Isla De Ometepe,
Nicaragua
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Isla De Ometepe consists of two volcanos (one of which is active) that are connected by a thin strip of land, in the middle of the giant Lake Nicaragua. We stayed right smack dab in the middle of the two volcanoes, so we had great veiws of them. We had big plans to climb then smaller, inactive volcano but I got really sick and spemnt the whole day in bed :( We had the next day to walk around and go swimmming in a waterhole a few miles from our hostel. The next day we set off for san jose. Oh, what a day... We got up at four in the morning to catch a taxi to the first ferry, an hour of bumps and sharp turns, but a pretty sunrise. We made to ferry (another hour), then got a cab to the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border and shuffled through there as quickly as possible. I come to greatly dislike crossing borders, I always feel like a lost sheep or something... Then caught our bus to San Jose right on schedule, hoping that the five hour bus ride would put us into San Jose around 2:30 pm. We hadn't had time to eat yet, so we bought some chips and a peice of pineapple and hopped on the bus. We had one pit stop, which I chose to get a popcicle instead of eat and use the bathroom, Bad bad decision. So, back on the bus...after a couple more hours we passed a town called fortuna, which was strange cause we were not supposed to go through fortuna at all, but whatever we didn't worry and kept on going.. Then an hour and half later we go through the same town! Oh man, our bus driver was lost! how does that happen...any way, then a kid next to us pukes all over, and we have to keep our feet up the whole time, yuck. It's starting to get dark and we're finally on the right route, around 50 miles out of san jose..THEN our bus runs out of gas! We waited for a half hour before they finally go the reserve tank on, and in that time a wreck happens infront of us and traffic is backing up keeping us from san jose. So we take a small road off to the side and after a half hour our bus breaks down again, for good this time. So now its arond 8 pm and we haven't eaten anyting, nor used the bathroom since 9 that morning. Finally a bus comes along with a few extra seats and everyone scrambles on. Luckily we got on and stood in the isle for the rest of two hour ride to san jose! what a day. just goes to show things DO NOT always go as smoothly as planned....
