Ometepe: 16th - 19th October 2025
16th October – Thursday
It wasn’t a good start to the day – there was no water! It was fine when I first woke, but when I went to have a shower there was none. The cleaner/cook did her best to fix it and finally managed to get it to dribble, so I had a bit of a wash down without soap as there was no way I would have been able to rinse it off me. After that I set off for the hotel down the road to catch my shuttle bus to San Jorge. Due to being very smelly and clammy I was delighted when the driver told me sit up front, at least I didn’t have to share my unwashed body with anyone else.
The shuttle to San Jorge was only $18, and although cheaper, I didn’t want to put my coccyx bone through another 2-hour chicken bus journey as it is still quite sore. Luckily the shuttle dropped us of at the pier where we had to pay 37 cordobas for the land tax and 50 cordobas for the ferry. Some guy followed me through the exit area trying to convince me that there were no buses running on the island and that a taxi would be more expensive than his $15 shuttle bus. Uhm, I chose to ignore him, then he had the cheek to tell me that I wouldn’t be able to pay for any transport on the island and that he was the only ticket office available. I told him I’d take my chances.
The ferry to Ometepe was slow and long and as we neared the island it started to rain. Before getting off the ferry I covered my luggage with my waterproof gear and, rather than look for the buses I jumped at a 200 cordoba taxi offer from one of the touts at the pier. LoL, I knew the other guy in San Jorge was trying to pull a fast one, and the taxi turned out to be less than half the price of his shuttle bus! While on the ferry I got talking to this lady from Austria, she was with a guy, who kept trying to be amorous with her, but she was very cold towards him. Anyway, they had no where to stay but knew the area they wanted to stay in. My taxi driver offered them 500 cordobas, between them, but they turned him down for the more expensive shuttle bus – I really don’t understand some people.
To say this is a small hostel is an understatement, it consists of two, 3-bed, rooms. I am in one and I think the other is vacant. I’ve certainly managed to pick virtually empty places to stay on my travels so far, but then I must remember it is also the low season. As soon as I got here the rains increased to a torrential downpour and the thunder and lighten was so dramatic I kept jumping out of my skin. It must have been a good hour before I could leave my balcony and venture to the restaurant area, which is quite big all considering. The hostel is literally on Largo Cocibolca and the view is stunning. The owner told me that the largo is excellent for swimming and that at the moment, the days are sunny but the evenings wet – I look forward to tomorrow 
He also has mopeds and bicycles for rent, I’m not sure about a moped but I am definitely up for a bicycle ride tomorrow.
While I was having my dinner and downing a couple of beers I saw 3 guys in a boat rowing to shore, one of them was frantically bailing water out of the boat! They made land and then, even though it was still raining had a swim before setting off on their return journey. Seeing them swim has filled me with encouragement and confidence.
What I have seen of Ometepe so far makes be delighted to be here, it is stunning, I can’t think of a better way to end my Nicaragua adventure. It is an island formed from two volcanos in Largo
Cocibolca, locally known as Largo Nicaragua. The active Concepcion volcano is in the north and has a perfect coned shaped crater, and the dormant volcano Maderas is in the South, and is swathed in a cloud forest with a lagoon in its crater. I’m in an area that is more or less between the two. In the morning I will investigate a trip to one or the other, I can’t do it now as the internet in this room is hopeless and I don’t need to go to bed feeling frustrated from a lack of achieving something that can wait until my all inclusive breakfast tomorrow
17th October – Friday
It really has been a day of two halves. The first half frustrating, the second pleasantly chilled.
I woke to a cloud of mini flies, swarms of them, everywhere. So many the air was thick with them and the hotel restaurant out of use. Supposedly, it is a natural phenomenon that occurs in some ecosystems when large number of insects hatch all at once. However, the hotel guy said they came in from the lake. They were non-biting, just annoying. But it meant my coffee and breakfast was brought to my room. Luckily, my balcony was not too infested so I sat outside and shared my breakfast, scrambled eggs, cheese, plantain tostones and rice, with an adorable ginger kittens. After breakfast I made the mistake of trying to access Hotmail, I say mistake because I have already forgotten which new password I used for out, after two attempts I was told I had tried too many times, so now I have to wait another 24 hours before trying again. Next time I will go through Microsoft support and change my password, again! I then tried to delete / change some of my 72 accounts, all of which have the same bloody password and are linked to Hotmail. However I can’t seem to be able to access my Hotmail account through Outlook any more. By the time of this discovery I was feeling hot and frustrated so maybe I was doing something wrong. That’s when I decided enough was enough and I stopped. I’ve lost too many days with technology issues that just seem to make me frustrated and annoyed.
