Isla de Ometepe

After a few days of kitesurfing and windy camping, we decided it was time to head North to Nicaragua.

The Costa Rican kite beach was fairly close to the border but we decided on a dawn departure anyway. Border crossings have proved to be full of time-consuming surprises. We had to endure a similar search from the Nicaraguan police as our previous crossing and all the usual bureaucracy, but all said and done we were through in a few hours. We even had company this time around which made it much nicer. With our new friends Frederico, Claudia and their son Benji in their pickup we became a caravan!

Frederico and Claudia are on quite the adventure as well. They are driving from Colombia to Alaska over a year in search of the perfect spot for a kitesurfing hang out. They plan to open a restaurant and cabanas somewhere with wind and waves. We can't wait to find out what spot they choose so we can go visit!

We cruised from the border to San Jorge, a town on Lake Nicaragua, to try and catch a ferry to Isla de Ometepe. After lots of discussion at the port office about our trailer that they didn't know how to charge us for, we were told they would "try" to fit us on and that we needed to work it out with the captain of the ferry. As the cars, trucks, and tourists piled on the boat, it quickly became apparent that Chomo and the trailer (Chomito) were not going to fit. After some more haggling it was decided that there was just enough room for Chomito, and it was a better idea to send the trailer with the first ferry in hopes that it would increase our chances of catching the next boat a few hours later. We waved goodbye to Chomito as the boat pulled out of the port--it was a little hard to watch all our gear disappear over the waves into the middle of the lake without us, but luckily Frederico was there to keep an eye on it. We talked to the captain of the next ferry right away and Chomo got to load first.

It's a little over an hour trip on the ferry across the windy wavy lake. Because of how large Lake Nicaragua is, the constant strong wind creates head high swell, making the ride a little sloshy and testing our sea legs and making for a breezy ride. Halfway across the lake, Becca took her foot out of her flip flop only for a moment. By the time she put her foot back down, the sandal was gone--swept away by the wind into the lake--never to be seen again. A small donation to the wind gods.

Looking from the shore it doesn't seem that far to the two giant volcanoes that make up the island but the boat ride simultaneously gives you the sense of how big both the lake and those volcanoes really are. By the time you reach the island the volcano dwarfs the surrounding view. As we pulled up to the dock we couldn't see the trailer but we spotted Fred and Claudia. whew.

We didn't have much daylight left, but wanted to make it to a campsite at Finca Magdalena on the other side of the island so we watched the sun go down as we wound around the figure eight of the two volcanoes. The roads on the island, including the main highway, are cobblestone. It makes quite the hum driving on smooth cobblestone at highway speeds. After stopping to ask directions many times, we drove up the long rutted drive in the dark and found a place to set up camp for the night. The farm doubles as the trailhead to summit the smaller of the two volcanoes, but we awoke to a rainstorm and decided it best to save the summit for another day.

After a lazy morning at Magdalena, we stopped for some vegetarian food at a beachfront restaurant we had seen on the way in and were surprised to find a whole pack of white faced monkeys hanging out across the street. Rok was fascinated, but the monkeys weren't as excited about him.

We decided to check out some of the other  camping possibilities on the island and found Tesoro del Pirata, a little hotel complex with a place to park and camp on the beach next to an amazing giant tree. We set up and decided to stay a couple nights, cooking yummy meals and drinking fresh fruit smoothies, paddle boarding, and checking out some of the island's flora and fauna. Unfortunately, I accidentally took my iphone paddle boarding in my pocket and Siri wasn't very happy about it. Gurgle gurgle.

We heard about a waterfall hike that we wanted to check out but we had mixed reports about the road there. The nice owner at Tesoro del Pirata said, "You will make it, just drive slowly." We decided to leave the trailer and go for it. We hopped in Chomo and hit the gas and sunk to the axel in the sand. We were saved again by our friends-- this time by their amazing Toyota Hilux pickup with a bumper-mounted winch. We were on our way in no time. It was quite the journey. There are many bad roads in Central America but this one was among the worst we have seen. We had to maintain a slow crawl to avoid the sharp volcanic rocks, washouts and potholes. There were times when we thought it might be faster to walk. It wound around the island's smaller volcano and through some rustic villages. It was really neat to see how much the vibe changes when you get just a few kilometers off the smooth cobblestone highway. We eventually made it to the trailhead and after a 45 minute beautiful hike up though the jungle we were rewarded with the site of a very tall waterfall complete with a great little swimming pool at its base. We relaxed in the sunshine and dipped in the cool water before heading back toward camp.

With the return hike and slow drive it was dark by the time we made it back to el Tesoro. We tried to make ferry reservations for our trip back across the lake, but it again proved difficult with the trailer and it seemed like we would just have to go and talk to "El Capitan."

The next morning we said farewell for now to our new friends and headed for the pier. We hope to see Frederico and Claudia again further along on their trip. We lucked out with space for our van and trailer together on the next ferry and were back to the PanAmerican in no time. We waved goodbye to Lake Nicaragua. We're glad we put in the effort to get Chomo over to Isla de Ometepe's little slice of paradise.