La Isla de Ometepe – “Camine el Sendero Bajo Su Propio Riesgo”

September 14 and 15 mark Nicaragua’s independence and vacationing for lots of people, especially students! This weekend, myself and several other students went down to San Juan del Sur for one night (see my previous post on San Juan del Sur here) and then four of us continued on to Ometepe Island for two nights.

I really enjoyed Ometepe and I desperately want to return before I leave Nicaragua because there is a ton of outdoor activities and natural beauty to explore! We stayed from Saturday evening to Monday early morning, and that was simply not enough time to get my bang for the buck.

I have a lot to say about Ometepe, but instead of blabbing on and on about it, I’m just going to offer a few pieces of information that I would have found useful before vising the island:

1. The island is huge! Not the type that you would walk around in a hour or two – oh no!
2. There are two volcanoes: Concepción (active) and Maderas (inactive). If you are going to visit Maderas, note that you will have to travel about an hour and a half in a car (or three hours by bus) from the main port in Moyogalpa (the car ride from Moyogalpa to Mérida will cost about $25-30).
3. The ferry from San Jorge to Moyogalpa takes about one hour and a half (C$40-70/$1.70-3).
4. Expect to pay a little more for “taxi” style transportation. The chicken bus is a cheap option to travel long distances around the island as we payed under C40/$1.70 each to travel from one side to the other; however, to have anyone drive you somewhere will cost more than in Managua. Some tours come with transportation, just be clear if you have to pay before you leave!
5.  Expect to wake up early if you plan to do any hiking – many of the hikes are lengthy excursions. For instance, it takes about 8-10 hours (total trip) to hike to Crater Lake located on the Maderas Volcano.
6. It costs C$70 per person to enter the San Ramon Waterfall Hike.

Enough tips: here are some pictures from the weekend!

 - Kine Camara