CA Trek 2013 - Ometepe

Isla de Ometepe is an island made up of two connected volcanos in the middle of Lake Managua, accessible by an hour-long ferry ride. Having had amazing weather to that point, our luck ran out and it started raining almost immediately after getting off the boat. We managed to find a hostel that could accommodate all of us on Playa Domingo, in the middle stretch of the island, but the rain kept up all afternoon and we had little choice but to hang out on the porch. It was raining so hard that we legitimately began to consider the fact that we might need to cut our losses and leave the island the next morning if the weather didn't improve.

Fortunately for us, we woke up to sunshine and blue skies. One group set off first thing to climb one of the volcanos, an eight hour slog up muddy trails into the clouds to find a lake in the crater. That sounded a bit more intense than I was looking for, so I opted to go with the rest on a shorter hike to the islands biggest waterfall.

The hike itself was pretty good, maybe an hour each way with a few steep stretches. The weather was hot and, by the time we reached the waterfall, we were eager to wade into the pool at its base. It wasn't a roaring thunderous waterfall but it was probably close to a hundred yards high, sending a steady stream plummeting downward. Standing directly in the fall, letting the cold mountain water pour over you felt amazing.

We didn't make it back to the hotel with enough time to catch the last ferry of the day off the island, so a few of us set off to find a place to watch the sunset. Armed with one liter bottles of beer and our cameras, we made our way down the road and up the hill before finally hopping a fence into an empty field. We showed up a little too late to catch most of the sun's descent, but were still able to enjoy a great view as the evening sky changed colors behind one of the volcanos.

The next morning, we packed up our bags and hopped on the ferry, our sights set on heading to the surfer haven of San Juan Del Sur in southern Nicaragua.