Isla de Ometepe

So,
Christmas had passed, and the urge to find new grounds was nagging at me; time to hit the road and find that lonely beach for new years. I sniffed thru my Lonely Planet and found an island in Nicaragua that sounded pretty original and green. After hearing more about it from other travelers who had been there, my decision started to shape up.
It was three full days of bussing: straight thru Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, with an awesome cargo-boat ride to the island, but as soon as I set foot-on-island I knew I had made the right choice.

Vulcan Concepcion and Madera

Rising from the centre of Lake Nicaragua (the biggest lake in the world), Isla de Ometepe (area: 276 square km) consists of two volcanoes, Concepción (1610m) and Maderas (1340m), which are joined by a low isthmus to form one island. In the last ten years it has been discovered by more and more travelers, which was noticeable, but still most of the island is sparsely populated by the 35.000 habitants in little fishing and farming villages. Active Vulcan Concepcion is high, arid, rocky and always covered in a cloud, its last major lava eruption was in 1957. Smaller and quiet Maderas is covered in lush forests with tons of birds and crowned by a lake in its old crater.

For ten days I had a fantastic time here. Many moments I cursed the fact that I had no camera, so the photo’s you’ll see with this episode are from a friend and from the internet. I slept in eight different places and really think I saw a lot of the island.

I decided to celebrate New Years without other persons. During a little hike on December 31st I came across a really tranquil, lonely beach, not too far away from the place I had booked a mattress on the ground. So after sharing some good times with the wonderful people that stayed here too, I headed to my beach, in the dark of the night, with my sleeping bag under my arm and a bag full of goodies.

It was fantastic, I have yet to meet another soul who celebrated new years by him/her self, but I can definably recommend doing so in a location like this (of course not in your bed at home). The jungle was alive with animals: buzzing, chirping, zooming and clicking the stillness away. The beach sparked up with hundreds of fire flies and the waves made a tremendous sound breaking down; all of this for my ears and eyes only. A sliver of moon and millions of stars twinkled overhead when I skinny-dipped in the warm water, not wanting to come out in a thousand years. I knew it was midnight because in the far distance I saw fireworks coloring the darkness. A huge figtree wrapped his wavy roots around me and protected me and my campfire. It was a warm night, but the noodles still tasted good and the fire was cozy. I slept on the dry leaves, waking now and again from an ant who thought I had some tasty flesh.

A young Howler Monkey

New Year’s morning I got wakened by Howler monkeys. I had heard those animals the day before for the first time: a tremendous howling and brawling sound coming forth from their o-mouths throats. It echo’s thru the forest and scares you if you have no idea where it comes from.
Humming birds, butterflies, the sun which shone broad beams of 2007 sunlight thru the clouds and the warm wind which blew me dry and rose chicken skin after another dip.
How can I not love my life.

2007 LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!!!!

All ten days I hitch hiked around the island and it gave me some extreme cool meetings. The first one was Yeri, 19. He was driving the beer truck from his dad’s business around the island to deliver crates of beer and some sodas’. That day I drove all over the island with him and met all his customers. Saw all the little stores, the different hotels and talked a lot of Spanish. He dropped me of where I wanted to end and invited me to come by his parents’ house on my way back to the ferry.

How could I resist an invitation like that! Of course I tucked my head around the cervezeria when I drove by five days later. For two days I was part of the family: his little brother, Luis, 12, his sister Marietta, 16, mum Carmen, 43 and dad, Yeri as well.
They introduced me to a lot of family (it seemed like the whole island was one family and later I heard that there are indeed only three major surnames) and took me to a clear, fresh water spring which can be compared as the local swimming pool. Every Sunday kids jump in with a swing-stick, soak for hours, eat fried banana’s and make human pyramids in the turquoise water.

