Ometepe

One final stop in Nicaragua was to the volcanic island of Ometepe. Ometepe is made up of two volcanoes in the vast Lake Nicaragua. One of the volcanoes, Volcan Conception, is an active volcano that last erupted in 2010... that is until about a week before I arrived! I saw huge plumes of smoke on videos circling on the news and social media, but with no advisories to avoid the area being issued I headed off to the island anyway, and luckily it paid off as there were no further eruptions!

The trip starts with an hour long ferry from the mainland, giving a perfect view of both of the volcanoes getting closer and closer. When in the port town of Moyogalpa I rented a quad bike (because I was too chicken/sensible to hire a scooter) to explore the island for a couple of days. Being so isolated from the mainland, Ometepe is a much more chilled and peaceful place than I had experienced so far in Central America. There are very few other vehicles on the roads, and I was just as likely to see someone riding a cow as on a vehicle.

I rode off in the glaring sunshine towards the other volcano, where I stopped at some spring fed pools to cool down. The weather since I had left El Salvador had been oppressively hot and humid, so this was a much needed break. However as I was there the weather seemed to break and a tropical storm rolled on. I ran for cover in the little restaurant as it passed, and I was kind of glad that the temperature didn't quite recover to the previous highs for my remaining time in Nicaragua. However, this did mean that the volcanoes were almost permanently covered with clouds after this!

Due to the tropical climate and the volcanic ash, Ometepe is very fertile and has rich agriculture. One night I stayed at an ecolodge that grew all of its own food, and specialised in growing chocolate. The onsite restaurant had amazing vegetarian food and an amazing range of drinks and food containing cocoa. The change in the weather continued and I got caught in another downpour while on the quad! Luckily I had a poncho to keep my bag dry but I must have looked a sight driving through the pouring rain with nothing but sunglasses to keep my eyes dry as I looked for somewhere to stop and take cover. But as always with tropical weather, the rain soon passed so I headed to Mango Beach to chill with a cocktail while watching the clouds think about leaving the peak of Conception Volcano.

After a couple of days exploring the island by quad I headed back to Moyogalpa to return the quad. But I was enjoying the island vibe so I found a guesthouse with a pool to hang around in for a few more days before I had to head off to my next exciting destination...Lue lisää