After an epic (and highly successful!) travel day we arrived on the island of Ometepe, which will be our home for the next two weeks. Sunday morning started early when we met at the bus terminal in Matagalpa and, under the direction of our student travel leader, we purchased tickets to Managua and piled onto the bus, while our packs were secured to the roof of the repurposed yellow school bus. We cruised in the early morning sun to the Capitol city and deboarded in a bustling terminal. We had a short window of time to negotiate acceptable taxi fares to the necessary bus terminal in a different part of town and arrived at the terminal with minutes to spare and hopped on the next bus (Our group remained calm and composed in the hustle and swirl that can be Nicaraguan bus stations). The next leg of the journey brought us to Rivas, where we grabbed a quick bite to eat along the lake front before walking out onto the pier and bidding the mainland adios for a spell and launching into our next phase. As the land behind us shank in perspective, the two definitive volcanoes of Ometepe came in to clearer resolution. Once on the island, we boarded our final mechanical means of transport and headed across the island. An hour later, we clambered off the microbús, donned our packs and possessions and headed into the woods along a path, following signs for Bona Fide; volcano Maderas rising high above us. We entered the property as the sky began to change from blue to hues of pink and orange and were greeted by a friendly team of staff members. Our next adventure began with our group sitting in the open-air kitchen watching the sun begin to set over Lake Nicaragua and a gentle breeze began to tussle the leaves around us.
Today, we delved into the operations of the farm – actively experiencing and participating in permaculture community. Stay tuned…
(Sidebar: more pictures to come! If your child/friend/buddy is not depicted, they are healthy and will appear shortly. Our photographer wasn’t able to capture everyone’s image this morning.)
