I love islands!
I had good memories of Ometepe being a relaxing place, and was not disappointed. The first night we were a little disappointed because we had hoped to stay at Finca Magdalena, but the access road was closed, so we camped that first night at El Tesoro de Pirata, a black-sand beach on the south-facing part of Volcán Concepción. We set up beneath an amazing tree full of monkeys, which sort of put Milo on edge all night. It was pretty, but there was not much of a breeze and the area was full of angry ants, so the next day we moved on to Playa Santo Domingo.
Playa Santo Domingo was perfect, right in the middle of the two volcanoes that make up the island. It was breezy all night, no flies or mosquitoes, and the sand was hard enough to drive on easily. The lake was great for swimming and all sorts of washing. It felt good to be camping on the beach, Baja-style for the first time since, well, Baja. And we were treated to all sorts of bird and frog sightings, as well as the groups of untended cows and horses that would pass on by.
The day of our second afternoon, we were hit with swarms of bugs like these, but somehow they stayed out of the van and didn’t bite.
Ometepe is changing fast. Five years ago, there was no paved road through Playa Santo Domingo. Now, the paved road is full of tourists on rental scooters–a good way to get around, don’t get me wrong, but different than the bumpy, empty place I’d visited before. The single paved road running around the island is often clogged with livestock traffic, so some locals travel on the beachfront, mostly on horseback or by bicycle, but the tourists on 4-wheelers and motorcycles can muck up a beach really fast. The biggest changes may be still to come for Ometepe. This past week, some Chinese interests brokered a deal with Nicaragua to build an ocean-to-ocean canal through the country. The proposed path would cut right through Lake Nicaragua, an idea that I find pretty heart-breaking. Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America, so I can understand the motivation, but it’s pretty obvious that the area around the canal would never be the same.
Today we say goodbye to Nicaragua and hello to Costa Rica!
jbuhler