Ometepe - D Day

You go to Opetepe for one reason and one reason only. The Nature. You can do hikes, climbs, bike rides, kayaking, swimmig, horseback riding, etc. Today we planned to pack all the possible activities we could into one day.

We woke up to the breakfast bell at 7:30, enjoying our little breakfast buffet with the rest of the travellers before setting out on item 1. The biking. We rented our relatively good bikes next door and set out in the pouring rain (It appears that sun doesnt exist on this island). It was wonderful. Its been so long since I've biked in the rain, much less on muddy unpaved roads through thick jungle and banana plantations surrounded by two majestic volcanoes.

We biked through mud and, less fun, cow shit- some of which I managed to hit straight on, sending most of it spraying in the air around me, until we reached the Sto Domingo beach. This beach is a 2 km long continuous stretch of black volcanic sand, forming the isthmus connecting the two volcanoes. We stopped there for a bit and watched a wild horse poke around for food, and then continued, biking on the water's edge, watching the morning birds forage for dead fish and the villagers take their baths on the shore.

We continued farther down the road until the sun reached us, and we reached our destination and activity number 2. The Ojo de Agua, or eye of water, this is a very blue natural pool turned into a bathig spot, surrounded by hammocks and rainforest trees. We jumped right off our bikes and into the refreshing water, washing away all our sweat. We then found a tarzan rope in the smaller pool and took turns swinging into the water, trying to do backflips before the rope would swing back and smash us into the tree. After letting the sun's rays dry us we got back on the bikes and made our mostly downhill return, stopping for a hamburger and beer lunch on the beach.

We then quickly washed our dirty laundry (see, vacations aren't all just fun and games) and decided to undertake the third and final activity, kayaking. In the rain, of course. We got into yellow our plastic banana of a kayak and set off, against the waves and driving wind to the small offshore Monkey Island. We circled it, and then another, seeing both spider and cappuccino monkeys, with the rain pattering in the water around us, and the ominous black sky above.

This is the only lake in the world that has freshwater sharks in it, but sadly none of them came to feast on Charles, although we half-expected that since they've almost been fished to extinction. The lake water was warm by comparison, so we decided to go for a swim off our kayak before returning to the pier. The rain then stopped and the wind as well, leaving the whole lake eerily quiet, and making us feel like we were paddling through the amazon.

On the way back Charles had the urge to crash into every rock we saw jetting out of the lake, though luckily I was there to counter-paddle (he was victorious with our dock though, running us headfirst into the cement pillar). We then showerd (again) and settled down on the hammocks for some light reading and dying of hunger while awaiting the dinner bell.