Dear all,

We spend almost 5 days on Ometepe - more than initially thought: When we scanned the guide book we were not so sure whether we would find the island exciting - only to be proven better.

We were lucky that Claudia could join us to Ometepe initially. She did not visit the place for many years so we decided to do the highlight - the climb on the Maderas Vulcano with its foggy rainforest - the first day. We got up at 4am in order to be back in time for Claudia to catch her boat to her next stop in the evening. After having arrived at the entrance of the national park we found out that time would not suffice for the peak. Too bad! But as it was our X (4th??) volcano to hike we decided to go up anyways and see how high we would get. We made it to the mirador, the point up to which you can go without guide. Afterwards you might sink in the mud up to your knees or just get lost in the thick constantly dripping rainforest... We had a blast in the woods, listening to howler monkeys even when our hike was just the small brother of the originally planned adventure. Our knees were shaking anyways on the way back from the exhausting hike (having to catch our step all the time). On the way back we, by accident, saw a bird trapped in a net. We were about to cut it out (as good Germans..), when a ranger came and taught us better. They were catching the birds - in special nets that do not hurt them as we learned - to register and examine the birds. He invited us to come with him. We almost spend 1,5 hours with the rangers, weighing humming birds and putting rings around the birds feet (see fotos). On the way back, almost at the end, Maarten discovered that we were walking below a group of howler monkeys (see fotos) that stayed with us for some time. In the end we had a fabulous day. Even though when we had to let Claudia go that night.

The next day we followed recommendations on trip advisor and went horseback riding. The goal was a waterfall. One challenge was however already to arrive at the stalls. In the end we had to rent a bike and drive over a veeery rocky path for over an hour and arrived 2 hours later than planned - already exhausted. Then Anna, as she was a more experienced rider, got a not completely trained horse (3,5 years). This was a mismatch however with Anna being used to english-style riding and the horse getting used to western style riding. It ended up being quite exhausting for both of them. At night, having tasty fish from the lake, we were "adopted" by some "local gringos" that took us to a small island off the coast where one could see spider monkeys.

Close to where we went horseback riding we found possibilities to go kayaking. We did so the next day. You go alongside the islands for a while and then you enter a small river with mangroves and possibilities to see many animals. We did and it was a nice trip, except for the strong wind against us and Anna getting quite sea sick on the way back. But the highlight of the day was a rodeo that was conducted for a local celebration - see fotos (will try to upload video as well).

After such good times, we decided to stay a little longer in Nicaragua. We decided to go up to Leon a nice colonial city with close by beaches. We will let you know how it was…

Yours,

Anna&Maarten