Fantasy Land?
Friday, January 25th, 2008Day 81
Ever been to a place where it seemed everything was perfect? We have been to maybe a few on our travels but not many places have compared with Isla Ometepe. The guidebooks touted that the island has a fairlytale like feel, they were right on with that. Since most of our time on Ometepe was spent sitting on our veranda I have condensed a few days into this one entry.
Our first morning on the island we decided to rent some bikes with Jonathan to explore the other end of Ometepe, also there are some ancient petroglyphs to be seen. After breakfast we were introduced to some of Ometepes residents. Directly in front of our bungalow, literally no more than 2 meters away from us were a troop of Howler monkeys in the trees. Such an incredible sight to see this usually elusive monkeys so close. The peaked down at us, made the odd grunting sound and pissed just in front of our bungalow. It was about the coolest thing we had seen on the trip to date. Eventually they moved on and so did we with our uncomfortable mountain bikes. We spent the day riding up some steep hills, well mostly walking our bikes up them, and then racing back down the other side. We saw some petroglyphs, although they were overrated. The main attraction was the incredible beauty of the green landscape and the 2 large volcanoes always looming overhead. It was a strenuous but rewarding day. When we returned we met Mike, Daniel and Jody from Calgary. Turns out Jonathan had met Mike and Daniel way back in Guatemala.
We fell into a comfortable routine the rest of our stay on the island. We would wake up around 9am and have some gallo pinto for breakfast. Then head out for a walk on one of the trails surrounding the hotel. Hiking is great here, you almost always spotted howler monkeys, bright blue magpie birds, crazy coloured butterflies and all sorts of lizards. Of course the views over the lake and volcanoes were incredible.
Late afternoon the group from Calgary, and Jonathan would join us on our veranda for beers. It felt like we were up at the cottage with long time friends, oh except the howler monkeys that were overhead. We drank, talked hockey and solved all the worlds problems. Eventually we headed into the restaurant for dinner, always tilapia for us fish eating vegetarians. The sunset was always an incredible orange and as soon as it set the bright glow of fireflys filled the sky. After dinner was more drinks and several card games of shithead. The friendly staff would joke with us and probably wondered if we were ever going to leave.
Eventually we did leave, although I think I could have stayed for a long time. Ometepe is the one place we have been so far that we both agree we must get back to one day. We left early morning with Jonathan, the Calgary group was headed north. Us three were trying to get to San Jose before night fall. As I got on that bus to the ferry I already missed Ometepe.
Michael Coroneos