Insel Nr. 2 - Ometepe

After our first stop in Nicaragua turned out to be a disappointment, we were even more excited for the second stop, Ometepe. Ometepe is a fairly large island (270 km² according to Wikipedia) in the inland Nicaraguan Lake, known primarily for its two volcanoes. One of the volcanoes (Concepcion volcano) is one of the still active ones in the country, which is why there are signs with 'Ruta de evacuación' (evacuation route) all over the island.

Since we could hardly escape from pushy taxi drivers and sunglasses sellers in San Juan del Sur, we deliberately decided not to stay in Moyogalpa, the largest town on the island and starting point of the ferry. Instead, we chose a relaxed and very affordable hostel called 'Lazy Crab' in Balgue, a nice little village at the other end of the island. Since we arrived on a Sunday, we had to rely on a taxi - on Sundays, the taxi drivers charge a lot of money for the rides, but thanks to Paddy's negotiating skills, it wasn't that expensive after all :) The first thing we noticed on Ometepe were the many animals roaming around. Horses, chickens, pigs, cows - sometimes they are tied up in front of houses, but often they also roam freely in the area. So caution is advised on the roads ;)

We immediately liked the hostel very much - great staff, painted walls with a good selection of musicians & Co., and shared activities for the hostel guests. During our 4 days on Ometepe, there was a barbecue evening and a movie and pasta evening, and we also went down to the lake with one of the hostel owners. Paddy also had the pleasure of playing a round of FIFA against the hostel owner on the big screen. Very relaxing :)

One day we rented a scooter to explore the island. First, we went to 'Ojo de Agua', which is a kind of natural swimming pool because the water comes from an underground spring. In any case, a very relaxed place where we once again realized that we are in the low season. We had complete peace and could really relax.

Afterwards, we went to Charco Verde by scooter, a small national park around a lagoon on the island. Besides a butterfly house, there was one thing to see: monkeys! We have never seen so many monkeys in one place and especially in such close proximity. One climbed so close to us that it almost made us uneasy - as cute as the animals are, they are still wild animals. As the final stop of the little route, we came to a small stretch of beach that we had completely to ourselves, just like the entire national park. The view of the volcano and the tranquility there were absolutely unbeatable, and we agreed that this is one of the top 3 most beautiful places we have ever seen.

We were already blown away by Nicaragua after Ometepe! It is significantly cheaper than Costa Rica, which makes Nicaragua very suitable for our month-long trip. For example, we ate at a so-called 'Comedor' (the counterpart to Costa Rican Sodas) on Ometepe, where we ate for only 150 Cordoba, which is equivalent to about 4.50 euros for the two of us. We have also become accustomed to the new currency, Costa Rican Colons :)

One thing that is really affecting us on our trip are the many animals that we often encounter completely neglected and emaciated on the streets. Especially when it comes to stray dogs, but also horses for example, no one here seems to care, even if the animals are obviously sick. We now carry a box of dog food with us to be able to give something to eat to particularly thin dogs. The anticipation of the dog rescue station is growing with every poor creature we see here - at least doing something good :)