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.