Hello to all our faithful blog-followers!
CAM just wrapped up the first ever free travel in Nicaragua. After getting up at to leave Antigua at 4:30am, we arrived at the airport and were bumped onto an earlier direct flight to Managua. The plane was empty, but we all sat next to each other anyway because we don´t like being apart for very long. Upon arrival in Managua we were immediately thrown into the heart and heat of Nicaragua: public transportation. We packed onto an already full bus and sweated out the next 30 minutes barely hanging onto the bars attached to the ceiling. We changed buses and headed toward Rivas, getting to see a lot of beautiful Nicaraguan countryside in the ensuing three hours.
With another taxi ride, a ferry ride, and another taxi ride, we ended up at our destination on Isla de Ometepe at Hotel Playa Venecia. Ometepe is in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America, and consists of two towering volcanoes, with beautiful beaches and forests in between. It was paradise. The most impressive part was that our group had planned the whole week; accomodations, transportation, and activities, all on our own. The first whole day we had on Ometepe some of us rented bikes and biked into Mayogolpa to go to the grocery store and see more of the island. That 13km excursion warranted a swim in the lake and refrigerated beverages afterward due to the extreme heat and humidity that we were not yet acclimated to (and still aren´t). Others of us spent the day journaling, making bracelets, reading, or jogging and doing yoga. Our lakeside location made even the most mundane tasks seem more exciting. A bunch of us spent a good three hours on the rocks of a slimy old dock until sunset, just because it seemed like a good idea. In the evenings we got to sit around in the restaurant and decide whether to eat pesto or eggs and gallo pinto (those weren´t actually the only options). As we have learned, gallo pinto is a mixture of rice and beans and a staple Nicaraguan food.
The next day was the day for conquering the volcano Conception. Everyone except Anjali and me got up to be at breakfast at 5:30am. After everyone fueled up they headed out with the two guides to catch a bus to the base of the volcano. The bus barely missed them, and apparently didn´t see them running to catch it, so the group had to secure alternative transportation to get to the beginning of the hike. In the beginning the trail wasn´t too bad, but the day quickly heated up and the volcano quickly became incredibly steep and by the 900m lookout half of the group decided they had had enough and posted up for naps. Jessica, Nick, Amanda, and the guide continued the ascent, partially on all fours because the grade increased ridiculously the closer they got to the crater of the volcano. The insect activity also increased ridiculously; bees and giant prehistoric insects swarmed around the crater, making for an unpleasant final ascent. The guide, Elmer, said that there was more activity than he´d ever seen and limited the time the group spent at the top to ¨a few minutes at most¨. He also mentioned that the evacuation plan for the whole island consists of two ferries and four launches. But regardless, the view from the top of Conception was wonderful. They alternated between walking, running, and sliding down the mountain, meeting up with the rest of the group halfway and hurrying down the rest of the way to get back before dark. Just as the sun was setting the group returned to Venecia and literally walked into the lake fully clothed. Anjali and I had a slightly more relaxing day walking around a protected forest and beach called Charco Verde, making bracelets, and kayaking on the lake. Friday we had to pack up and leave paradise for a slightly more inland location at Finca Magdalena, a cooperative farm and hostel near the other volcano on Ometepe. The van ride across the island gave us a firsthand experience of the state of the dirt roads, but we finally bumped up to the hostel and set up camp in the ¨psyche ward¨on our foldable cots with coded pillowcases. We sweated out the rest of the day in the shade, breaking our siesta only for meals. At Magdalena some of us again wrestled with illness, but it was a good time for recharging. The hostel was also a great place to meet Nicaraguan (or Barcelonian) students who were on vacation for Semana Santa (the week between Palm Sunday and Easter). Saturday morning Jessica, Anjali, Nick, and Amanda headed out to conquer volcano Maderas. This turned out to be a slightly less steep endeavor, with a forest protecting them from the sun most of the way and ending in a swim in the lake formed by the crater of the long-dormant volcano. The lake turned out to be a strange combination of mud the consistency of pudding and a layer of water on top of that. After the descent all were ready for more siestas, but we rallied after sunset to go to another finca for brick oven pizza. We got a ride from a guy who had driven his van down from Colorado and enjoyed hopping out for the potholes and speedbumps. We enjoyed our last night of free travel eating pizza, playing with an armless Obama doll, and trying to avoid mangos that were falling on us from the tree overhead.
The next morning we woke up and were glad that we had splurged on private transportation to get all the way across the island, onto the ferry to get across the lake, and back north to Leon. We arrived at Dariana Language School before lunch, where we were whisked away to our homestays to settle in to our week in Leon. Our week of free travel was a success and we are now enjoying Semana Santa festivities and our last week of language school in the hottest (climate wise) city in Nicaragua.
Hasta pronto,
Hannah
