Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Another country, another border crossing. We got a bus from Monteverde to the highway, another from the highway to Liberia and another Liberia to the border. It was then another 2 hours to get through border control, things move slowly in Central America! From the border we got a chicken bus to Rivas in Nicaragua, they are called chicken buses because you can basically take anything onto them. This one did actually have a chicken on it which crowed every time a blind maraca player finished singing. In Rivas we walked around to find a food stand and have some tacos, this was nearly a very bad idea as we literally had to run to catch the last ferry (named Che Guevarra) over to Isla De Ometepe.
Ometepe is incredible, like something straight from a Hollywood film or an ancient pirate tale. The island is located in Lago de Nicaragua and formed due to the two volcanoes: Concepcion and Maderas rising from the water. The volcano Concepcion, which we had planned to hike, is still active and we were told when we arrived that it had been releasing ash and sulphur for a few days and therefore was too dangerous to climb. In fact, we found out that the entire island had been put on evacuation alert because it was possible the volcano could explode for the first time since 1957. Therefore instead of hiking we found other things to do on the island. The day after arriving we hired bikes and planned to cycle to Playa Santa Domingo on the isthmus between the two volcanoes. Sam and Dougie made it but I did not have the energy or the stamina. I got to 12km and couldn’t continue. On the way back I could feel my skin burning under the blazing sun, my legs were cramping and the mixture of sweat, sun cream and hair putty running into my eyes made me as good as blind. The 12km return journey took a long time and I didn’t get any sympathy from the girls in the bike rental shop who found it extremely amusing that I couldn’t cope in the heat. That afternoon I simply chilled at the hostel.
The next day instead of climbing Concepcion we decided to visit Cascada San Ramon with Vetti, an Australian girl and Tino, a German guy, we had met the night before. After deciding against hiring motorbikes we hired a guide and a minibus to take us to the waterfall. This ended up being an exceptionally good idea as some of the roads leading to the other side of the island were primitive at best. After a bumpy 25km drive and an exhausting 3km hike we made it to the waterfall. I’ve seen larger and far more spectacular waterfalls in my life but being able to strip down to my shorts and jump into the cool, fresh water made it all worthwhile. After relaxing for half an hour we left the base of Volcan Maderas and headed back to the other side of the island where we enjoyed the cool waters of some natural pools and the sun setting behind a steaming volcano.
When we were deciding whether to rent motorbikes to visit the waterfall we were allowed to give them a test run down the street. This got all of us eager to have another go so the next morning before getting the ferry back to the mainland we all rented a motorbike each (Dougie got a scooter) for an hour. Not being trusted on the roads, we were taken to the local baseball field where we were taught all the basics of motorbike riding. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it all came together; balance, throttles, gears, etc and after 5 minutes we were chasing Dougie around the diamond. Dougie had a head start on the rest of us due to the ease of handling his automatico. His confidence soon bit him in the arse though when he turned home base too quickly and went flying off the scooter. As well as the many cuts and scrapes to his limbs he was also forced to pay $100 repair costs as the front end needed replacing. Of course not heeding to warnings and due to being bored of doing circles of a baseball diamond for 40 minutes I decided to turn up the volume and get the speedometer needle jumping. This undoubtedly had negative repercussions and when I hit the doomed patch of ground close to home base too fast my fate was identical to Dougie’s. I headed towards a fence and in a panic achieved to do the one thing we were told never ever to do; use the front and back brake at the same time. This caused the back end of the bike to swerve left, which in turn threw me right. The bike landed on my right leg which was uncomfortable but I fell off a few metres before the fence which I suppose I can count as being lucky. Apart from the handle bars not being directly in line with the rest of the bike everything was fine and thankfully I managed to escape any repair costs. The owner wasn’t too fussed either, slowly walking over to my collapsed body, laughing and repeating ‘muy rapido’. Fortunately I was fine, it did make me realise how dangerous and exciting motorbikes can be though and maybe, only maybe mind you, take Joan’s words of warning a bit more seriously in future. In the end the owner was happy for me to jump back on the bike and ride the short journey back to town. From there were made a quick dash to the ferry and left the spectacular Isla De Ometepe behind us.
- comments