Weekend at Ometepe Island

I am starting my third week of spanish class now. My teacher said I haven't been studying enough and that I should know more spanish than I do. Basically, she said I'm a bad student. No more ingles! Mas espanol! Ok, ok...I gotta study more and stop hanging out with gringos and english speaking foreigners. But, I've got to update my blog, right?

Over the weekend, I decided to take the plunge and go exploring by myself at Ometepe Island, a volcano island in the middle of Lake Cocibolca. My host family drove me to the bus station, where I found a group of backpackers waiting to go to the same place. Good for me, because I had no idea what I was doing. It ended up being a group of girls who were all solo travelers, but had met up along the backpacker trail and were now traveling together. I asked if I could tag along, and they agreed (although, I think relunctantly). Four were British, 2 were from Holland, and one was from New Zealand. Boy, they really don't like Americans. They were nice enough, though.

I had no idea how round about, and LONG the trip was going to be to get to Merida, this little community on the furthest stretch of the island. We boarded the bus in Granada, rode for 1.5 hours to Rivas, where we caught a taxi to take us to the port town where we boarded the ferry to take us across the lake. Once across, we decided to stay the night in the port town of Mayogopo (not sure how to spell it). The next morning most of the crew stayed at the hostel to watch the world cup, but since I'm an unsophisticated american, another girl and I decided to go on to our final destination: the Monkey Hostel. This cosisted of a 3 HOUR bus ride plus an hour break for some unknown reason. So the driver could take a nap? I don't know. I could not BELIEVE the dirt road we had to take to get to Merida. Only one car could safely fit, and it had huge potholes and steep hills. And, remember, this is a SCHOOL BUS that we're travelling in. We eventually made it. The hostel was pretty rustic, and run by a nice native family. They had access to this great beach, and they rented horses. And, they had chickens, dogs, pigs, and a pet monkey! We decided to go swimming in the lake where we discovered another island a few meters off the shoreline. It looked swimmable. We attempted it. It was way longer than anticipated. We kept swimming and swimming and finally made it to island, only to be greeted by this mean little monkey bearing his teeth at us. No climbing up on the island. But, at least we could rest on the lava rocks around the shoreline, and watch the monkeys before turning around and swimming back. We found out the mean monkey was only defending his family, though, because we saw a tiny little monkey clinging onto his mommy, as well as another smaller, juvenile monkey. I thought I was going to die swimming back...good exercise, though, something different from walking.

Speaking of walking...the next morning I had to catch the ONLY bus of the day out of Merida, so that I could make it back for class on Monday morning. This time I was definately on my own, because the others were staying behind an extra day. I was not looking forward to the five hour treck back to Granada. It's really not that far...just a lot of waiting and riding in a bus that can only go 5 miles per hour. Needless to say...I missed the bus. Of course of all times it actually came EARLY that day. So, I had no other choice but to start walking. There was only one road and where it forked I could always stop and ask someone which way to go. I don't know what I was thinking. Yes, I do, actually. I thought "Oh well. This will be a good adventure. I'm glad I missed the bus." Ha ha. About an hour into it, I had one car go by with a load full of guys who offered me a ride ...but I declined. "No. I like walking" I said. It was sooo hot and after about 2.5 hours...my feet were hurting. But, hey, I thought if I've walked around Disney for 12 hours straight, certainly I can make this 9 hour treck to the port to catch the ferry. After 3 hours, I heard the buzz of another engine and I was begging that it was someone who would offer me a ride. I was in luck. It's amazing the things I will do here that I would NEVER do in the U.S. The buzzing ended up a being a motorcycle...yep, I got on it. Riding on the back of a motorcycle, that was being driven by some stranger, while wearing no helmet. And, I felt totally safe. The road had no cars, and it was so bumpy, that he had to drive relatively slow (but faster than my walking). He drove me to a town where I could catch the bus to the ferry. While on the ferry, I met this awesomely cool guy who does volcano surfing, and offered to take me out. Cool, huh? That will be next weekend.

The rest of my journey was totally miserable. The bus back to Granada, was supposed to leave at 3:00, so I wait until the last possible minute to board it because, well, it's 3:00 in the afternoon in Nicaragua. By the time I get on, the only seat left was the one with the big hump for the tire where you have to put your feet on, and it makes your knees come to your chest. You remember those seats in the school bus, right? No worries, though...I had it to myself, so I just stretched out sideways. BUT, the bus did not leave...they kept waiting for more and more people to get on. Someone sat next to me. I had to sit with my knees scrunched up holding my bookbag, on the side of the bus where the sun was shining in. At 3:10 in the afternoon in Nicaragua. I thought I was going to start hyperventilating. The bus got so packed...and they kept piling more people in. I was pretty bitter. And, for the like the first 30 min. of the trip they kept stopping for any Tom, Dick, or Harry who waved their arm...or looked like they MIGHT wave an arm...and packed them on the bus too. They would even try to recruit riders by yelling Granada! Granada! Granada! Granada! I was beside myself. After 1.5 hours of this HELL I finally made it back. At least next time I go, I know what to expect. The island was beautiful and there was so much to do that I didn't have time for. I think I'll go back when Sydney gets here. But, don't worry. I won't hitchhike with her along. Adios for now....Elise