Touring Ometepe

Nanette:

We set off this morning after my Spanish class for a tour of Ometepe.  A mini-bus was rented and the whole family came along.

One goal of this trip was to give us a bit of an idea of the layout of the island and the main goal was to take the family on an outing to Oja de Agua, a couple of natural spring water pools.  The water is crystal clear!

The smaller, upper pool is where Berta says the water comes in.  It is believed that this is water that comes from Volcan Concepcion.  The water is not hot by any stretch of the imagination but it is wonderfully refreshing.    

I enjoyed swimming here and was trying to find where, exactly the water was coming into the pool but it is certainly not evident. The water just comes pouring out at the end of the lower pool so there is a lot coming in from somewhere.

As you can see by the photo, Eileen enjoyed the sun but did not go into the water.  She was not feeling very well and later was up-chucking in the bushes.  After getting rid of whatever was bothering her system she felt lots better.   We stayed there quite a while and most everyone indulged in swimming and playing in the water.  There are changing rooms and a bathroom with flushing toilets.  One almost had to climb a mountain to get to the toilets but when you need to go, you need to go.  They pump water from the pools to use in the toilets and, no, it does not get pumped back.  They have a septic system...  we asked!

                                       

This adventure took most of the day and we just spent the evening hanging out in the lobby/restaurant of our hotel.  The mayor came in with a bunch of people to have a birthday dinner. We gave him a hug and birthday wishes and I also took a few pictures for him. One of the guys we had met at the pools was among the party goers. 

Lots of members of Berta's family came down to look at the days' pictures and by the time everyone left it was just about time to go to bed anyway.  

Eileen is very busy writing up a positive review of our hotel so she has nothing to add to this blog at this time  .

Eating, Visiting, and Relaxing in Moyogalpa

Nanette

After arriving in Moyogalpa and settling into our dorm we set out to explore.  We didn't get too far before we were passing by Berta's house. (Eileen met Berta, who is the principal of the secondary school, when she was in Nicaragua 7 years ago).  We went in and all of Berta's family were shocked and overjoyed to see Eileen.  They had no idea that we were on the way. Eileen insists that she wrote a letter but I guess we are faster than the postal service.  After sitting around and talking for a while we were invited for lunch.  We had a lovely plate of fish with a yummy sauce of onions and tomato, rice, and fried plantain.  It was surprising and a bit odd that they set the table for only the 2 of us and they were eating in another room.  We insisted that they eat with us so Berta did sit with us to eat.

Berta, Eileen and Alejandro

Eileen and Victoria

By the time we were done lunch and had done a bit of talking ( I arranged for Berta to spend a bit of time with me to help me practice my Spanish) we were almost too tired to think straight.  Down the hill to our hotel and off to bed we went.  After a good long nap we sat in the lobby with our computers and caught up on e-mail and blogging before heading back to bed for the night.

I had arranged for Berta to come at 10:00 because I thought I might still be sleeping any earlier than that.  Well, getting up early is not a problem here.  The first bus of the day passes our hotel at 5:00am and the whole place seems to shake, not to mention the noise of the engines struggling mightily to get that bus up the very steep hill.  It was off to lunch at Magdalina's house on the beach after my spanish class

 (Magdalina is Berta's eldest daughter).  It was nice and cool in the shade of the mango trees with a nice breeze thrown in for good measure.  Geouany (sounds like Joannie) who is Magdalina's husband was showing us all of their trees and I was thrilled to see that they had a cashew tree.  The cashew grows on the end of a yellow fruit that looks a bit like a mini yellow pepper.  The fruit has a bitter yet somehow refreshing taste.

Cashew

After lunch we went off to visit another relative.  Geouany brought us there on his motorcycle...not to worry, only one at a time.  On my trip, we met up with a herd of cows on a tiny dirt road and I figured that we would stop and wait, but no, he honked his horn at the cows and we drove right up through a teensy, weensy gap between them and a barbed wire fence. Was well pleased to get out of that without gouges on my arms and legs!  Had an incredible view of the volcano driving through a dairy farm and just thoroughly enjoyed the ride.  Dorrian lives about a kilometer outside of town about 100 metres from the proposed site of the runway at the new intenational airport.  I shudder to think of what that will be like.

Eileen survived her motorcycle ride

Geouany, Bermania, and Nanette

Wilbur, the night guard at our hotel, walks around with a Spanish-English dictionary so I figured he is trying to learn English.  We sat in the lobby for a couple of hours helping each other practice.  I think he is doing well for himself.  He is 23 years old, married and has a 23 day old baby.  He also has his own house because he went to work in Costa Rica for a year during the construction boom and managed to save enough money.  He works 2 jobs and gets only Sunday until 8:00pm for a day off.  He is not complaining but feels that knowing how to speak English may give him a bit of an advantage as Nicaragua opens up more and more to tourists.

Eileen

Nanette is doing such a fine job recording our trip I hardly feel the need to add anything.

