Okay, enough of the wishy washy mental stuff. This past weekend I celebrated Independence Day on Isla Ometepe - an island not too far from here. It was the Independence of our nation, but for me, it brought independence of a more spiritual and intrinsic nature. Here's the story ...
On Friday, Sara (med student from U of Mass), Erin (my Nica BFF), the German (aka Mike, aka Erin's Nica BF), and American Steve (aka Stephen from Raleigh, NC) departed for Isla Ometepe. I visited Isla Ometepe back in March, and spent 3.5 hours ascending Volcano Concepcion. It takes 10 hours total to ascend the full mofo. This time, my mission was NO LONG HIKES in the humid jungle! We caught a cab from Casa Oro, a hostel where we've been catching the surfing bus to Playa Maderas. Some confusion and frustration occurred because we reserved and paid for an air-conditioned mini-van to take us to San Jorge, where we would board the ferry. This mini-van was in Managua - two hours away - when we were supposed to depart. This is Nican time, where everything is done eventually, give or take thirty minutes to two hours. We eventually got two taxis, and paid a few bucks extra for A/C. We made for San Jorge, and arrived just in time for our ferry. As we exited the taxi, some local man tried to tell us we missed the 2:30 ferry and would have to wait for the next one. I thought he was helpful. He then tried to sell me on staying at some hotel. Erin and German checked with the ticket box and found out that we were on time for the ferry. Turns out the man lied so he could have time to work on me for that hotel of his. We ran to the ferry and boarded just in time. The ride to the island was choppy. Steve, Sara and I stood outside on the deck, and took turns getting soaked by the waves.
From right to left:
Ilka (from Sweden), Heather (from MA), Sara (also from MA),
German (Mike, from Germany) and I.
Ilka (from Sweden), Heather (from MA), Sara (also from MA),
German (Mike, from Germany) and I.
We arrived in Moyolgapa, the port stop on Isla Ometepe. After being beseiged by taxi drivers, we found a mini-van that would take us to the little town of Merida. The drive to Merida was bumpy, rural, rustic, and so very pretty. The air reeked of mota (weed) in Merida, but we could not see any smoke. Our driver told us he did not smell it. Must just be the air. We arrived at a hostel, and after surveying the place, decided to treat ourselves to a weekend stay at a hotel with A/C. We had the taxi driver take us up the street (if you can call it that) to Hotel Omaja. Hotel Omaja is a splendid place with little cabins and an open-air bar/reception/restaurant. We were the only guests, and were able to get a little cabin with five beds, A/C, and "warm water showers" lol. We arrived just before dark on Friday, and proceeded to have dinner. We ordered two bottles of Flora de Cana Gran Reserve and Coca-Cola (thanks Erin!) and played "Two truths one lie" while eating hamburgers. The power went out (or did they turn it off on us? haha) so we headed back to our cabin and spent the rest of the night singing songs and talking on our porch. The next morning we set off by horseback for the Casacada (waterfall). I fell in love with a Palamino-colored horse and claimed it for my ride, leaving poor Steve with a small, old white horse. It took us 1.5-2 hours to ascend the volcano, at which we reached a point where we had to dismount and walk the rest of the 1 kilometer to the waterfall. The air is thick and humid. The climb is not so bad, but the thick humid air makes me feel claustophobic; like I cannot catch a good breath. We reach the waterfall and it is great. Smaller than I expected, what with living in Yosemite and it's grandiose falls, but still splendid. We all jump into the little pool below the cascada for picture time. On our descent, we run into Heather (another med student staying at the other house) and her boyfriend. They climbed the whole thing and I am not for a minute jealous of them, lol. When we get back to our horses, we do a swap. Steven gets Sara's horse, which is the second largest, Sara takes mine, and I get old white fart. But, to my surprise, old white fart is actually faster than he let on. The whole ascent was filled with Stephen crying out "Ya!" as he tried in vain to get old whitey to gallop, or hell, even canter. Old Whitey is just awnry is all. After kicking Erin's horse (with me on him) when she got too close, I steered Old Whitey to the back. Once he was by himself, he rode well. He rode fast on command, and was easy to steer. He was kinda like me - with attitude. Horses have a lead they like to follow. For example, German's horse liked to be leader, and the second-biggest horse liked to follow him. The third biggest horse (the palomino) liked to trail Erin's horse (who was a mommy and had an adorable colt that followed her the whole trail). My horse liked to run by himself. He would gallop at full speed upon my command, until we got too close to the bigger horses. He would then slow down and would not speed up for all the "ya" and kicks in the gut in the world. When the other two horses got too close, he would start cantering slowly, waiting for me to okay it or give the command to go faster. Needless to say, I loved galloping on that horse. It is such a rush.
We got back to the hotel and ate lunch. Sara and I then enjoyed a nice siesta. Dinner followed, and we all sang (and prob irritated the hotel staff) patriotic songs, like This Land is Your Land and our National Anthem. During the day I lamented the lack of fireworks, as it would be my first Fourth of July without them. The owner of the hotel, an expat American, surprised us all by lighting off Nican made fireworks. Without warning, they went off, scaring and surprising us all. It was nice to see them though. More rum and card games followed into the night. It was a great night. We went back to the porch late and talked some more. About midnight we all shuffled to bed.
The next day we had breakfast and more interesting convo, as we discussed history (Steve is a high school history teacher) and politics. Next came the bill. We have not paid for anything yet, mind you, and the hotel has been keeping a tab for us. The tab was not so much a sticker shock as we thought, though we all spent double what we had originally planned. Luckily the hotel accepted credit cards. The weekend was well worth it. We stopped at a little lagoon thing on our way back to the port town. We thought it would be a natural lagoon, but it seemed more man-made. The locals say the water is healing. It felt good on my massive amount of bug bites, though I am not sure if it is healing. The bugs here seem to get through the 100% DEET we are all wearing. Afterwards, Sara, Steve and I boarded the taxi for the ferry and German and Erin stayed behind for a day or two more.
I didn't take any pictures. This camera (an old gift from you know who) seems to hate me. Last time I was here I could not take enough pics because the memory card was too small. This time I planned ahead - bringing mom's card reader and frequently uploading pics to my computer. This time, the batteries will not stay charged. Others took many pics and I will have to accumulate them all and post.
Love you all and I will try to write more later this week. I drank some frappuccino today so this helped contribute to this long update. :D
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