A Trip To Ometepe Island, Nicaragua

Pura Vida Travels - A Guide To Travel In Latin America

November 4th was my wifes birthday so we started the day by opening presents. My wifes grandmother was staying with us and her cousin Tatiana works at the doctors office next door so they were there to witness the festivities. It's a big deal for my wife because she never got a birthday present in her life until we met. She's also never had a birthday party. When you grow up poor in Nicaragua your birthday is just another day on the calendar.

Opening Birthday Presents	Grandma Watches	Opening Birthday Presents
Opening Birthday Presents	Opening Birthday Presents	Juniett And Tatiana
Cousin Tatiana	Cousin Tatiana	Cousin Tatiana

I asked my wife what she wanted to do on her birthday and she really wanted to take her grandmother to the beach and go for a boat ride. Her 80-something year old grandmother had never seen the ocean before even though she's lived only a few hours away from it her whole life. She's also never been on a boat before which I found absolutely mind boggling. With that being said, we loaded up the car and headed to San Juan Del Sur for the day. Unfortunately, when we got to SJDS the guy at the boat dock saw a gringo and wanted to charge us $40/person for an hour boat trip. Frankly, since it was my wifes birthday I would have paid it but she refused because she hates it when Nicas try to rip me off because I'm a gringo.

I then suggested that we could take a trip to Ometepe instead so we headed to the town of San Jorge (about 20 minutes away) instead. There are boats and ferries to Ometepe that leave from San Jorge throughout the day. In order to take your car on the ferry, however, you need to make reservations ahead of time. Since the ferry is the only way to get vehicles to the island they tend to book up early. Undaunted, we bought our tickets and hopped on the boat leaving the car behind.

Car Sunglasses	Church In San Jorge	Its For Rent
Welcome To San Jorge	Boat Schedule To Ometepe	Ferry Schedule To Ometepe
Taking The Girls For A Boat Ride	Ometepe In The Distance	Juniett Is Happy
No Its Not The TITANIC	Sign This	We Need Your Name

From the dock in San Jorge the island of Ometepe doesn't look that far away. In reality, it takes over an hour to get there by boat. The ferry is comfortable and you can ride outside on the top deck and enjoy the sun or inside in an air conditioned cabin. It's an amazing feat to watch them load the ferry. Ours was carrying some big trucks and there was no way I thought they were going to get them all on the boat but they did.

The Juice Man	Climbing On The Ferry	It Looks So Close
Its Like A Bus	Quality Electrical Equipment	Our Tickets
Sandinista Pirates	Port Of San Jorge	The Ferry
Will It Fit?	An Indians Fan	Some Big Rope
Concepcion Volcano	El Capitan	The Volcano Is Big

The closer you get to the port of Moyogalpa the more you realize just how massive the Concepcion volcano is. This active volcano is a nearly perfect cone that rises over 6000 feet from the base of the island. The "port" for lack of a better word consists of a small dock with a pile of sandbags leading into the water. You have to walk on the sandbags to get to the shore.

Getting Closer	Juniett And The Volcano	Getting Close To Port
Port Of Moyogalpa	Moyogalpa We Are Here	Sandbag Walkway
End Of The Line	The Port Needs Work	Moyogalpa

When the boat arrives all the local kids immediately swarm the boat. Unlike most other Nicaraguan towns they aren't there to try to sell you things. Instead, they use the boat as a diving platform. They climb to the top and dive off into Lake Nicaragua. It's pretty crazy to watch as they have to dive out over the decks below and leap far enough to avoid crashing into the boat on the way down.

When we left for Ometepe we knew we didn't have a lot of time but we figured we would have at least 2 hours to do a little sightseeing. Unfortunately, they changed the schedule on the way and we only had 15 minutes. I only had enough time to walk off the boat a few hundred yards, snap a few pictures, and get back on the boat. While we didn't get to see a lot it was still a fun day and it accomplished the objective of taking a boat ride.

Welcome To Moyogalpa	Juniett Making Friends	He Walks On Water
Adios Ometepe	Juniett And Grandma	Juniett And Grandma
A Bird	Concepcion Volcano	Concepcion And Maderas
Sunset On Lake Nicaragua	Sunset On Lake Nicaragua	Sunset On Lake Nicaragua
Granada In The Distance	Plenty Of Plantains	Sunset On Lake Nicaragua
Juniett Enjoys The View	Sunset On Lake Nicaragua	Sunset On Lake Nicaragua
Arriving In San Jorge

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