Freedom on Ometepe

Hey there sports fans, this week I’m reporting from the island of Ometepe. For those of you who don’t know la Isla de Ometepe, to start to paint the picture, it has recently been nominated for one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. Why may you ask? I’ll tell you. First of all the island is not off the Pacific or Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, but its located smack dab in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the largest freshwater lake in all of central America. And in this freshwater lake, despite heavy over-fishing, there still exists a small population of freshwater tiburones, one of the only in the world. Oh, and tiburon means sharks. Fresh water sharks, a little terrifying right. But what really makes this island unique, are the two large volcanoes that constitute the majority of the landmass, Vulcan Concepcion y Vulcan Madera. The peaks reach a height of 1600 km and 1300km respectively and can be seen from miles away. And Concepcion is still active, which makes the island seem that much more mysterious and alluring. So this past weekend, I decided to head to the island, to try my luck at hiking to one of its peaks.

One of my best friends here in the Peace Corps had the good fortune to be placed on Ometepe, so I got the local perspective of what the island was really like. He took me around to the spots that often go unnoticed by the casual backpacker and visitor, which in my mind, is much more entertaining the usual tourist spots. Instead of going to a popular natural spring, we went to a more peaceful, off the beaten track beach. We were able to explore acres and acres of untouched farmland and wilderness kilometers away from what most of you back home would describe as any resemblance to civilization, because despite being such a popular tourist destination, the island is self is super undeveloped and the majority of the people live under the poverty line, like the rest of the country.

But the crown jewel of the trip was our early Sunday morning hike to the mirador (Lookout) of Vulcan Concepcion. It would’ve been a perfect day to make the trek to the summit, but unfortunately I had a fantasy football draft only hours later, which stopped us 75% of the way up. The hike was no easy feet, and while there is a defined path for the majority of the time, it is small and oer grown, and a lot of the path was overgrown and narrow. Through one stretch, we had to wiggle through about a 50 foot long, 1 foot wide rock crevice. Not to mention that it was steep. To provide some context, much of the trek was a steeper than the stairs at the Robins center at the University of Richmond. So an hour and a half later, muddied and drenched in sweat, we arrived to the end the tree line, which in a lot of ways felt like emerging through the trap door of an attic. You pass this imaginary line and all the sudden instead of seeing a jungle canopy above, the sun starts to appear brighter, and there you are with nothing but the clear blue sky overhead. We had great luck that day. It was so clear that we could we see the Pacific Ocean from where we stood, breathing heavily and observing with big eyes just how high up we truly were. Words won’t do it justice, which is why I brought my camera. See the below photos. I’ve done a fair share of exploring and hiking in my time here and back in the states, but I this may have been one of the most breathtaking views I’ve ever had the good fortune of coming across. If you’re in shape, and happen to be Nicaragua, this is the sort of thing you should be doing. I guess you don’t een hae to be in shape upon thinking more about it. On our way down, we saw a 70 year old grandmother making the hike up with her family!

Just taking a little rest after a tough hike

 Believe it or not, the day got better from there. After descending, washing off, and drafting my fantasy football team, we headed towards the ferry dock for the sunset, with the sky as clear as it was when we were at the mirador. After growing up around pools, lakes, and the ocean, I almost think it’s sacrilegious to not go swimming when the opportunity presents itself. After thinking about it a second, I asked Zac to hold my Tona, and if I could jump off the dock. His response was one of shock. Not shok about jumping in, but as if that was even a question. It’s not like the states where there are issues of liability and insurance every step of the way through life, so he jokingly responded, “You could jump off the car ferry if you wanted to.” I sat on that thought for a second, and realized here that was a legit possibility, so without another word, I walked over to the ferry operator and asked if that was ok. It was no surprise to hear him say it wasn’t a problem, and that in fact it would be entertaining. So what do you think I did? Well the pictures can tell you better than I can. And it just goes to show, anything is possible down here, you just need to ask the right questions.