Ometepe Island

If you look at a map of Nicaragua, you can see that the country is dominated by a massive lake, Lake Nicaragua (also known as ‘Lago Cocibolca’). In the lake, there are many islands and islets, some inhabited, others not. We read that there used to be bull sharks in the freshwater lake, but they were over-fished almost to extinction for their fins. One of the most popular places to visit when in Nicaragua is Ometepe Island situated in the southwest. It is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua and the largest volcanic island in a freshwater lake in the world.

Ometepe, taken as we were leaving the island. You can see the rain clouds covering the summits of both volcanoes.

Ometepe majestically rises out of the water into two peaks. On either side of the island, the two volcanoes (Volcan Concepcion and Volcan Maderas) are a sight to behold. It is said that from the top of Concepcion you can see all the way to the Pacific on a clear day, but ascending these volcanoes was not on our itinerary as they both take around 8 to 12 hours of hard climbing to reach the summits. Conception is generally considered the most perfectly formed volcano cone in Central America.

The island was inhabited by local indigenous tribes long before the arrival of the Spanish and there are many petroglyphs (ancient drawings carved into the volcanic rock) dotted around the island as proof.

We arrived at San Jorge (a port on Nicaragua’s narrow isthmus) after a long day of traveling, just in time to catch the last ferry to the island. The sun had just started to set over the mainland and the water was pretty rough. We had a truck tied to the ferry and as the boat was listing to either side, it looked as if we were about to topple over at times. By the time we reached Moyogalpa (one of the two main towns on the island (the other being Altagracia), it was dark, so we made our way out of the dock to try to find some reasonable accommodation. It wasn’t too difficult. We were approached by a girl who took us to Hostel Ibesa (USD$6 per person per night), slightly off the main road and in a quiet area that looked like a local village. The room was basic but spotless, as were the shared showers, and as we were exhausted after a very long day, we decided to stay.

Views of Concepcion Volcano are everywhere you look in Moyogalpa.

Another pretty street near our hostel in Moyogalpa.

We ended up staying a total of 4 nights in Moyogalpa, as Rick had some work to complete and the internet connection was working well. The people taking care of the hostel were friendly and the location was perfect for buying supplies for cooking. Moyogalpa itself was nothing special, and the part of the lake around the town was dirty, muddy and a disappointment.

An old-style merry-go-round in the Parque Central, Moyogalpa.

A truck full of plantains, widely grown on Ometepe.

Just before sunset at a muddy beach near Moyogalpa. It looked like the heavens had opened up!

One thing you notice about Ometepe is the abundance of horses roaming freely around the island. You can see herds of horses and cows descending from the river banks to drink water. For us, Ometepe had the highest concentration of horses in any area we had visited in Central America. Birds were everywhere, especially blue-tailed jays that come to your table to pick at your food! We also saw monkeys (White-faced Capuchin monkeys and Mantled Howler monkeys) during our stay on the island.

A foal we saw wandering around aimlessly looking in pretty bad condition.

A working horse.

A herd of cows having a drink in the lake.

‘Mono cara blanca’ or White-faced Capuchin monkey.

Some cute piglets sniffing around our motorbike after our visit to the farm at La Brisa.

These blue-tailed jays are everywhere on the island.

And here’s one trying to steal Rick’s breakfast!

On our last day in Moyogalpa, we rented a motorbike (USD$22 including petrol for the day) and set off to explore more of the island. It had been a while since we had been on a motorbike and it was great to have some freedom to move around, especially since we really enjoyed our motorbike rides while traveling in Asia. The prices were a bit prohibitive but since it was Rick’s birthday, we decided to splash out. We circled most of Ometepe, and rode on all the paved roads. The unpaved roads were a bit too difficult, especially with sore bums (after hours on the bike), so after going as long as we could stand, we turned back. During our bike ride, we visited a finca/farm recommended by our friends called La Brisa (close to Balgue) and sat for a while with the Spanish owner. We had wanted to stay for a while there as it was situated in a beautiful area with spectacular views of both volcanoes. We also visited a small lake, Charco Verde, which had almost dried up, as well as a few beautiful black/grey sand beaches around the island.

