Isla Ometepe
The twin peaked island in the middle of lake Nicaragua; Isla Ometepe is a great place to summit some volcanoes, do some horse riding, or there's even a couple of beaches to chill out on. Getting around the island can be difficult, but if you've got a couple of extra days and cash it's worth checking out. One thing it bare in mind though: there will probably be spiders...
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| Volcano Conception on Isla Ometepe |
Getting There
We got a very crowded Chicken bus for 40L each from Granada to Rivas, from there we got a taxi to San Jorge to the ferry terminal. The taxi drivers are almost so untrustworthy here I would say don't bother even talking to them and get the bus (there is definitely a bus).There's a ferry or lancha (a smaller boat) roughly every hour. The Lancha was 35L and takes about 40 minutes. If it's rough on the lake then the ferry is apparently advised.
The Ferries and Lanchas usually go to Moyogalpe but at 9:30 and 5:30 it goes to San Jose del Sur.
We got a shuttle from there to Balgue which is on the other side of the island for 150L each, the bus is possible but you need to go around the first island to Altagracia, then another bus to Merida, then another bus to Balgue.
From there we had a very hot and uncomfortable walk up to the lodge.
Where we stayed
We stayed at the Totoco Eco-lodge, it was by no means in our budget but as it was both our birthdays (we share the same birthday) we decided we should do something special.The eco-lodge has great views across Isla Ometepe and you can see the volcanoes clearly from around the ground (though they are often shrouded in cloud), it as a swimming pool and nice restaurant and rooms, though we found it definitely wasn't worth the cost.
The rooms although large and clean, were unsealed, which meant any number of creepy crawlies could get in, and they did...
Journal
Arrival
The journey from Granada was uncomfortable and sweaty, we were on a packed chicken bus with little to no breeze for about an hour and half. The bus pulled in to Rivas bus station, which is the transport hub for the southern region of Nicaragua, and we gratefully disembarked. The Rivas bus terminal is very chaotic and the buses from the main cities are often greeted by taxi drivers looking to take passengers onward to the Ometepe, San Juan del Sur, and Penas Blanca on the Costa Rican border.
We were greeted by a large group of taxi drivers offering us different prices to get to San Jose where we'd be able to catch a boat over to Isla Ometepe. The first few taxi drivers offered us exhorbitant rates and we quickly dismissed them with "No, es muy caro", it's too expensive. Eventually we talked to one driver who offered us 30 Cordobas each to the port, the boat was leaving shortly so we decided to go for it. Once in the taxi we clarified the price which had suddenly gone up to 100 Cordobas each, because apparently it had suddenly become an express taxi, whatever that is. Outraged we told the driver that he'd agreed 30 each, at this point he stopped the car leaving us in the difficult situation where we needed the taxi to catch the boat in time and so our bargaining power was greatly deficient. We managed to get the driver to agree to 100 Cordobas for the both of us, which was still 40 over what we'd originally agreed. We pulled in to the dock area and went to pay him, unfortunately we only had a 500 Cordoba note so again he attempted to rip us off some more. He said he didn't have enough change and showed us that he only had a few 20 notes. We discussed some more and eventually some more notes miraculously appeared from his pockets and we managed to get the taxi for 120C, double what we'd originally expected (which still was overpriced).
We walked away from the taxi feeling rather annoyed but not wanting to miss the boat we didn't have much time to dwell. There's a usually a boat leaving every hour from San Jose and this particular boat was one of the smaller Lanchas and cost 35C each. We jumped on the boat as quickly as possible and were directed downstairs where we found all the seats were full. We found a space in the middle of the boat and sat on a raised bit of the floor in amongst all the other luggage, the boat departed shortly after and we found that the floor was wet because every now and then a stream of water would shoot in to the boat through a small hole and get a reasonably large area wet. There was a girl sitting by the hole who was getting very wet feet though she didn't really seem to notice as she was either asleep or feeling a bit under the weather.
The journey took about 40 minutes and though there was a bit of rocking it was relatively calm. When we got to Ometepe we set about trying to work out how to get from the dock at Moyogalpe to Balgue on the other side of the island. We later worked out that in order to get to the other island you need to get a bus to Altagracia, which is the town on the opposite side of the volcano to Moyogalpe. From there you get a bus going back the other way (the way you'd just come) which then takes the other fork to the other side of the island and towards Merida. Where (maybe) you should then be able to Balgue. At the time we got a few disgruntled looks and shakes of head from some bus conductors and we ended up getting in a mini-bus which was taking a group of people to Santa Cruz.
