We left the town of Granada and took a taxi to different Tica bus stations to book a ticket to Honduras but they had no internet so we took a chance that we could do it when we got back from Ometepe. We went to the dock of San Jorge and took an old, old,wooden cargo vessel with 2 floors,the top one was outdoors and the bottom one was indoors. My mum was annoyed at the ultimate traveller because he said we would have to sit on the floor of the top deck and there was no space and it wasn’t safe for a baby. Whilst my mum was getting frustrated he had already put the luggage on so that made her angrier. She was saying,” I am not getting on there with Jed,no way,you’re mad,we will wait for the next boat, Ian!”. But in the end we got on and went to the bottom floor which was really crowded and had water on the floor.
Me and the ultimate traveller had to stand up for the whole journey but of course my mum got to sit down with Jed. The boat was creaking exactly like a pirate ship(like on films sometimes) and it felt and looked like it was going to sink and it was the slowest boat in history . When we finally got off at the port town of Moyagalpa we went in a taxi to a town called Santa Cruz but there was no accommodation there so we ended up in Santa Domingo which is the town next to Santa Cruz. We found a good room across the road from our hotel (which was on the beach) and it was called Finca Santa Domingo. Our room as usual had a double and single bed with A.C and a good warm shower. We stayed here for 1 week.
Around our hotel there was quite a bit of wildlife; white throated jays which are very beautiful but you get fed up with them after a bit ,there’s also a lot of white-faced monkeys which are cheeky and these were everywhere
(once, they saw mum put a banana in the bin outside and it attacked the bin to get it out and then ran off with it) and there are the howler monkeys which we saw when we explored the old zip line platform that went really high and we had to climb up rocks,twist around trees, jump to the first platform and climb up ladders to the 3rd platform. And of course there are the ugly black vultures. One day we came back to our room and I went in the bathroom and there was a scorpion on the step of the shower! That really shocked us. Apparently the ones that can climb are the deadly ones and this one must have climbed up to get to this position!
Ometepe is an island on Lake Nicaragua which consists of 2 volcanoes and it’s approximately 270 square km. Whilst we’ve been here we have been to the Ojos(eye)of water. We walked it from our hotel and we found a back entrance before we arrived at the main entrance. The sign of the back entrance was on the ground broken up so not many people would find it this way. There was a cabin near the gate which probably used to be where you had to pay. The walk we took this way was very pleasant. A few minutes from the entrance you walked through a big patch of sugar cane,the path went right through the middle of the sugar cane. Now and then you would get a brilliant view of the Concepcion volcano which is the tallest and most beautiful one.
We also found a tomato field so when there was no-one about we picked one and they were the juiciest, tastiest tomatoes in the world. I am not usually that keen on tomatoes but these were yummy.
We arrived at the springs which were crystal clear in the middle of the jungle and it wasn’t over crowded with tourists.
We jumped right in. A few days later we came back here and spent the whole day. We ate coconuts,my brother ate them too and sat very comfortably in a deck chair whilst eating it.
One day we took a 4 wheel drive taxi and drove to some petroglyphs outside of Santa Cruz. Petroglyphs are carvings on rocks, these were more than a thousand years old. Here are some pictures of them-. The man who drove us in the taxi was also a guide . He told us that Ometepe was an ancient burial site for tribal kings and leaders probably from Mexico. He also told us that people from Mexico and Guatemala come here in vans to collect the plantain because it is a very good place to grow plantain because of the volcanic soil and there is a lot of it. From here we drove for 1 hour on bumpy roads to arrive at San Ramon waterfall. When we had parked up we walked up the volcano Colderas for about 1 hour to reach the falls. It’s usually a bit shorter but we had to carry Jed who is a tonne weight. We took it in turns to carry him. We walked through different coloured shades of green jungle and through the dried up river and through a small canyon to get to the top. When we got to the top there was a film crew that was making a video for Nicaraguan tourism. They interviewed mum,asking her if she liked it in Nicaragua and things like that but she didn’t know she was being interviewed so they were doing it secretly. The waterfall was absolutely magical and very tall, I think it was about 100 meters but it looked taller than that. The rock face was a sheer drop with the water cascading down it. Plants were growing over the volcanic rock so that made it even more beautiful. There was a small pool at the bottom of it (in the rainy season there would be a lot more water) which was super refreshing especially after a hot and heavy(with my brother) hike up.
I went in fully dressed so that made me so cool on the way down that I could carry Jed the all way down. We swam and put our heads under the gushing water coming from above and filled our bottle of water for the hike back down.
After our descent we got back in the taxi and went to a place which rented kayaks.The taxi driver ordered a meal for us to eat before we went in the canoe. After our meal we all got in a small boat and drove to the mouth of the Rio Istian river with 2 double seated canoes being pulled along, behind us. When we arrived at the mouth of the river my mum,Jed and the ultimate traveller all went in 1 double canoe and I went in a double canoe with a guide. I could have gone by-myself but it was better with a guide because he spotted a lot of birds and told me their names, he gave me a leaflet with pictures of birds and their names so I could spot them myself and he mainly rowed whilst I took pictures. The only thing that was not good about him was that he sometimes shooed birds away before I could take pictures of them or even look at them but apart from that he was good. We paddled for 1 mile altogether which took about 2 hours. We saw wild horses at the water’s edge,water buffalos a bit further up and we also saw the snout and eyes of caiman (a small crocodile) in the water and we also saw all these different kinds of birds; Great egret,Cattle egret,
Little Blue heron,Green heron,
Bare- Throated Tiger heron,
Limkin,
Iris,
common black hawk ,
the Osprey
and the Northern Jacana.
There was an abundance of wildlife here. We took the boat back just as the sun was setting over Lake Nicaragua, it was stunning.
Another day we took a taxi to a place called Charco Verde which is a national park. We had to pay(of course) to get in the reserve. Once we were inside we walked on a decent path with beautiful flowers on each side and with a stunning view of volcano Concepcion on the left and at the end we came to a smart view of the lagoon and guess who we saw again?… We saw the film crew from the waterfall so we had the camera pointed at us again so we got away quickly. We walked right around the lagoon and we heard the Howler monkeys. If you didn’t know what the sound was you would be quite scared but it was very interesting to hear and watch.We stayed here for a long time just listening and watching them. The sound was like a primal scream(I don’t know how to put videos on yet so it’s a bit hard to describe,sorry). We will probably never hear that sound again so close. We carried on to a spot on the beach were there was a turn style between the path and the beach for no reason and swam in the lake . We walked up to the view-point from here and we got a good view of the lagoon,lake,main-land and the nature reserve.