The clear fresh water spring, or 'local swimmingpool'

All dirty and half dressed we returned to the house, standing in back of the empty beer truck, picking everyone up along the way, and dropping them at homes around.
We washed up, Carmen fed us gallo-pinto, fried plantains, queso and huevos (the traditional meal you eat here three times a day) and we made our way into the bigger pueblo for the disco. After dressing me up in her mums’ shoes and her halter top, Marietta tried to apply some make-up and perfume, but I managed to avoid that part.
It was fantastic to see how everyone, and that’s including Carmen and 12 year old Luis climbed back in the truck and came along. Dad was already in town, getting good drunk and we saw him later, making a good show of himself. I danced with every single family member and I think I’ve never laughed so much. Who’s asking me if I miss family while I’m traveling?

Yeri really made me see another part of the island, it’s the first time I had a ‘stay’ with a local family in Central America and I’ll be eternally grateful for that. This is why I’m traveling, this is what excites me the most, this is how I see true colors from a country, this is how I learn.

Of course I had to hike one of the volcanos. The big one was only passable with a guide and would take a full 12 hours. On the top there would be very strong winds and a lot of fog. The smaller one was very different, you hike thru green jungle and end at the Crater Lake. I went for the small one.

The muddy hike up

But no luck for views, only the first two days at the island did I see Maderas without clouds, the rest of the time her top too was blanketed in white mist. The Finca told everyone that you needed to go with a guide, but no way that I was gonna pay for a steep, muddy but clear trail that every nip-wit can do. So I hiked up alone, had the whole lake to myself (I went swimming and only a few strokes into the lake made the shore disappear, that’s how thick the mist was. I was literally swimming in the clouds!) and slithered back down. A shower was definably necessary.

Barbara and some of the enthusiastic kids along the way

At the Finca (property, this one turned into a hostel) I met Barbara from Switzerland: optimistic, sturdy, easy, open and direct. We decided to go for a mountain bike ride around Vulcan Maderas. It’s only 24 km, but boy did we ever sweat. The road was one gaping league of pit holes, huge stones, loose rocks and man made dysfunctional pieces of road. It was crime to get up the small hills and down was dangerous because of the loose gravel. I’ve never really mountain biked, but I can say I did now. Barbara’s bike was not willing to work her gears beside all of this and I was glad that she had more experience then me. It wasn’t difficult, just really strenuous. We definably deserved the choco-bananas en rum that night.

Biking thrue the cows

Let’s see, what else about my stay here.
I met some people at the beach and they invited me to their house. The houses here are not much more then wooden shags. Seven man live in a building not bigger then ten by ten meters, including a kitchen. And EVERY house has animals; there is not a family without: a cow, a horse, chickens and roosters, some dogs and cats, a pig, a pet parrot, a turkey and maybe a duck and goat. It was fantastic, I loved that fact; they all walk freely into the houses, over the streets and around town. It made the island feel real easy going and self-sustaining (besides the beer that flowed and came with boat-loads every day).

This family took me on a little hike, showed me the different farming fields and some nice views. So hospitable. Its hard to communicate, the Nicaraguan dialect is very different then what I learned in Guatemala.

Another guy I met took me to my first rooster fight. The man were extremely serious, I saw hardly any men drink beer during the participation. The roosters are done with a spore (only one), tight secured on the side of their leg. One round can take no longer then 15 minutes, but the rounds I saw were settled within seven minutes or so. They really perk the roosters up, making them really mad, putting other roosters in their face, making sucking sounds and clapping their hands really close by. So the two colorful birds start clawing towards each other and eventually one slumbers down and lays still, the winner picking its head. It’s not as cruel al I thought, and the whole atmosphere that comes with it, the people so intense and loud, makes it more of a traditional ceremony.
I think it’s the same with bull fighting, I’ve never seen it, I don’t know much about it, but I imagine it’s a whole ceremony that needs to be understand before you can justice.

Traditional Ox-cards are still used

Well, enough Isla de Ometepe.
I’ve not seen much else from Nicaragua, but I think it’s definably a place not to be missed for the traveler. I felt really comfortable and happy here, mainly because of the friendly people.

A nice bus will bring me soon to San Jose, Costa Rica and a plain will do the same with my friend Truus from Holland. We’re gonna travel 12 days together and I can’t wait to have an old friend with me for a little while.

Have happy thoughts for 2007 and don’t forget to look up what your name means.
Greetz Mathu