It was a rainy rainy evening -- more rain than either of us had ever experienced. The roads became like rivers in Matagalpa and the people, mojaaadddooos. Drenched. And thus began our adventures, making our way toward La Isla de Ometepe en Lago Nicaragua within the State of Rivas, Nicaragua. Nathan turned 22 on Friday the 10th of August and for his birthday we decided to go somewhere special. Unfortunately his birthday was largely composed of paranoid traveling in which he was sure that we were being followed... AND he needed a bigger knife lol don't we all. To his credit -- we very well may have been followed because we kept seeing the same people in strange places... and some things are simply to bizarre to be written off as coincidence. But my god, he was freakin me out!
All things changed once we made it safely to Granada and promtly befriended 2 locals, who we proceeded to pass the entire night among. I cannot stress enough my appreciation of this city, the HISTORY, the architecture, the culture... que fascinante, que bonito, que bien. We stayed in a hostel called "Oasis" where there was a pool in the central courtyard! Estábamos completar. We took a night swim and a morning swim.
The next day we had the best breakfast of our entire time here in Nicaragua. We thought about this long and hard and even took a vote between 3 places. Best French Toast ever. After breakfast, we visited a Museum of Pre Colombian artifacts. You will see some of our favorite pieces that follow...
And then we were off! To Rivas, and then to San Jorge, and finally we hopped on the Ferry to La Isla de Ometepe -- where we arrived in the night. Of course that's not the full story, we met the Don Juan of Rivas while on the hour-long Ferry ride and it was all over. He had lived over 20 years in Miami in the 60's and 70's and had experienced more life than I think that I can politely imply through this blog. He also invited us to pass the night at his friends hostel, which sounds really creepy, but it wasn't. Well, yea it was. Hahaha BUT we learned and ate so much -- almost for free. He bought us seafood dinners, provided the Rum, and bought our breakfasts. He even paid half our room costs. What a guy. Seriously though, this man said some things that I will NEVER forget. They are etched in my mind and every day or so I hear him still... just as he said it. Fowl. "You gonna F'ing choose who you gonna F'ing be." Maybe it was the Rum...or the accent, but this man was truly profound. He also explained exactly why we should never end up in Nicaraguan prison. "No air conditioning." Note taken my friend. We left after breakfast and hitched a ride to Santo Domingo, where we passed 2 nights in a hostel that I continuousely hustled for a better price... and we ended up with an ocean view and a balcony. The final price came to be $15 total.
Nicaragua is ¨Nahuatl¨ for the land of lakes and volcanoes. The island of Ometepe is an excellent account of this and literally translates to two volcanoes, Concepción and Maderas. Concepción is both very big and very active.
We splurged a bit in Ometepe to celebrate Nathan. Nate the Great! The most beautiful boy man lion alive. We even rented a motorcycle... which I must tell you turned me into a little girl again. I couldn't sleep the whole night before I was so excited -- up for the sunrise and everything. Nathan thought I was coocoo. He made the slightest movement and I said "ready?" No, grumpy bear was not ready, it was 5 am! LOL
It was actually really smart of us to rent the motorcycle. $30 for the whole day and we were able to explore the whole island with the freedom to return to paradise at a whim. Paradise -- aka "Ojo de Agua". You may notice the underwater photo shoot below. Enjoy!
Even the trees are Sandanistas! Red over black signifies redemption over suffering...
During Nathans birthday meal, I thought I was hallucinating BUT it was real!!! I ran into a friend from school in Spokane, WA, USA. How crazy is this! What a beautiful surprise to run into a great soul, Lori -- who shared her experiences volunteering in the health clinics of Costa Rica and Ometepe.
We returned home to a delicious and heart melting surprise... The ¨Molinas¨, our host family sang traditional birthday songs and everything. We could not have asked for a better family here.
“How wonderful that no one need wait a single moment to improve the world.”
-Anne Frank