I went for a walk, mainly to find the local ATM. Uhm, even though I used G maps I still walked 20 minutes in the wrong direction – what am I like – lol. I found it eventually, not that was hard as there is only one road, and got both dollars and cordobas out. I need dollars for the exit tax when I go to Costa Rica and, although I have researched, I am confused as to whether or not Costa has an entry fee. Some sites say it does, other say that it doesn’t. I am prepared for it does, better safe than sorry. My only concern is I don’t have an exit ticket for costa. Everything I read said I needed one for Nicaragua, so I bought the one, which I will be using in a couple of days, however I was not asked for it on entry to the country. So, I’m gonna take the risk with Costa and not get one.
On my way back from the ATM I passed Juia’s Comidore so popped in for a bite of lunch and a beer. OMG, I had the most delicious fish, two fish in fact, from the lake, and the beer was so cheap. Delicious food, cheap beer and an amazing view. Perfect to help me unwind from the mornings frustrations. I saw some very beautiful birds as well, I would have taken tons of pics but my zoom is awful. I really do need a better phone.
However, there was one parrot looking type bird that first sat on table far away from me and then slowly came nearer and nearer, obviously after my fish. So I put one of the fish heads on the table behind me and it happily pecked away at it. I decided to get up and get nearer to it to take some decent pictures. The bird was quite content with this, I got nearer and nearer and then it flew away and tried to swoop down onto my plate of food for the big piece of juicy meaty fish – cheeky fucker, luckily I was quick and interrupted it’s sabotage plans in time to save my food.
It really looked like rain was on it’s way and after last night’s deluge I didn’t want to get caught out, so I left the restaurant and came back to the restaurant at my hostel. Has it rained – no. And the owner packed the restaurant up at 6pm so it’s actually dead as a doornail here. It’s at times like this that I wish I could ride a moto, I could be out and about at some bar getting merrily drunk, actually it’s probably better that I can’t/don’t ride one – drunk driving is not a wise idea. I think tomorrow I will hire a bicycle and head to Mango Beach. It’s the other side of the island, but only 7K away, so not too far. It’s the backpacker haven on the island. I wish I had found this out before because I could have stayed somewhere a bit nearer, it is also the sunset side of the island, but it overlooks the mainland, which is what put me off of that side in the first place. However I am very happy here, it is beautiful, relaxing, calm and chilled, just a shame there isn’t a little more activity.
18th October – Saturday
Well, what can I say, it’s been another one of those days, failure, success and contentment all wrapped into one. As decided upon yesterday, after breakfast and slowly getting my life together, I ventured to the bus stop, which is just outside of the hostel. I flagged down two buses both going to Marida, but neither stopped. I gave up and went back to my room. I should have stuck with my original plan of hiring a bicycle!
By then it was 24 hours since my last Hotmail recovery, so I went to the restaurant, laptop in hand to have another go. Uhm, the internet was down due to all the rain and storms, plus the little flies had returned, not so many but enough to annoy me. Not willing to give up I used my phone and my mobile data and Bob is my uncle, I recovered my Hotmail account With hindsight, the universal plan, although disappointing in one sense was meant to be in the other sense. I am so happy and so relieved. Now I can delete all my unwanted / unused accounts and secure the ones I really need / use.
Not wanting to eat here due to all the little flies I ventured off down the road in search of food. The first place was not a success and I don’t even know why, the guy just kept talking to me so fast that in the end I said thank you and left. The second place was in an idyllic setting with a beautiful garden and a bit of actual beach. The price for the fish was not on the menu, I am so glad asked before I ordered, it was 700 – 900 cordobas, I left immediately. I tried another place a lot further down the road, and although open there was absolutely no one there. I turned around and went to Julia’s, the same place that I went to last night. And what a welcome I got, she showed me to ‘my table’, brought my beer and proceeded to have a wonderful conversation with me. I explained that I was leaving tomorrow and also told her I was a computer science teacher. She was delighted and asked me to update her Google Maps for her, so I took lots of
photos and will do that after this. Upon leaving she came and gave me a huge cuddle and wished me good luck on my travels. Not only was the garlic fish absolutely delicious, I also fed the birds again, but her joy and enthusiasm of having my repeat custom has totally made my day. Thank you Julia.