We had been offered 12 USD each for the shuttle on the mainland, so we were happy to get the same trip for 300 Cordoba which is about 10 USD for the both of us. We drove along the main road - or the only road - which skirts round the bottom of the two Isla Ometepe volcanoes, then we cut across the island and we were dropped in Balgue about 40 minutes later. We'd been hoping the driver would take us all the way up to our accommodation at the Totoco Eco-lodge which we'd read was up a rather large hill. Unfortunately we were dropped off at the bottom of hill.
We started the walk up the track to the lodge which was lined with small shacks, surrounded by pigs and chickens. The track started to steadily steepen and become more uneven. It ended up being a very picturesque, but very hot and tiring walk up to the lodge. The entrance was about a kilometre from the main road, and then the actual lodge was another kilometre from the entrance. We stumbled in to the lodge, dripping with sweat and pretty much completely soaked through. We put our bags down and sat down in the resturant area which has incredible views over Isla Ometepe and the volcano opposite. We were brought out some welcome drinks before we were shown to our Cabin.
After staying in hostels and hotels we were looking forward to having our own piece of luxury. The cabin was very spacious, had a large king bed, a sofa and en-suite - though as it was an eco-lodge it was a compost toilet. By this time it was late afternoon, it had taken far longer to get there than we'd expected. As the eco-lodge was so far from the main road we decided to eat at the restaurant as the menu for the night looked really nice. We had some pumpkin soup, followed by a fish dish and some custard for dinner. It was really tasty and we got to watch the sunset with the volcano silhouetted in front of it. To top it off, fireflies appeared all over the hillside and made for a very pretty view.
We made our way back to the room which on switching on the light we discovered had a few more insects in than when we left. Kate, who is rather scared of spiders, was not very happy to discover a very large, black spider was residing right in the middle of one of the pillows. I later discovered it was a whip-spider. After discarding that out of the room we got ready for bed and tried to double check all the nooks and crannies to make sure nothing else was lurking ready to attack us in the night.
We'd been sitting up in bed for about 15 minutes when Kate looked up and let out a yelp. She directed my gaze to the top of one of the shelves where almost comedically perched, was a spider of epic proportions overlooking the room. Kate was up and on the other side of the room in seconds. In previous places we'd stayed we were told not kill any of these spiders and allow them to dispose of them so Kate went off to reception to find someone to help. I busied myself with taking photos of the spider and making sure it didn't run off.
A couple of minutes later Kate returned with a man with a machete. Kate clearly really hates spiders! The man saw the spider and swiftly hit the spider with the side of the machete, picked up the dead spider and took it outside for disposal. I knew for next time that was the way of dealing with big spiders at the eco-lodge! Kate took a while to calm down and we searched the room again to make sure there was nothing else there - not that it worked last time. The problem was that there were some large gaps around the roof where insects could easily get in, so no matter what we did there was no stopping them. The best course of action was to switch off the lights, which hopefully would stop attracting them.
We were greeted by a large group of taxi drivers offering us different prices to get to San Jose where we'd be able to catch a boat over to Isla Ometepe. The first few taxi drivers offered us exhorbitant rates and we quickly dismissed them with "No, es muy caro", it's too expensive. Eventually we talked to one driver who offered us 30 Cordobas each to the port, the boat was leaving shortly so we decided to go for it. Once in the taxi we clarified the price which had suddenly gone up to 100 Cordobas each, because apparently it had suddenly become an express taxi, whatever that is. Outraged we told the driver that he'd agreed 30 each, at this point he stopped the car leaving us in the difficult situation where we needed the taxi to catch the boat in time and so our bargaining power was greatly deficient. We managed to get the driver to agree to 100 Cordobas for the both of us, which was still 40 over what we'd originally agreed. We pulled in to the dock area and went to pay him, unfortunately we only had a 500 Cordoba note so again he attempted to rip us off some more. He said he didn't have enough change and showed us that he only had a few 20 notes. We discussed some more and eventually some more notes miraculously appeared from his pockets and we managed to get the taxi for 120C, double what we'd originally expected (which still was overpriced).
We walked away from the taxi feeling rather annoyed but not wanting to miss the boat we didn't have much time to dwell. There's a usually a boat leaving every hour from San Jose and this particular boat was one of the smaller Lanchas and cost 35C each. We jumped on the boat as quickly as possible and were directed downstairs where we found all the seats were full. We found a space in the middle of the boat and sat on a raised bit of the floor in amongst all the other luggage, the boat departed shortly after and we found that the floor was wet because every now and then a stream of water would shoot in to the boat through a small hole and get a reasonably large area wet. There was a girl sitting by the hole who was getting very wet feet though she didn't really seem to notice as she was either asleep or feeling a bit under the weather.
