Ometepe

Our final destination in Nicaragua was Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua consisting of two towering volcanos joined by an isthmus.

On the short flight from Managua, we passed over the Isletas de Granada, where we had stayed for six days. This small archipelago of 365 little islands formed when the Mombacho volcano erupted thousands of years ago and its northeast flank collapsed.

We lodged at the El Bosque b&b, which is on an organic farm that supplies restaurants here and on the mainland. During the heat of the day, they shade their vegetables with palm fronds.

The locals show a lot of ingenuity, such as making a stepladder out of a straight ladder. The safety guy in me doesn't know when to quit.

Located on a farm just up the hill, one of many archaeological sites on Ometepe is dozens of petroglyphs carved on boulders for unknown reasons 1000-4000 years ago.

On the way back to the room, we encountered a troop of howler monkeys foraging in the treetops. Later, two young ones scampered on the roof above our room.







The smaller white-faced, or Capuchin, monkeys, also inhabit the island.













El Bosque has a restaurant in the nearby village, so we walked over there for dinner. It was Sunday, when the locals get serious about baseball. Several games were going on on the island.

The following morning, we hiked up the Maderas volcano. At one bend in the trail, there's a nice vista of the shoreline and the Concepcion volcano. That one's active.

As we climbed "poco-a-poco" high into the cloud forest, the trail became wet, rocky, muddy, slippery, and  steep. The trail leads to a lagoon in the crater at the top, but we decided to forgo that and save ourselves a few hours of unsure footing up and down. It was still a six hour hike.

Apparently, competitors on the TV show Survivor ran up this trail to the top (~4200') and back down again. At night.

The foliage is thick, and your favorite houseplants abound.

strange little jellybean-like seed

I was stiff and sore after the volcano ascent, but the next day was easy. We hired a driver and started at a private museum at the Ceiba Hotel across the island. Most of the museums here are private; this one has a large collection of artifacts from the island going back as far as 2000 BC.

The indigenous people traded widely, importing jade from Guatemala and gold from Columbia.

This piece shows Aztec influence.

The contents of a burial found nearby were placed in their original arrangement below the floor of the museum. It's thought that the deceased person was a shaman. The necklace on around the vessel on the right is made from crab legs.

This is a xulo, a kind of very small dog that was kept by the ancients. Kept, that is, until it was fattened for dinner. Predictably, they are no more.

We stopped by the local church in Altagracia to see a few ancient statues outside. Many of the figures have an animal totem as an alter ego on the person's back. This one seems to be an eagle.













It was getting to the warm part of the day, a good time to visit Ojo de Agua, a gathering place built around a huge pool of cool water from the mountain. It was spring break for the kids, and lots of families enjoyed a cooling-off.














After a refreshing swim, we lunched at a restaurant overhanging the beach. I noticed a dog drinking from the waves and remembered that this is a lake.

One more stop to look at petroglyphs, this time at a site called El Porvenir.

The highlight of our last non-travel day was kayaking in the wetlands of the isthmus. Beautiful lush foliage and lots of birds. Caimans (small crocodiles) are here as well, but they're shy and weren't visible.

We had to push through 100 yards of floating "salad," as the guides call it. When I buy these little plants for our pond, each is $3. It was slow slogging on the way in, but on the return we stayed close in the wake of our guide, which made it easy.

One of the trees here has orange flowers resembling a certain cartoon character. Each inner fold has a bit of nectar at the bottom which is deliciously sweet (we sampled).

Our guide showed us a green heron nest with a little chick in it.

An adult green heron was sitting on her eggs in the tree next door.

An iguana soaks up sun, blending well into the background.

One of my favorite birds is the multi-hued northern jacana. Many are at home in the wetland.

So another adventure comes to a close. Nicaragua is an under-appreciated and inexpensive destination with a deep history, good diving, unspoiled nature, tropical warmth, and friendly, welcoming people. No wonder it's popular with expats and young travelers. And with busy lives at home, it was nice for the two of us to share some time together. We thought it delightful.

Fire

The next six days were at Respiro lodge, not far from Granada. On the way we stopped to visit the El Merced cathedral and a butterfly reserve.  Butterlies, as the 60s song goes, are elusive, but a couple of them stayed put long enough for a photo.

Respiro is perched just opposite the Mombacho volcano and is beautifully designed and constructed. Our room had double doors open to the mountain view, with the lake and Granada off to the east. The European owners, Roman and Aimee, have a 50-acre hillside property with papaya, mango, bananas, chickens and ducks, bees, and 6000 teak trees they planted last year.

The log contains a hive of non-stinging bees

Our room had a beautiful view of Mombacho.  Every morning we woke to wind, birdsong, and the rasping roar of howler monkeys.

On the first full day there, we hiked to see some local coffee and cacao farms. Coffee and cacao do well in the same climate and one farm will grow both. Cacao can be harvested throughout the year, while coffee ripens just once a year during February-May.








Roman split open a cacao pod to show the beans and pulp that surrounds them. The pulp is tart and tasty but apparently isn't used for anything.

One farmhouse is owned by a Nicaraguan general who was given the property for his service in the war against the Contras. It's neatly manicured but he's seldom there. 

Another house, with a worn-out tennis court, is a remnant of the "coffee boom" that went for decades into the 1940s. It's been abandoned for years, but the family owning it does a bit of maintenance to keep it standing.

Guanacaste trees are the giants of the forest and make beautiful furniture such as the 15-foot table we ate at.












On the following day, we toured the Mombacho volcano, which is thickly carpeted by the forest. It has four craters, one of which is still active. Fumaroles vent sulfur-scented steam; this wild begonia loves it.

A giant crack in the earth, called the Tunnel, separates two of the craters.















Mombacho tops out at around 4000 feet and offers a spectacular view of the lake, the islets where we stayed, Granada, and surrounding countryside.







Orchids can be seen all over the mountain.

"plano espanola" orchid

"un dia" orchid lasts 24 hours

Our guide showed us a sleepy two-toed sloth in a tree near the trail. There were a few howler monkeys too.

One evening, we went to Masaya volcano, not far outside Managua and the most active of Nicaragua's 18 volcanos.

It's the highlight of one of the country's national parks and visitors are allowed to peer down at heaving lava in the crater at night. It was a primordial experience.

We rose at 6 a.m. the next morning for a drive to Montibelli, a private reserve that's a prime bird watching location.

We explored the forest for three hours and weren't disappointed.

The turquoise-billed mot-mot is the national bird

This is not a just a broken branch, but the head and beak of the northern poutoo, a master of camouflage.

hooded warbler

collared aricari

A howler monkey mom. They're usually hidden in the leaves or jumping from tree to tree.

white-throated magpie-jay

black-headed trogan

Even more birds! On our last full day at Respiro, the casita below us was vacant so we sat on the porch there and watched birds come to a small pond.

rufous-naped wrens

kiskadee

scarlet tanager female

We went into Granada for a massage ($30 for hour and a half) and visited the San Francisco Convent museum. The museum houses some large pre-Columbian statues found on Zapatero Island in the lake.











The last stop was the Granada cemetery to see some impressive statuary. There are some very wealthy families here that made it big in the heyday of coffee exporting.














It's hard to say goodbye to this idyllic retreat, but there's one more volcanic destination before heading home.