid hotel. And still feeling outraged at the prejudice, we extended the time with our new friend by inviting him to stay for dinner. Ha! In your face Charco Verde Hotel!
The next morning, we checked out and decided to hike Madreras over Concepcion
Mind Blowing Pic 2
. Although Concepcion is considered the more challenging volcano, it also lacks wildlife and vegetation. Madreras, on the otherhand, supposedly had monkeys and a lagoon crater at the top. So we made our way over to a self-sustaining ecological farm/hostel called Finca Magdalena, located at the base of the Madreras volcano, and hired ourselves a guide for $15, which was worth the money. (Side note: Charco Verde was going to charge us $20 per person for a guide! Stupid hotel.)Again, the receptionist was surprised to learn that we wanted to make the 8-10 hour trek (total time to go up and back), since it was already 10:30am. Most hikers start at 8am. But again, we reassured her that we were capable of doing it and still get back before dark.
I won't lie... the climb was pretty intense. Very steep, very rocky and VERY MUDDY. Half-way up, the guide told Mark that it wasn't worth going to the top, because it was too cloudy to see anything. And, he was concerned that the muddy conditions, which were worse further up we got, were going to make it impossible for us to get back down in time before dark. But I was determined. We were going to climb this volcano and get to the top, even if it meant climbing faster. Mark was skeptical, but my stubbornness and persistence won out. And lo and behold, it won out in our favor... we made it to the top and down into the lagoon crater, where we were greeted by other hikers basking in their successful trek. The lagoon was pretty cool, but we only had 15-20 minutes or so to enjoy it before we needed to make our way back down.
We assumed the hike down was going to be a cake walk
Mind Blowing Pic 4
. But oh no, we were grossly mistaken. The muddy conditions made it very difficult to maintain footing on the slippery rocks and tree roots. Mark and I both fell at least a few times on our asses, while our 70 yr old, cigarette-puffing guide barely lost his balance! It took us 3 hours to climb up and 4 hours to climb down! But still, 7 hours was very impressive. Yay team! And afterwards, we were proud to have done it... having seen a host of beautiful white butterflies, hiked through a path where it felt as if we were in an enchanted forest AND spotted a couple of monkeys that fortunately did not shit on Mark's head.Back at the farm and covered in mud and sweat from head to toe, a shower was clearly a necessity. I didn't even care that the water was freezing cold - Central America does not have hot water, by the way. Squeaky clean, Mark and I took a time out for a romantic moment, sitting on rocking chairs, watching the sunset and doing the New York Magazine crossword by candlelight... :)
Then it was dinner followed by lots of beer, very interesting conversations with travelers from all over the world and eventually a poker tournament. Mark and I lost... booo... but it was great fun. And we met this Canadian trader who will forever be known as my mosquito savior with the magic anti-itch creme - huge shout out to that guy!
All in all... I wish we could've stayed at Ometepe longer, especially on the farm, but sigh... my vacation was almost up...
Comments
Wow
Good work guys you are going to be so fit!!! It really sounds like an action packed trip...you will need to take a holiday to get over it!!! Am very jealous sat here at work. PS I know what you mean by the sweat thing after doing Angkor Wat in Cambodia!!
This is supposed to be a vacation?
Sounds like waaaay too much work to me. Sounds like Central America is no joke.