The journey took about 40 minutes and though there was a bit of rocking it was relatively calm. When we got to Ometepe we set about trying to work out how to get from the dock at Moyogalpe to Balgue on the other side of the island. We later worked out that in order to get to the other island you need to get a bus to Altagracia, which is the town on the opposite side of the volcano to Moyogalpe. From there you get a bus going back the other way (the way you'd just come) which then takes the other fork to the other side of the island and towards Merida. Where (maybe) you should then be able to Balgue. At the time we got a few disgruntled looks and shakes of head from some bus conductors and we ended up getting in a mini-bus which was taking a group of people to Santa Cruz.
We had been offered 12 USD each for the shuttle on the mainland, so we were happy to get the same trip for 300 Cordoba which is about 10 USD for the both of us. We drove along the main road - or the only road - which skirts round the bottom of the two Isla Ometepe volcanoes, then we cut across the island and we were dropped in Balgue about 40 minutes later. We'd been hoping the driver would take us all the way up to our accommodation at the Totoco Eco-lodge which we'd read was up a rather large hill. Unfortunately we were dropped off at the bottom of hill.
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| The minibus to Balgue on Isla Ometepe |
We started the walk up the track to the lodge which was lined with small shacks, surrounded by pigs and chickens. The track started to steadily steepen and become more uneven. It ended up being a very picturesque, but very hot and tiring walk up to the lodge. The entrance was about a kilometre from the main road, and then the actual lodge was another kilometre from the entrance. We stumbled in to the lodge, dripping with sweat and pretty much completely soaked through. We put our bags down and sat down in the resturant area which has incredible views over Isla Ometepe and the volcano opposite. We were brought out some welcome drinks before we were shown to our Cabin.
After staying in hostels and hotels we were looking forward to having our own piece of luxury. The cabin was very spacious, had a large king bed, a sofa and en-suite - though as it was an eco-lodge it was a compost toilet. By this time it was late afternoon, it had taken far longer to get there than we'd expected. As the eco-lodge was so far from the main road we decided to eat at the restaurant as the menu for the night looked really nice. We had some pumpkin soup, followed by a fish dish and some custard for dinner. It was really tasty and we got to watch the sunset with the volcano silhouetted in front of it. To top it off, fireflies appeared all over the hillside and made for a very pretty view.
We made our way back to the room which on switching on the light we discovered had a few more insects in than when we left. Kate, who is rather scared of spiders, was not very happy to discover a very large, black spider was residing right in the middle of one of the pillows. I later discovered it was a whip-spider. After discarding that out of the room we got ready for bed and tried to double check all the nooks and crannies to make sure nothing else was lurking ready to attack us in the night.
We'd been sitting up in bed for about 15 minutes when Kate looked up and let out a yelp. She directed my gaze to the top of one of the shelves where almost comedically perched, was a spider of epic proportions overlooking the room. Kate was up and on the other side of the room in seconds. In previous places we'd stayed we were told not kill any of these spiders and allow them to dispose of them so Kate went off to reception to find someone to help. I busied myself with taking photos of the spider and making sure it didn't run off.
A couple of minutes later Kate returned with a man with a machete. Kate clearly really hates spiders! The man saw the spider and swiftly hit the spider with the side of the machete, picked up the dead spider and took it outside for disposal. I knew for next time that was the way of dealing with big spiders at the eco-lodge! Kate took a while to calm down and we searched the room again to make sure there was nothing else there - not that it worked last time. The problem was that there were some large gaps around the roof where insects could easily get in, so no matter what we did there was no stopping them. The best course of action was to switch off the lights, which hopefully would stop attracting them.
Day 1
Day 3
Yet again, we woke up and checked that we hadn't died in the night. We had made it through the night. We had our breakfast and began packing ready to checkout. We were planning to head to the beach town of San Juan del Sur where we'd stay a night before heading to Costa Rica. After we'd packed up and were ready to go we asked at reception if there was an easy way to make it back down the hill. They said they could call a taxi and it would be about 8USD. We politely declined, put on our bags, and started walking back down the hill. It was a lot easier walking down the hill, though it was still a struggle.
