15th of august

leaving the town of rivas on the 12th of august did not go as smoothly as we planned. the reason being: we simply slept in. the day before i decided it was time to buy some kind of a clock, an alarm device so that we´d get up at 6am and head to the island of ometepe. obviously a clock that costs less than a dollar does not have a guarantee and it kept showing 4am even though the sun was shining and definitely indicated that it was past 6am. well, not a problem. we got up and went to the nearest agricultural equipment store to buy some....machetes. now all of us are officially armed with el salvadorian machetes, marianne got herself the longest one, so it is still a puzzle how that thing is going to fit in her backpack and what the miami officials are going to think of it. there is only one way to find out: at the miami airport on the 22nd of august.

finally made it to the island of ometepe. got a ferry at 2pm i believe and enjoyed a pleasant trip full of sun and mp3 provided music. all of us learned our lesson, so the first thing was to cover the backpacks and handbags with plastic and then put a loooot of that sunscreen lotion on the face. obviously this time the ferry trip was a piece of cake, a sweet promenade in comparison with the previous ferry ride in the carribean sea. lake nicaragua (cocibolca) is lovely in this sense. warm water, hardly any waves and the most magnificent views. it is actually so huge that it resembles a sea. one can not see the other side of the lake, only two amazingly beautiful volcanoes rising from the water and forming an island of ometepe. the clouds usually cover the tops of the volcanoes so there are constantly slightly hidden by those funny, weirdly shaped clouds.

once on the actual island we had to figure out the way to take us to our destination: an ecological farm el zopilote. it was raining by the time we got to that spot and it surely was a streneous climb since the farm is situated on the hill and the road there is covered in mud and stones. any moment i thought someone was going to slide down the hill with the heavy backpack and the rest of the stuff carried in hands. luck was on our side, nevertheless, and we made it all the way to the reception. the italian boys on the corn island recommended el zopilote to us and well, the place is very ecological!everything is recycled and very simple. one can sleep in a hammock for like 2 dollars in the midst of a wild life. that was camille´s choice. marianne and i settled for a double bed in a dorm, and were quite glad with that choice. despite the place lacking any civilization except for the electricity it had an amazing atmosphere. first of all its location is great: very close to the beach or just a pier for swimming in the lake (marianne and i liked that a lot), right next to the volcano (8h hikes available every day, once again camille opted for this entertainment) and well generally in the nature. hens and pigs running around all the time, giving it a real countryside touch. the owner of zopilote is an italian guy of some 30 years of age. (no wonder those italians were so excited about the place) he is this most chilled out person ever who apart from everything else prepares the most amazing pizzas (real italian style in a real big oven) and his all being emphasizes the values of his farm: piece and respect to the nature. he also grows all sort of interesting herbs himself, so everything is virtually grown and made at the farm.

people we met at zopilote during our 4 days on the island are also difinitely worth a word or two. lots of europeans especially from germany. then this real character called loca from taiwan who proudly explained to everyone where taiwan was and how beautiful the island is and showed at least 10 times a video on his phone "taiwan will touch your heart", and many other backpackers taking latin america by storm. got a lot of new ideas regarding future travelling in this region.

our 4 days on ometepe went quickly by as we had things to do every day. my definite number 1 activity was riding a horse along the beach of the lake, though visiting the watersprings "ojos de agua" with thermal water was also very pleasant. crystal clear chilly water. the only negative memory was being bitten by some kind of a waspy like insect and watching my finger turning red and inflamed but even that didn´t ruin the experience. after all when it comes to insects here, one just has to get used to sleeping in a bed with possibly ants, cockroaches, spiders etc. i think i even developed an extra sharp reflex to anything touching me even slightly: jump 2m away from that spot instantly.

all in all ometepe was a friendly countryside place, which despite its 80% official unemployment rate is probably becoming an ever more attractive tourist destination, and it is completely uderstandable.