Isla de Ometepe

Change of country! We are now in Nicaragua since Thursday afternoon. After a day full of buses and one boat, we arrived on the Island of Ometepe. The island is in fact 2 volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, that are now linked together, by the lava flow of past eruptions, to form one single island.
We are staying in a quiet little hotel. We took a dip in the lake and rented a motocycle to do a tour of the island. Thomas drove and I sat on the back... killing my lower backside :p  The road was mainly rocks and mud... in fact at one point the road was just one big puddle of mud (by mud I mean a mixture of mud, cow pat and horse dung). Instead of making the smart decision (ie- getting off the bike and walking on the far side of the road where the puddle was less deep) we decided to drive very slowly right in the middle of the puddle...  You can imagine what happened next: the bike laying on its side, and Thomas and I almost knee-deep in the puddle :(

We had to struggle to get out of the mud cos our shoes were stuck and we were the laughing stock of everyone who drove past us. Note that on the photo, we can see the clean side of the bike!
No big deal, we just drove to the lake and went for a swim with our clothes on!

The island is really beautiful and very peaceful. Not much traffic and little wooden houses.
       

Comments

[Nic]

Daff - it looks stunning!!

[Nadine]

What is happening? Long time no read!

Checked your food pics: CR gallo pinto is missing! Did you try the "sopa de viagra" in Masaya, Nicaragua?

[emilie]

it looks so beautiful! the scenery i mean, not the state of the bike! lol

[Nadine]

I am glad to see you are having a good time in Omotepe, you made the right decision in renting a motorbike, Nosara must have taught you it is the best means of transport with roads like ours.

I am afraid I have to tell you that the sick man we went to see upriver last Tuesday in Nosara passed away suddenly on Sunday. Although he was very ill and had been for a long time, that morning he decided to get up and refused any help to wash. He did tell his daughters though that it was his last day. One hour later , that Sunday, Father's Day, he had left his family. His body was walked down river on a bed carried by his sons and put in a coffin where the river meets up with the road and where the truck had brought the wooden coffin from Nicoya. The funeral had to be quick so the celebration was held at 5pm that afternoon at the RC Church in Nosara. I unfortunately was in Colorado de Abangares that day with some missionnaries so could not be present. I walked upriver the next day to give my condolences to the family: the whole bed of the river in its complete width was full of water and the current fierce so we had to have a horse sent to us to be able to cross to the other side! Asi es Costa Rica...
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Nadine + Thanks +++ for the nice pictures.