The walk back to my hostel was short but beautiful and in the dark, the roadside was inundated with fire flies blinking away. So beautiful. And to top it all off I made it back just before the rain started
19th October – Sunday
Today has been hard work, and it hasn’t been helped with a lack of sleep due to developing tonsillitis overnight. My right tonsil is so sore and swollen and swallowing is very painful.
The hard work stated when the hotel manager told me that the taxi to the pier was going to be $25. I was having none of it and showed him what money I had, all of 700 cordobas, obviously I kept hidden the dollars I have for my exit and entry fees. I told him that I paid 200 cordobas from the pier to him, he was quite surprised and said it was because it was a colectivo taxi, which explains why the driver kept trying to get other passengers on route. Anyway, the manager couldn’t find me a taxi for 500 c, which was the max I said I could spare. Bless him, he got on his moto and came back 15 minutes later, he had arranged for a friend to take me, but on a moto, for 500 c. I was well happy until the guy turned up, it was one of those motos with a high back seat, I needed help getting on, and much to the entertainment of some of the people at the pier, help getting off. I just don’t have the leg cocking capacity that is needed for these high moto backs. The ride to the pier was awesome, I really do love being a moto passenger, I must do myself a favour and learn to ride on properly.
Unfortunately, the moto didn’t do my coccyx bone any good, which had actually started to feel better, however, I sat just above the ferry engine, and the heat that was radiating into my bones was perfect even though it made me hot and sweaty. It was definitely worth it as it’s not too bad now. While on the ferry I decided that I was only willing to pay 150 c for my next taxi, so that is what I had in my purse. The first driver said $25, then as a favour, just for me 300 c, I showed him my 150 and he said no and walked off. Well guess what, it didn’t take long for another taxi driver to accept my 150 c, but the deal was he’d drop me off at the Puma Station, which would leave me 10 minutes to walk. I was very happy with this, although the walk was an actual killer, my rucksack must be well over 10 kilos now and my computer bag a good 5 kilos, not easy in the heat when you’re full of fever and tonsillitis. But I did it.
Then came the third and final pain up the bloody backside, the hotel owner, I am staying a night on the mainland and travelling tomorrow, would not take my dollars and I didn’t have enough cordobas, and the
ATM next to the hotel was closed. OMG – just not what I needed. The hotel lady sent me on a wild goose chase to a shop with no ATM, I just wanted to cry. In the end, feeling weak and so ill I hailed a bicycle taxi and he took me to the Puma station and an ATM, and brought me back, all for 100 c (£2). I have booked him for the morning at 8am to take me to the bus for Costa Rica, he said it will cost 50 c but I will give him 100 as it is quite a distance.
I was very nervous turning my card on to use it at the ATM, so far four people have tried making transactions with it, ranging from gym member ships to clothes shopping. All in America! I need to contact the bank, but at the same time I need to be able to use the card as I will need money. I hope they will leave it active until I get a new one, anyway that is a problem for tomorrow.
Dad suggested taking antibiotics for my tonsillitis, I have some amoxicillin left from Guatemala but need to eat before or after taking them. So, although it was the last thing I felt like doing, I went down the road to the first food place I came across. Tip Top chicken. I bought two burritos, one for breakfast! The guy serving was very perplexed when I said I only wanted one Fanta orange and held the second in his hand with a ‘what am I supposed to do with it’ expression on his face. I took it off him and gave it to the man standing next to me, he was very happy. The burrito was actually very nice, I did fear it would contain fried crispy coated chicken, but it didn’t, it was shredded chicken and very soft so swallowing so it was not too painful, although the paracetamol had also kicked in by then.
Anyway, I am now going to curl up and watch Spanish TV as I have an early start and a border crossing tomorrow. Costa Rica, here I come!