Doing Laundry on Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Wooden frames with stones slabs on top serve as laundry mats for Ometepeans.
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Isla Ometepe
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Then I’m at the ferry and the twin peaks of concepcion and madera loom in the middle of the lake. Lake Nicaragua is IMMENSE with white-caps and swells like the ocean and rising from its waters are these 2 huge volcanoes which, attached, make up the island of ometepe. The swells induce vomiting in a few young passengers ☺ but other than that it’s a lovely trip. I arrive in moyagalpa ready to find a place to stay and have cold cervesa. Oh yeah! I have to learn new beers! Here it is Victoria or Tona. I find a $9 room with private bath, at hospadiaje central and am very pleased. Actually, the bathroom has a bit of a “saw” character about it, minus the dead body. But I plop my pack down and go up front to the colorful restaurant to have those beers. I try one of each and can’t tell the difference but maybe it’s because they are very cold and that is really all that matters.
Despite recent eruptions it’s lush and filled with wildlife. I also find that I really like moyagalpa. it’s a clean, friendly and pretty little town with streets that in one direction look up to the peak of concepcion. Lonely planet is not kind to it, but I rather like it and decide to stay 2 nights before I move to one of the other towns on the island.
by the end of my stay here I have become “camera lady” again, an honor I hadn’t had since bocas. I went out without my camera in the evening and kids still shouted “photo!”. It’s nice to be around people who get excited about having a photo taken. I also found plenty of interesting subjects, like the small, wooden platforms out in the lake where the women do their washing, the 3 stray horses that wander thru town, and lots of interesting buildings and people.
there is obvious devotion to Our Lady of Nicaragua, an apparation of the virgin that the catholic church “approved” in 1983 and a marked increase in the “catholicness” of the population compared to costa rica or panama, both of which have provided the evangelical churches with big gains in recent decades. I especially liked the novelty store called Variedades de los jesus infante. i guess because jesus loved all men and women he wouldn’t mind the red and white checked hotpants and yellow tube-top worn by the mannequin in the window
Moyagalpa also has jerry, the ex-pat owner of a local restaurant who is recruiting for “volunteers” to work there. You get room, board (including alcohol) and weed but will have to fight off the old guy’s advances. Actually, he’s only 55 but I gathered it’s not his good clean living that gave him his looks. He’s been rode hard and put up wet a few too many times. So despite the temptation (ha!) I will not be volunteering there. if you want info let me know :).
I waivered on whether to just make moyagalpa my base and do day trips but in the end I decided to pack up and head to chaco verde. I’m glad I did. I found a room at Hotel Finca Playa Venecia (hehe – hotel farm beach venecia – that just about covers it!). it’s a great place with average food. the afternoon I get there I hike thru chaco verde reserve. There are nice views of the volcano from the miradors and I ran across the most mellow group of howler monkeys ever. There must have been at least 10 in their group, including 2 babies, and they were so close! I was glad I’d brought my camera.
There was an interesting mix of people at the hotel and I got myself socialized. The lake is nice to swim in so the next day I spent mostly walking the area and lounging lakeside. I decided to move onto granada the next day and was happy to score a ride with tim from marin, in an air-conditioned car (!), most of the way there. This means skipping the hike to the road in chaco verde (with all my stuff), a bus to moyagalpa, a bus from san Jorge to rivas and most of the bus trip from rivas to granada! He and france, another traveler we met, were going to head for leon so they just dropped me off at the cutoff to granada and I only needed to wait about 5 minutes for a granada-bound bus to come by. that was the easiest travel day yet!
Volcan Concepcion, Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
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Crossing Into Nicaragua
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
I suppose the Piedras Blancas crossing is not as bad as it sounded. I took a “direct bus” from san jose. This time I got an assigned seat! It was a darn comfortable bus. Nothing fancy ... [Continue reading this entry]
Wrapping Things Up in Costa Rica
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
After I left Corcovado I spent one more night in Puerto Jimenez so I could catch the 5am bus to san jose. Yuck – up at 4am for a 10 hour bus trip. After confusion at the bus-stop, ... [Continue reading this entry]
Peggy Rehm