Nanette:
That Eileen is just too busy right now to be adding anything (a real e-mail addict!) so I'll just post it without her 2 cents worth.

Yay! We are in Nicaragua!!



Main lobby of airport in Managua

 Nanette

Halleluiah!....We have made it!!

All flight connections were good and we arrived in Nicaragua just after 1:00 in the morning. Ate nothing but snacks all day and am feeling bloated and tired.   As we didn't feel it was worthwhile to spend money on  a hostel for only a few hours sleep, the plan was to hang out at the airport for a few hours before grabbing a cab for the bus station.  There were several others from our flight with the same kind of plan so we passed a pleasant night talking and learning about some amazing people.

Two tired, yet still intrepid travelers



Zaida

 Zaida was born and brought up in Nicaragua but has been living in Miami for the past 32 years.  She has begun coming back to visit family and is becoming known as Santa Claus to them.  She comes every year for her birthday but gifts for her are forbidden... instead, she hosts a party and provides food and entertainmet as well as gifts to all the children (24) in her family.  Those bags at her feet are full of stuff for her to give away.

Another lady was on her way to a village where she has been encouraging and supporting art instruction in the school.  She and her husband go there every year bringing art suppies, books for the school, and sports equipment for the kids. 

And then there were the Canadians... A group of 7 young people from Ontario out for a couple of weeks of fun in the sun.  This group had a rented bus coming to take them to San Juan del Sur where they will enjoy the beaches and bars.  We were invited along with a promise to drop us off in Rivas so we could catch the ferry to Isla Ometepe  We accepted this invitation gladly and climbed in at 4:30am. It was an interesting drive through the pre-dawn darkness. We talked with each other about our travels and I was impressed with how well traveled they are.  Makes me want to just get out there on the road and see so much more of the world.  What a fun group!  Hated to leave them, but we got out at a gas station in Rivas just as it started to get light out. 

Took us a while, but we managed to get a taxi to take us and our very heavy, awkward luggage to the ferry landing.  Got ourselves installed on the top deck of the ferry and enjoyed the hour long cruise over to the island.



Cannot see the volcano for the clouds... hope it is not erupting!

 Are staying at The Landing Hotel...$5.00 a night in a dorm.  We have one dorm mate, Christopher, who is from California and has been traveling for months. 

The Adventure Begins



Jan 24, 6:30am
Note the convenient hole that my cat cut in the screen.

Nanette

Well, and so it begins!  Was well pleased that my car started this morning! BRR...!!  Had a slight delay at customs because I said that we had food so they made us come in and fill out forms and then they searched a bit in the car.   Got us to the bus station in Presque Isle before the bus got there so I managed to buy my ticket then quickly drove off to park my car at Eileen's friend's place of business.  Decided I could probably survive walking/running back to the bus stop without the  big winter jacket so I threw it into the back seat and ran most of the way back.  I didn't know that I could still run!  Yay!!!   Wasn't sure that I actually would srurvive the cold after running/fast walking a half kilometer in sub-zero temperaturesbut I managed to warm up after a couple of hours!  Eileen was bullying the driver into waiting for me when I arrived so all was good!

Just love these rocking chairs that look out through a
 glass wall to the runways.

Now we sit in Logan International airport checking e-mail and taking care of business. There seem to be no weather problems and our flight is still on time.  Passing through security was nothing like the horror stories I`ve been reading about.

Did our bags pass the weigh-in test, you might be asking... Well, yes, of course!  Eileen put her bag on a scale at the bus terminal in Portland and then proceeded to remove about 7 pounds of clothing.   Our bags got another weigh-in  pre-test at the airport before the ticket counter opened and there was a bit more shuffling of stuff.  Both bags finally ended up with a fine weight of 50 pounds.  The airline`s policy changes before we come back and we will only be allowed 40 pounds, but that shouldn`t be a problem. We plan to give away lots of the clothes we brought to some people that Eileen knows.

Packing woes

 Nanette

Will it all fit and be the right weight?

Oh, woe is me!  I've been gathering up "essential" clothing and other items for this trip. The plan is to pack my stuff in a smallish roll-along suitcase (seen on the far right with a backpack to carry on the plane), pack that in a larger expandable suitcase and then pile things in until the weight is right.
 We are bringing stuff for a family that Eileen knows so we could do with a lot more weight allowance. Today I did my trial packing and ended up with 52.8 pounds!  That's 2.8 pounds too much!!!!  They can be pretty strict about luggage weights   (we have been caught unpacking and rearranging right there at the check-in counter) so I unpacked and took out a few things I may be able to do without.

Packing is a tough job for me to begin with.  Having been a girl guide for a year or two as a youngster, I have taken the "Be Prepared" motto to heart.  50 pounds of luggage only allows a certain amount of preparedness.

_Hours later_
Ha!  I've done it, but not before having to totally unpack to look for my passport, which was found at the bottom of my little suitcase.

If you followed our trip to Columbia, this suitcase is the very same one that fell out of the bus to be rescued by a passing motorcyclist. Notice the prudent use of duct tape.