Lago de Nicaragua / Ometepe

While the first impression of S Juan del Sur granted a one-night stay, we ended up spending three nights there. Different reasons for this: 1) after we went to see the turtles, we were so tired that we decided to trade the upcoming 5-hour journey to Ometepe for the very comfortable bed we still had 2) Hotel El Puerto incidentally had the BEST BED we have come across in 8 months 3) S Juan del Sur is actually a really nice little touristy town which becomes particularly nice at night 4) we wanted to see Playa Majagual to get an idea of what the Pacific beaches in Nicaragua are like. So we booked the shuttle camion to Playa Majagual and spent a nice day at the beach - a fairly mediocre beach with big waves and strong currents, not really suitable for swimming. It was nice to be at the sea though, and we did enjoy the day - even when we had to endure a lunch in the only restaurant available where the next table was being served turtle eggs. And Gregory telling me to shut up and let the people enjoy their eggs... ARGHHHH! I understand that this is a cultural thing and they have eaten eggs for hundreds of years here, but times
change, don´t they. If you do not say anything, then they will never
t day we moved to Ometepe.

We spent 3 nights on Ometepe island - the maximum allowed by our by now incredibly tight schedule, though we could have easily spent a few more... Ometepe is a volcanic island made up of two volcanos, Concepcion and Maderas. The former is the highest and stripped of vegetation by lava flow and altitude, the latter is covered with dense cloud forest and its top is filled with a lake. We decided not to hike to either of them - this is a hot place and climbing up volcanos at high temperatures did not quite appeal to us that much. We went straight to the Maderas sector - 30 or so km which took us almost 3 hours by local bus - and stayed at the Monkey Island Hostel for the first two nights. This is a small place run by Señor Jacinto and his family near Merida - we felt good being there because this was a genuine family business run by nice people, really cheap ($8 a night for both, private room with bathroom), and nice and tranquil in nice surroundings. They have a small monkey on site which unfortunately they keep chained to a tree because it is a nuisance if let free - it likes to pick fruit and all food that can be found... surprise surprise. So the poor monkey sits there and hugs anybody who goes near and gets really cuddly and never wants you to leave. Really heart-breaking. At least they treat it ok and give it plenty of room by chaining it to a steel cable that runs between two trees, giving a lot more space than otherwise. But still, chained-up monkeys are not really the type of sight that we like to see, are they. Especially when the island is absolutely rife with monkeys - any small walk into the green will reveal some and also they can be heard howling all over the island (they are howler monkeys). A particularly bad story was the one of the close-y Monkey Island (Isla Congo). As per Jacinto, it appears that some tourism minister has decided to attract tourists to Merida and the Hacienda Merida by putting 12 monkeys on this small island, where there is hardly any food for them. So they survive by eating leaves and insects and they hate the rest of the world. If you decide to kayak to the island and desembark there, the monkeys will attack you and bite and scratch you to bits. We had read some blogs about these nasty monkeys but not many people seem to know why they are like this and that someone has purposedly put them there.

Anyways! Apart from the horrible predicament of some of the local monkeys on Ometepe, the island is actually a really nice place. It is extremely lush with an amazing agricultural output, owing to its fertile volcanic soil. We went to visit Finca Magdalena on Maderas, which is an organic farm producing organic coffee, where the Sandinistas used to operate. Today it is run by a cooperativa of 24 families and offers rustic accomodation to tourists. We visited the coffee production there and had a nice long afternoon, walking back to our accomodation along the main and only road. Transport on the island is really difficult, buses are not frequent and the road is soo bad that it is almost quicker to walk it than sitting on the bus... But of course we tried to sit on the bus whenever we saw one.
On the way to Finca Magdalena Gregory managed to lose his wallet. After spending a good half an hour looking for it in the streets, we assumed that he must have left in on the bus in the morning. Later on in the day, while walking back home, we bumped into the same bus that we took in the morning and, when Gregory approached the driver asking if he had found the wallet, there he pulled it out! So we got the wallet back along with all its contents. Quite amazing.

On our second day we decided to walk down to the lake to take a glimpse of Monkey Island - except that we were intercepted by some dogs and Gregory came running back down the path, with a scary worried face clutching a very thick stick in his hands... so we retreated and never actually made it to see this infamous islet. From Monkey Island we went to famous Charco Verde, probably the best spot and best hotel on the island. We were lucky enough to get the last available room and really enjoyed our short stay there. The hotel is inside a reserve with a looping trail - a beautiful spot with a calm beach, kayaks, monkeys nearby and lots of birds. We spent ages trying to take a good picture of one of the urracas, blue parrot-like birds with a long tail that are very very shy and fly away as soon as they spot you looking at them. They are all over the island and also probably Central America, but extremely elusive.
Charco Verde was one of the highlights on Ometepe - definitely recommended if anybody is thinking of going there, but best booked in advance.

We left Charco Verde yesterday morning and got to Granada at around midday. We are staying at the Oasis Hostel, which is acclaimed by everybody as one of the best hostels in Central America. Our first impression was quite disappointing - most rooms are dark and windowless - but other than that it is quite cosy.

PS: A real great find in Nicaragua has been the ESKIMO ice cream that they make worth trying for sure !!!!!

The boat to Ometepe

Volcan Concepcion

Monkey Island Hostel

Flavia and Chico

Finca Magdalena

Mono Congo (howler monkey) around Finca Magdalena

Charco Verde lakeside

Charco Verde ecological reserve