Rick and our bike for the day with Volcan Concepcion in the background.

A view of the Charco Verde, a small lake, from above. Behind it is an uninhabited island.

It was like walking on a mattress! The dried-up water’s edge of Charco Verde.

A huge nut shell we found while in the Charco Verde park.

The active Volcan Concepcion.

The dormant Volcan Maderas.

Evacuation route in case of eruptions.

Mangoes are everywhere on Ometepe.

A wall publicising the names of loan defaulters that we saw while exploring the island. ‘Naming and shaming’ is quite common in Nicaragua!

One of the projects on the island. One child, one computer.

The furthest we got on the unpaved roads. A deserted beach covered with volcanic rocks.

We decided to stay a night at Playa Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo beach) on the other side of the island as the beach was one of the prettiest that we had seen on our motorbike trip, so we packed up our stuff and took the bus from Moyogalpa to the junction to Santo Domingo. From there we hitched a ride to the beach. As soon as we had arrived at our hostel, it started to rain. In fact, it rained the whole day on and off and most of the night. We met a really nice family from New Zealand, who were at the tail end of their travels in Central America at our chosen restaurant for dinner and also at breakfast. What an experience the trip must have been for their two young children… they were talking non-stop about all the animals that they had seen while traveling.

Hitching to Playa Santo Domingo.

Our hostel on Playa Santo Domingo

The huge grey sand expanse of Playa Santo Domingo.

After our one night in Santo Domingo, Rick and i made a quick decision to leave Ometepe island. The rainy season that had come late this year, had obviously started, and judging from the amount of dust on the island, it was poised to turn into a muddy mess, well at least at the farm where we had originally planned to stay. We tried hitching a ride back to Moyogalpa until the bus arrived, then we hopped onto the waiting ferry to cross back over to San Jorge. We had decided that our next destination would be San Juan del Sur, a beach town on the Pacific Ocean, close to the border with Costa Rica.

From Leon to Ometepe Island.

Our journey from Leon to Ometepe Island in Nicaragua was an epic one. Not because of the distance (although we traveled a major part of the length of the country), but more because we changed so many forms of transportation throughout the day carrying all of our gear.

We left Leon early. At around 8, we hailed a taxi in the street outside our hostel, which took us straight to the bus terminal. I have to mention here that we had taken a pickup (which is like a colectivo, but a bit crazier) to go to the bus station a week earlier in Leon, and after the experience of almost falling off the back of it while carrying our backpacks, we decided the next time we should just take a taxi. We got to the bus station and stood in line to wait for the vans that shuttle people along the Leon/Managua route. The trip took us 2 hours and cost us 51 Cordobas.

Once we arrived in Managua, we took a total of 4 public buses to navigate through the capital city of Nicaragua, stopping off at the central immigration office to pick up our passports. We had met a girl in Campeche, Mexico months earlier, who had been robbed at gunpoint in a taxi in Managua, so the last thing we were going to do was hail a taxi. One word of advice to share here is make sure you ask more than one person for directions when navigating Managua by bus, as we received the wrong information from people who looked like they knew what they were talking about.

When we had our passports back with us, we made our way to the main bus terminal to catch a chicken bus south to Rivas. The trip took us over two hours, and since we were cutting it thin to make it onto the last ferry to Ometepe Island, the jewel of Lake Nicaragua (or Lago Cocibolca, as it is also known), we took another taxi to the dock at San Jorge. We were literally running out of the taxi with all our gear to make it onto the ferry. But we made it! Once we had found a place on the outdoor seating area of the ferry, we could finally breathe easy and relax. We had come a long way and were exhausted, but watching the sunset, knowing we had come so far in one day, was a good feeling.

Rushing to catch the last ferry from San Jorge to Moyogalpa, Ometepe Island.

Our first view of the beautiful Conception Volcano on Ometepe Island from the dock at San Jorge.