4.5.2012 Isla de Ometepe—The island of monkeys, hills and hipsters
And the journey begins on the ruta (general bus service in Nicaragua) with the route from Masaya to Rivas and from there to Rivas’ port San Jorge to catch a ferry or lancha, a smaller version of a boat. As me and another intern sat and waited for the lancha we met a fellow named Richard, native of Provincetown, relatively close to Boston compared to where all other foreigners I’ve met were from. Finally the lancha came and for about an hour of swaying back and forth we finally reached our destination, the town of Moyogalpa. Once we arrived a few taxi drivers began asking if we needed rides to hotels—the usual, whenever people arrived to the port. Richard, Paul and I searched for hostels and we came across el Hospedaje Central, a French family owned business. Many tourists from Europe and other places were here and plus they had monkeys, deer and cats so why not take the offer? Unfortunately all the dorm style beds were full so Paul and I settled for the regular room including private bathroom. Richard decided to stay at the Landing Hotel near the port, but he would return later for drinks and to hang out. Later that night, I met some Germans who were volunteering for a year in Esteli, another town in Nicaragua. Their work was in development involving education. Thereafter, we met a Scottish guy Alan who was traveling and also completing his first book. This night I managed to learn some phrases in German, listen to ridiculous stories of drugs from 2 other foreigners, and drink some melon fresco (always my favorite). Finally, my night of conversing ended by 2 or 3 in the morning. The next day for breakfast I had some gallo pinto, eggs, and bread with marmalade. Overall, I thought everything went swell at this hostel. The only negative thing I could say is that I was overcharged for my stay and food expenses (which I will explain in the next few lines)! However, we were in a rush to get to hiking towards Volcan Concepcion so I paid, without much thought or explanation from the employee. Fail, on my part, I should’ve stayed longer but that’s how the story went. It was during our hike that it dawned on me that I was definitely bamboozled for my money.
Back to the hiking trip! We saw beautiful birds and saw many lizards going in and out of holes in the dirt. Along the path, we also managed to see a few horses and cows being led by their owners. The best part of all—the monkeys, the main item off my bucket list was finally checked off. I had seen some in Nicaragua but from far distances, and I never felt satisfied with my view, but this time around they were up close and personal! The path was made up of dirt roads and had hundreds of trees everywhere. Finally a little before the start of the volcano there were old lava rocks all over and branches of all different types of trees. After about 2 hours into the trek I decided to lie down and read/relax while my friend continued on his own personal trek. It was quite relaxing, and a great meditation spot, for those looking to just hang out with nature. Although my feet ached by the end of the trek I appreciated the awesome things this side of the island had to offer especially its nature.
Back to the money situation, I returned to the hostel and spoke with Ben, the same employee who I had paid for my stay from there. I posed the issue to him and mentioned I was charged for an extra juice and something extra I was not sure of and the numbers didn’t match, however all he said was I don’t have the old papers showing my expenses (since their tab system is literally writing what people order on random sheets of paper, and not in a notebook or something more orderly). Also, the owner, who seemed like a pretty understanding person was out for the morning, therefore there was no one to really speak to. I was more upset over the principle behind it and at this point I felt as if their customer service wasn’t as high as I previously thought. FYI: If you decide to come here, definitely write out what you order on your notebook/phone and be sure to get updates from them on your tab to avoid what happened to me.
