Ometepe Island great place, Nicaragua
Ometepe Island – Nicaragua
If you ask me for one of the best places in Central America, I will surely answer Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. The best word to describe this place would be “Paradise”.
This island is located in the middle of the immense Lake Nicaragua. It was created by the eruption of the two volcanoes that inhabit it. The Concepción volcano (1.610 m) and the Maderas volcano (1.394 m). These two volcanoes are separated by an isthmus in the middle of them. It is the largest volcanic island in the world located inside a lake. It has approximately 42,000 inhabitants and practically only 40% of the island is inhabited, the other 60% is wildlife. It is said that this island has been inhabited since at least 1,500 BC.
There are many ways to get to this island. You can do it from San Jorge (Rivas), Granada, San Carlos and you can get on the island to Moyogalpa, San Jose or Altagracia. We crossed from San Jorge and arrived in San Jose on a trip that took about 1 hour. If you need more information visit this page.
The arrival on this island was something we had been looking forward to since the beginning of our trip and just as I imagined it would be. The ferry left the port in San Jorge and in a journey of almost 1 hour we were getting closer and closer to this beautiful island. Its two majestic volcanoes were becoming immense each time the ferry got closer and closer and I was already imagining myself on the top of one of them to get a better angle.
– Why is Ometepe a paradise?
- On this island you will have countless activities to do and each of these activities will have a very close relationship with nature which will be quite interesting.
– What to do in Ometepe:
- On the second day of our arrival we decided to rent a motorbike (click here to read more) and ride around this amazing island. In normal conditions, this can take about 5 hours.
- On the third day on Ometepe Island we decided to move to a place called Hacienda Merida. Highly recommended and there we decided to visit the Isla de Los Micos by kayak.
We also enjoyed this activity very much. Be sure to ask for bananas at the hostel and go early in the morning so you can see the white-faced monkeys hungry enough to eat their breakfast. This activity is not too strenuous as it is only less than 30 minutes from the Hacienda Merida hostel or very close to it and there are many places where you can rent a kayak.
- If you want to do more kayaking you can go to El Rio Istián which is also a bit closer to the Hacienda Merida hostel but this one is a bit more demanding. You can see a lot of wildlife and you can also see some caimans. It can take you almost 2 hours in the kayak to get to the Istrian River. (you can rent kayaks at Hacienda Merida).
- There is also a hike that I recommend you do call the Cascadas de San Ramón. This is a walk of approximately 1.5 hours where we were able to enjoy a lot of nature. It is not very difficult and it is quite rewarding since at the end you will find a huge waterfall of approximately 30 metres that will delight your eyes.
- For me the best activity on this island is climbing the Maderas Volcano. This climb is quite demanding. It takes about 3.5 hours up and 3 hours down but it is worth it. All along the hike, you will encounter 3 different types of forest. In the beginning, you will find a very normal landscape. The vegetation is very similar to what you have already seen on the island. In the middle, there are already several crops and the vegetation changes a bit at the end, we find a spectacular tropical rainforest, we had to cross tree branches and even climb some trees because the slope was steep.
When we got to the top we were very disappointed because it was very cloudy and we could see practically nothing. But it was worth the wait as the sky opened up and we had an excellent view.
It was also beautiful to see the moisture condensing on the branches and falling in droplets. It was worth the climb and not to mention the summit. The view was wonderful; in front of us we had the Concepción Volcano and behind us, we had the lagoon formed in the crater of the volcano. We could have swam in this lagoon but we were so tired that we didn’t want to walk any further. (For this activity it is recommended that you go up with a guide. You can ask for a guide in your hostel or just do as we did, ask children on the streets of the island if they know the route and many of them know it and charge you much less).
On our last night in Ometepe, we decided to have a party atmosphere and met up with a few friends to have a few beers and listen to some music. It was a very interesting time.
Here are some pictures of this great adventure:
