Isla de Ometepe (& Volcán Maderas)
The morning after the party, Michelle, Ian, and I headed down to Ometepe. Six hours and several cramped bus rides later, we arrived.
I was stunned by what we found. Ometepe became, over the course of our five days there, my favorite place in Nicaragua.
Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The island is unique because it has two awesome volcanoes on it. From the mainland, you look at them both rising up into the clouds, and it is an extraordinary sight. Volcán Concepcion is an active cone; it could blow at any moment. Slightly smaller Volcán Maderas is dormant, with cloudforests running down the sides and a crater lake at the top.
Ometepe is sparsely inhabited (only 35,000 people), with a few small towns and lots of small settlements. It is a place of jungle (low alitude topical rainforest and high altitude cloudforests) and farms. Much of the food grown there is organic, but we also saw that pesticides are increasingly common.
Despite the quiet and slow place of life, there is so much to do on Ometepe: There are lagoons and rivers and islands and beaches and forests and waterfalls and volcanoes. I felt I could have spent weeks there exploring, though it is not very big. The people are laid back and friendly. It was the kind of place one falls in love with.
Better still, I believe that Ometepe is best poised of any spot in Nicaragua for an explosion of sustainable eco-tourism. Saying this, I must note that Ometepe is no secret. The vast majority of tourists visit the island, and Nicaraguans love to vacation there as well (particularly during Semana Santa.) And the great news is that it´s quite accessible from Granada, Managaua, and the like.
But despite all this interest and acclaim, the tourist infrastructure is not highly developed. There is a great chance to employ sustainable technologies and agriculture strategies in order to preserve the beauty of the place while opening up to more visitors. And because it was the off-season there, we had a little extra peace.
Michelle, Ian, and I got along great: we had a nice dynamic amongst the three of us. We stayed our first night near Chaco Verde, in a sweet little hotel called Pasado Chico Largo. This is right on the beach, and we swam and ate an enormous fish for dinner.
On our second day we visited the natural reserve there, walking along the beach with sea turtles. From there we hitch-hiked to Finca Magdalina, which is one of the most famous spots to stay. It´s a working farm that is situated right on the trail to Maderas. There are also stunning views of Concepcion and the beaches, and from my hammock I could watch explosive lightning storms off in the distance.
On our third day in Ometepe the three of us hiked Volcan Maderas (1374 m) with our guide Manuel. It´s a bit of a tiring climb, but the views and the entrance into the cloudforest rewards. The crater lake is something else, a green expanse hidden beneath Maderas´ fog. We loved it there. At the finca we met a bunch of really cool travelers, and it was fun to hang out with them.
On the fourth day we took the bus to the beach at Playa Santo Domingo and lazed around in the water there. After lunch we walked up to a swimming hole named El Ojo del Aqua. This was particularly fun because this beautiful spot had a rope-swing, and we enjoyed all this toy had to offer.
On the fifth day we headed home, taking a pick-up truck for an hour and a half to the ferry terminal; the roads are horrible on Ometepe. But we had lots of fun. It´s a special place, and with just two weeks remaining in my time in Nicaragua I´m not convinced that I won´t head back there one more time.
I was stunned by what we found. Ometepe became, over the course of our five days there, my favorite place in Nicaragua.
Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The island is unique because it has two awesome volcanoes on it. From the mainland, you look at them both rising up into the clouds, and it is an extraordinary sight. Volcán Concepcion is an active cone; it could blow at any moment. Slightly smaller Volcán Maderas is dormant, with cloudforests running down the sides and a crater lake at the top.
Ometepe is sparsely inhabited (only 35,000 people), with a few small towns and lots of small settlements. It is a place of jungle (low alitude topical rainforest and high altitude cloudforests) and farms. Much of the food grown there is organic, but we also saw that pesticides are increasingly common.
Despite the quiet and slow place of life, there is so much to do on Ometepe: There are lagoons and rivers and islands and beaches and forests and waterfalls and volcanoes. I felt I could have spent weeks there exploring, though it is not very big. The people are laid back and friendly. It was the kind of place one falls in love with.
Better still, I believe that Ometepe is best poised of any spot in Nicaragua for an explosion of sustainable eco-tourism. Saying this, I must note that Ometepe is no secret. The vast majority of tourists visit the island, and Nicaraguans love to vacation there as well (particularly during Semana Santa.) And the great news is that it´s quite accessible from Granada, Managaua, and the like.
But despite all this interest and acclaim, the tourist infrastructure is not highly developed. There is a great chance to employ sustainable technologies and agriculture strategies in order to preserve the beauty of the place while opening up to more visitors. And because it was the off-season there, we had a little extra peace.
Michelle, Ian, and I got along great: we had a nice dynamic amongst the three of us. We stayed our first night near Chaco Verde, in a sweet little hotel called Pasado Chico Largo. This is right on the beach, and we swam and ate an enormous fish for dinner.
On our second day we visited the natural reserve there, walking along the beach with sea turtles. From there we hitch-hiked to Finca Magdalina, which is one of the most famous spots to stay. It´s a working farm that is situated right on the trail to Maderas. There are also stunning views of Concepcion and the beaches, and from my hammock I could watch explosive lightning storms off in the distance.
On our third day in Ometepe the three of us hiked Volcan Maderas (1374 m) with our guide Manuel. It´s a bit of a tiring climb, but the views and the entrance into the cloudforest rewards. The crater lake is something else, a green expanse hidden beneath Maderas´ fog. We loved it there. At the finca we met a bunch of really cool travelers, and it was fun to hang out with them.
On the fourth day we took the bus to the beach at Playa Santo Domingo and lazed around in the water there. After lunch we walked up to a swimming hole named El Ojo del Aqua. This was particularly fun because this beautiful spot had a rope-swing, and we enjoyed all this toy had to offer.
On the fifth day we headed home, taking a pick-up truck for an hour and a half to the ferry terminal; the roads are horrible on Ometepe. But we had lots of fun. It´s a special place, and with just two weeks remaining in my time in Nicaragua I´m not convinced that I won´t head back there one more time.
posted by Hayden @ 1:00 PM
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