Postcards From Ometepe Island

Greetings from El Ojo De Agua! It's a beautiful natural spring fed by an underwater source from the nearby Maderas Volcano. Swimming here was refreshing, cooling, and fabulous even though I shared a changing stall with a tarantula. Naia found it exhausting.

Hola from Charco Verde! It's a nature reserve dripping with ghost stories about lake dwelling demons and gold hoarding evil cow-people. But if you can put all of that out of your mind, it sure is pretty!

Welcome to San Ramon Waterfall. This Sign Lies. It is not 3 km to the waterfall. It's more, much more.

Our "walk to the waterfall" was an epic uphill rock scramble that involved losing my camera, hitchhiking, having Naia get whisked away through a canyon on the back of a local stranger who took pity on us, getting bitten by mysterious and painful cloud forest ants, and having my strong little daughter conquer a hike totally not meant for 4 year olds. But the reward was a breathtaking waterfall, a symphony of howler monkeys, clouds of morpho butterflies, and meeting some truly fabulous people on the trail who encouraged my wee girl onward with magic tricks and fairy stories.

(This was the last time I saw my camera too.)

(blurry phone pic. my real camera took a separate adventure that day.)

 (another phone pic... up the steep rocks.)

Bienvenedos A Moyogalpa! This is the primary port town on Ometepe Island. It's colorful, full of laid back charm and smiling faces, and they even have pizza. We only wish we had more time to spend in this 2 street, 1 church, 1 volcano, 30 cow town.

(beans drying on the sidewalk on the main street in town.)

(Rice and corn drying out on the basketball court.)

And adios from the beach! I don't know what this beach is called, or even exactly where on the island we were. But we strolled over and found this scene, so many wild horses (and even some cows.) My boy was blissed out.

Wish you were here.