My next destination was to heading to the other side of the Isla de Ometepe, since there are two separate sides to this island. There are 2 volcanoes, Volcan Concepcion y Volcan Maderas. On this side of the island, there are different towns such as Altagracia, Santa Cruz, Maderas and probably a few others I am not sure of. We had to take a bus from Moyogalpa to Santa Cruz, about a US$1 but it took some time to get out there since the bus was full. Finally we reached Santa Cruz at about 5 pm. We headed towards a hostel, Little Morgan’s but it ended up being full, so the search began. We hit up a few hostels and asked for prices and finally came across Hostal Espirales, which was charging us US$5 for a night. The only thing that was bothersome was the large amount of flies and mosquitoes in this area. The worst, was electricity going out at 3 am (later found out the whole town didn’t have any for a few hours as well). After much twisting around in bed trying to fight the heat, my body couldn’t take it and I left the room. There was another couple next door and the guy came out and mentioned he woke up because of the heat as well. His name was Edwin—a local Nicaraguan. He mentioned that he was here for the week of Semana Santa and also to accompany his girlfriend for work purposes. She was working on her master’s thesis and her project dealt with plantain growers in the Isla. I also asked him for traveling advice since there are a few towns, such as Rio San Juan, San Juan del Sur and Somoto that I would like to visit before I leave. I have literally a month left! Wild. After his advice, we figured we would stay up until sunrise. First, the sounds of dogs barking, then birds chirping and finally chickens squawking filled my ears. Once the sun rose, we went to look for a fruit seller and he showed me a comedor (basically a local place to eat, usually in the homes of the owners). He mentioned being charged a better price than what we paid at this hostel for food. He paid 90 cordobas for a delicious, huge fish, while my friend paid 150 cordobas for his fish. After our short walk we returned and I got ready for the day. After getting ready Paul and I paid and we were gone. He went back to Moyogalpa and I went to the Comedor I was referred to. The actual name of the food joint was Comedor Santa Cruz but the owner Maria, planned to put a sign for Comedor Maria, since another local business decided to take the name after she used it for a few years, according to her. When I walked in she was separating the good rice from the bad rice. When I speak of bad rice—it does not mean its harmful bad but more so this rice was stained from the sun and therefore got a black color from it. But due to the pickiness of people, rule of thumb is to just take this out, Maria laughed as she said this. Also, I happened to meet a Canadian girl who was helping Maria separate these pieces of rice. After asking Maria of what she offered for breakfast and other questions, I finally asked the girl where she was from and what she was doing here. She was traveling back and forth from Costa Rica and happened to stay in Isla de Ometepe and at some point, she heard about a small community of foreigners living in a town called “Enanito”. The owners of this community’s land were a couple—in which the wife offered a masseuse course and I was not told of what the boyfriend did. The price was pretty high but according to Kate she paid 1/3 of the price here she would have paid in Canada. She ended up becoming close with Maria after a visit she made here with her friend John and also after Maria had let the both of them camp on her property, after finding out all of the hostel s in the area were full. Thereafter they created a wonderful bond although Kate’s level of Spanish was minimal. It was a really beautiful memory I will remember from the Isla. Maria seemed to be one of the most genuine people I have met during my stay in Nicaragua. Something as simple as her offering great customer service and even offering her home to random strangers, meant a lot. After our goodbye’s to Maria, Kate and I headed towards Altagracia where she would go to the bank and from there we would catch buses to where we needed to go. Once she did her transaction, we headed to the Central Park in Altagracia. We settled down had mango and cacao fresh juices. Thereafter we began asking around when the next buses would come, and was told it would be by 12. But half an hour turned to another hour and we realized we needed to hitch a ride. Its funny something I would always fear doing in the States, I started doing in Nicaragua. Kate needed a ride back to Santa Cruz while I needed to reach Moyogalpa. After trying to catch rides, a man by the name of Hernan in his pickup stopped and mentioned he was going to the other side of the town so we readily stepped in. After a brief conversation with Hernan we just sat in silence observing the trees, people, multiple pulperias (equivalent of corner stores/small shops in the States), and of course the cows & horses that needed to cross the street. A few minutes into the ride, Kate was dropped off and I continued onto Moyogalpa with Hernan. Once I reached the Port I said my thank you and was off to catch a ferry. I caught the ferry which was a bit expensive compared to the usual traveling prices but I was told that from Thursday to Sunday finding transportation would become rare and more expensive (unless you hitched rides). I got on the ferry which was about US$3 to reach the port in Rivas. Once there I was approached by taxi drivers but I knew it would be expensive and I walked farther away from the Port to find a ride. Finally, I managed to hitch a ride about 10 minutes into walking. This time from a guy on a motorcycle named Peter, a local Nicaraguan as well as the previous guy. He said he wouldn’t mind taking me to the local market of Rivas after I asked. It was quite a bumpy ride to get there but it got the job done! Once he dropped me off I said thank you and waited for the bus heading to Managua. Luckily, this bus passed by the main road in Masaya. Finally, the bus got in and there were many people trying to get on the bus. Finally I got a seat and I was on my way back to Masaya after 2 hours of travel. I reached the main street and had to walk a long straight strip until finally reaching my home.
As I sat down, I thought to myself, this was one of the most relaxing and good weekends I have had in Nicaragua. I met some cool people and definitely appreciated the kindness of different locals in providing rides, advice and overall important life values—as shown by Maria through her genuine acts of kindness.
