We finished our summer activity group last Wednesday with our trip to the zoo and had almost a week before the regular school year started. I definitely wanted to head out somewhere for this break and had a number of options. A group of girls were heading to the beach at San Juan Del Sur, a small beach/party town on the Pacific Ocean. I was very tempted to head down with them, but there were a few problems. I decided to move from one volunteer house to another and wanted to do this on Thursday, when the girls were leaving. I also wanted to go somewhere that I could do a little Spanish studying and thought there might be too many distractions in San Juan Del Sur. A few others were talking about heading to Ometepe, which is an island in Lake Nicaragua that was formed by two volcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas. I also thought about heading to a quiet beach on the Pacific that was highly recommended by Aleta. I ended up moving Thursday and missing the trip to San Juan Del Sur. I decided that I would head to Ometepe with Tiia, Nick, and Daisy and would head to the ocean sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Tiia decided that she could not come Thursday night, due to necessary preperation for a job interview in Managua on Monday. Nick showed up at 7:30, somewhat ready to head out. Daisy and I were not ready to roll. I had developed a cold a number of days earlier and was not feeling too well. Nick had been at a going away party the night before and was quite tired. When Nick heard that I did not really want to climb Volcan Maderas because I was sick, he informed me that he did not really want to go if we were not going to climb it. So, we started to think that we would not go. But, Stijn came to the rescue. He overheard our conversation and challenged my manhood. He basically asked me what kind of *wuss I was. My competitive nature has dwindled drastically over the last 6 years, but apparently I still have enough to take this challenge head on. Nick took a nap, I got ready, and we headed out a few hours later than planned.
The trip to Ometepe was a bit exhausting. We took an hour and a half bus ride to Rivas and I stood most of the way. It does not seem to be common practice to give up one's seat for a woman and even less so for a child. But, when I have a seat and see an old lady standing in the aisle, I remember mom teaching me to open and hold the door for others at the grocery store. I also look at their weathered skin and feet and think about how they have and will spend much more of their life on their feet than I ever will. So, I give my seat up. On this ride, I gave it up, got it back, and gave it up again multiple times as we dropped off and picked up more passengers. I ended up standing nearly all the way to Rivas. This was not too bad at all, but the trip was just beginning. We took a small shuttle from the "bus station" in Rivas to the dock, bought a ferry ticket, had some lunch, and headed out. The ride on the ferry took about an hour and was very enjoyable, with great views in all directions. Volcan Concepcion grew larger and larger as we creeped up on it. When we were about 50 meters from the landing dock, a shirtless Nicaraguan jumped off the ferry and swam quickly to the dock with a large rope in tow. We were soon pulled in and unloaded. We boarded a full bus and then shuffled around as they crammed 20 more people and their bags aboard. They would say through the windows from outside in Spanish, "move forward, move forward!" And then, minutes later yell, "move back, move back!" I have been on a lot of crammed buses, but I think this one took the cake. Ometepe seems to draw some interesting characters, and the bus was full of them. In the back, a shirtless guy with a surfboard tried hard to look as much like a stereotypical surfer as he could. Next to him, stood a light-skinned white guy wearing a wool-knit beanie, while I soaked my clothes with sweat just a few feet in front of him(it turns out this guy has been traveling for months and just lays down a sleeping bag and sleeps on the side of the road). Also scattered throughout the bus were a number of dread-locked hippie looking types that seem to flock to the island. All-in-all very interesting, but I wish there had been about 30 less people on the bus. It was a long, bumpy, hot, dusty, uncomfortable ride with a lot of stops. About 3 and a half hours later, we reached our destination. It was well after dark and we had to hike about 20 minutes up the side of Volcan Maderas to get to our hostel. Nick informed us that while riding the bus, he was reading his guide book. It said when heading to Finca Magdalena, our hostel, be sure to arrive before dark. We had a good laugh, pulled out our flashlights, and headed up the hill. It was actually a fun little hike. I think we were all happy to be off the bus. An English guy was walking behind us and asked if we knew where we were going. We told him we thought so, but were not totally sure. He told us his name was Ollie, and that he had missed his stop and had just hopped off with us. The four of us chatted about the stars and the beauty of the night until I saw something moving on the gravel road in front of us. I shined my flashlight in its direction. What we saw amazed us. The biggest toad any of us had ever seen was hopping quickly away from us. It was about the size of a small bunny or a really fat hampster.
We made it safely to the hostel, which used to be the center of a coffee and fruit plantation. A woman guided us to the dorm and unfolded some cots made of a plastic tarp like material. This would be our home for 3 nights at a whopping $2.50 a night. We had a late supper, arranged for a guide in the morning, and headed to bed.
At 8AM Nick, Ollie, and I headed up Volcan Maderas with our guide. Our guide was very friendly and pointed out birds, monkeys, petroglyphs, and plants on the easier beginning of the hike. He also explained a little history of the island and told us that Ometepe is a Nahuatl word which means two mountains. The Nahuatl's were the islands native inhabitants.
The climb got steeper and muddier with every step we took. We soon realized that the views would not be very good as we entered the clouds. It got to be extremely sloppy. We were basically walking up the bed of a small very steep stream and the soil was a very slippery orangish clay. It was not uncommon to have to get down on all fours on the climb. We climbed the way I like the most, at a good and steady pace. We only made a few very short stops on the way up. After reaching the peak, we took a few pictures. I dedicate the John Randle esque picture of myself with mud on my face to Stijn. We then took a sharp descent to the lagoon. Since we were in the clouds, we were only able to see the edge of the lagoon but enjoyed our sandwiches next to it. At the top, we met a family of Nicaraguans who had hiked up the other side. There were two young children with the family. I would estimate their ages to be about 6 and 8. I was amazed that they were able to make the hike and even more amazed to see that they did it in flip-flops!
The hike down consisted of a lot of slipping, sliding, and splashing. The clouds started to clear and when we were about 2/3's of the way down, we came out of them. The view was stunning, even though we were only about 1/3 of the way up the volcano. I can only imagine what the view from the top is like on a rare clear day(most volcanoes have a clouded cap even on completely clear days). I think our guide liked us, as we kept a good pace up and down the mountain and laughed and joked our way through the muck and slop.
I have a lot more to say about Ometepe and my journey back, but it will have to wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment