Isla de Ometepe

On April 24^th- 27^th Kristie and I had journeyed to Ometepe Island. This is an island located in the middle of Lake Nicaragua and has two volcanoes.

We arrived to the Island Friday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon. We took a bus from Jinotepe to Rivas, and then got on a ferry boat to the island. The trip in total was about 4 hours. As we were on the boat Kristie and I asked any of the gringo travelers if they were up to share a tour guide for climbing Volcán Concepción.  A guy from Sweden was interested in doing the same thing so we all instantly became friends. His name is Adam. That day us three went out to a point called Punta María Jesús.  It was so hot that day so we were all anxious to get wet and cooled off after our muy caliente boat ride. The point is a long point that extends from the island and enabled us to see a good view of the big volcano we would be hiking in the next couple of days.

Saturday was my favorite day. For as long as I had been anticipating our trip to Nicaragua I have been dreaming of riding dirt bikes around all of Ometepe Island. Saturday was our day to do just that! The hostel we stayed at set us up with motorcycle rentals and we left first thing in the morning. We had from 8am to 5pm to have the bikes. We ended up touring around 2/3 of the island, around Volcán Maderas because this is what our time frame had allowed. We also stopped to take a splash in a place called Ojo de Aguas which is a cool spring of water located in the middle of the island.

Sunday we hiked Volcán Concepción. We had to leave our hostel at 5am that morning. It was definitely a long and treacherous hike, considering there was no path. But that is just Kristie and my style, taking the less beaten and traveled path. It was illegal to not take a guide so we paid a local guide $15 to hike to the top. We were accompanied by our friend Adam (the Swed) and two others who were actually from Oregon! Because of the strong winds and sulfur, we were only to hike about 100 m shy of the top…this is an active volcano after all!

Our time on Ometepe would be our last GRAND adventure. We loved every bit of it. Here are some pictures to show you just that.

Punta María Jesús

Los Tres Amigos!

Kristie and I both have our motorcycle license and have been capable of driving dirt bikes for some time. Adam story is different. Many people who saw us three said it was funny to see two chicks on dirt bikes and one guy on a scooter ;)

Yep, I ate it once! When turning off of this road behind me onto the dirt my back tire slipped and I ATE THE DIRT! Thankfully a man driving saw me and offered for us all to go to his house to clean up. His wife and him lived right down the road and were from Southern California. They were very hospitable and it was nice to get the dirt out of my teeth. The bike was fine but I did have to pay $10 for some scratches.

Riding around the Ometepe. UNFORTUNATELY  the chest strap I had bought to take Go Pro videos point at a low angle. This was the best shot I got showing an upward view. The rest were all of my legs and the front of the bike :(

In the clouds, at our peak on Volcán Concepción.

A cool splash in Ojo de Aguas.

Us three Amigos!