When we got to the bottom of the hill we dropped our bags at the bus stop opposite and waited for the bus. We'd waited for about 15 minutes and attempted hailing a few cars that were passing before a minibus stopped. It was the same guy who dropped us off! We asked him for the same price as we'd paid on the way there but apparently he wasn't heading to Moyogalpe and there was no one else to share the taxi with, we bartered him to do it for 400C and we were soon on our way and dropped off at the dock with 5 minutes to get on to the boat. Luckily it was far less busy this time so we grabbed some seats just as the lancha departed.
Our birthdays had finally arrived! Today was my 30th birthday and it was Kate's 24th. Unusually we share the same birthday so to celebrate we'd booked in to a very nice eco-lodge. We woke up early to check that we were all still there and had made it through the night in one piece. No spiders or any other creepy crawlies had got us in the night so we didn't hang around in bed. First stop was breakfast which luckily was included. It was a buffet lunch, though it was mostly just a pot full of pancakes, all the other pots seemed to be empty. Eventually a waitress came over and asked us what we wanted for breakfast and we were served up some poached eggs which we hadn't had on the trip so far.
After breakfast came the important part of the day. Presents!! I'd been attempting to hide all Kate's presents in my bag for a few months with varying degrees of success, so I was quite pleased to finally be able to get all the presents out of my bag! I'd been getting her lots of little things along the way that she'd liked and planned to send them back to Australia with our next post back. I'd got her a painting she'd like in Tulum, from the art cafe that we'd really liked. A decorative ball thing from San Cristobal, Mexico. I'd picked her up a bracelet and a really nice bottle opener from Placencia, Belize, and I'd also been given a small parcel by Kate's Mum to deliver to her.
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| Breakfast at the Totoco Lodge |
After breakfast came the important part of the day. Presents!! I'd been attempting to hide all Kate's presents in my bag for a few months with varying degrees of success, so I was quite pleased to finally be able to get all the presents out of my bag! I'd been getting her lots of little things along the way that she'd liked and planned to send them back to Australia with our next post back. I'd got her a painting she'd like in Tulum, from the art cafe that we'd really liked. A decorative ball thing from San Cristobal, Mexico. I'd picked her up a bracelet and a really nice bottle opener from Placencia, Belize, and I'd also been given a small parcel by Kate's Mum to deliver to her.
Kate had already got me a camera for my birthday before we left on the trip, however as it was a very special birthday for me she also got me a night in a Costa Rican treehouse. She'd been very adamant during the trip that we needed to be making good time to get down to Costa Rica and it suddenly made sense why. The trip was a night in a treehouse, which you could only access by climbing a rope. It was apparently surrounded by wildlife and to top it off it was VIP package which meant we got dinner served and some wine to go with it! It looked amazing, I was very excited!
For the rest of the day we chilled out by the pool and at the restaurant and had a very relaxed birthday. We literally did nothing, and it was perfect! We had dinner at the restaurant again which was very nice and then as the sun went down again we reluctantly went back to the room to see what insects were waiting for us this time. Happily this time there was nothing and we got in to bed, tucked the mosquito net under and watched a bit of Netflix before heading to sleep. Before I went to sleep I noticed a large insect flying around the room. At first I thought it was a huge beetle and told Kate, who was already half asleep, that's what it was. On closer inspection I found it was an astronomically big wasp, and later I found it was called a "Tarantula Hawk". It was a wasp so big that it preyed on giant Tarantulas. I switched off the light and hoped it would keep itself to itself.
Day 3
Yet again, we woke up and checked that we hadn't died in the night. We had made it through the night. We had our breakfast and began packing ready to checkout. We were planning to head to the beach town of San Juan del Sur where we'd stay a night before heading to Costa Rica. After we'd packed up and were ready to go we asked at reception if there was an easy way to make it back down the hill. They said they could call a taxi and it would be about 8USD. We politely declined, put on our bags, and started walking back down the hill. It was a lot easier walking down the hill, though it was still a struggle.
When we got to the bottom of the hill we dropped our bags at the bus stop opposite and waited for the bus. We'd waited for about 15 minutes and attempted hailing a few cars that were passing before a minibus stopped. It was the same guy who dropped us off! We asked him for the same price as we'd paid on the way there but apparently he wasn't heading to Moyogalpe and there was no one else to share the taxi with, we bartered him to do it for 400C and we were soon on our way and dropped off at the dock with 5 minutes to get on to the boat. Luckily it was far less busy this time so we grabbed some seats just as the lancha departed.
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