Isla de Ometepe did us good. She had so much to offer. The island is a hidden treasure surrounded by Lake Nicaragua. Most of the roads are still unpaved and rocky, except for a few main ones. The nature and diverse geological environments that make up this island are heavily protected by UNESCO and the government. The land attracts many ecological reserves which prohibit over-industrialization. Here you can dare to challenge and come face to face with the creation.
(our hostel)
When we got to Playa Santo Domingo, we thought we were on vacation because of the strip of hostels along the beach. And not too far up the road is a `natural pool` which is a popular must-see. But honestly, nada más. Otherwise, it was a quiet sparsely populated area.
Volcán Concepción (right) and Volcán Maderas (left)
There are two very majestic volcanoes whose peaks rarely see the sun: Concepción and Maderas. We climbed the smaller of the two but nonetheless a rigourous off-the-beaten-track climb. Volcán Maderas is covered in dense forest. Dry forest, cloud forest, and rainforest. You`re pretty much lost without a guide. We climbed up one trail and down another in order to see the different faces of the volcano. Our guide, Jarold, a true Isla boy born and raised, with remarkable cheekbones and profile, climbs the volcano 2-4 times a week. The climb usually takes 4-5 hours going up, and 4 hours going down.
We woke up at 4am, scarfed down breakfast to catch a bus (that we missed), and hiked about 2.5km to the foot of the volcano. From there we took off at 7am after obesrving some pathetic samples of petroglyphs and began our hike through steep rocky terrain, setting our pace at super-cardio-double-time. Our shirts were saturated with sweat and ready to be wrung out a half hour in. The beginning was rough, physically, mentally. I had to distract my mind from the pain from my knees and hamstrings from hoisting myself up and the 2+ liters of water in our backpacks. Then we entered a more foresty area and once in a while, Jarold would halt and let out a barbaric bellow in search of howler monkeys. We heard them bickering with cappuchin monkeys, in addition to parrots, frogs, snakes, turkeys, all kinds of nasty bugs.
Then, we got to a very tranquil and wet forest once we got to a higher elevation. Different altitudes allow for different vegetation to grow, and it was interesting that it was significantly much quieter with a lot less animals. This volcano literally has its own cloud hovering at the top and it rains there everyday all year, except for the month of April. If you can imagine, everywhere you look is a green tangly array of moss and vines against a smokey white, and crystal-like raindrops speckled evenly on every leaf. But I couldn`t even imagine a world so hidden away and unimpressed by people before actually standing in that very environment. How to describe it... nature can be messy in a very perfect way.
At this point we were walking through cloud. (No, it`s not tangible.) The trees got bigger/wider/stranger and the climb harder. All of a sudden it turned into an obstacle course. We climbed over and slid under wet boulders, branches, vines, fallen trees, roots, all the while slipping and sliding through thick deep mud on our hands, knees, seats, like a video game and anything was fair game to get you through to the next level. Once we got to the point where the mud had snuck through the mesh of our sneakers and was sloshing between our toes, we let go all reservation and just had a fiesta in our muddy playground. Four hours after take off, we reached the highest point of the volcano. There lived these old trees with arms and arms of rebellious branches which grew in every which way. Seriously, they just did whatever they wanted. Jarold called this dread-like species, `rasta` trees (Good one Jarold!)
Most mountains you climb reward you with a worthy vista to quench your weary eyes, or a forceful wind to dab away your sweat, but there was no such view, or breeze; the reward here was a rather untraditional one. We actually had to climb down to reap the glory of this strenuous struggle between Girl vs. Volcano. We made our way into the crater of the volcano where there was a small clearing and a lake from all the gathered rainfall. The walls of the crater were invisible in the cloud when we first reached the inside, but no more than 5 minutes later, the walls magically appeared out of the fog and the entire crater was visible. Like magic. And there was no greater reward than to sit there in awe at this little pearl of a lake enveloped by this beastly volcano, while savoring our packed sandwiches and trail mix.
Jarold was impressed by our Speedy Gonzalez pace escalating the volcano so he told us the descent would be nothing. Wttfffff. We totally undermined the difficulty level of our descension and our knees yelped in pain from the impact going at Tarzan speed. Jarold would disappear 5 meters ahead and appear outta nowhere to point out an orchid or a ¨monkey´s tail¨or a snake. This complete nature boy loves his tabacco. He went through more than half his Marlboro reds in the duration of our hike. It´s been 5 years since he started this job. His lungs or his knees, sooner or later, one or the other will unfortunately catch up to him.
As we descended, we saw huge fallen trees that had literally been strangled by these little root-like vines, stealing the trees´nutrients. When a storm hits, the enormous trees can´t even hold themselves up anymore and fall to the ground with their roots sticking up to the sky. Seeing the aftermath of these merciless and fatal vines was pretty phenomenal.
(mean face)
We came, we saw, we conquered the shit out of that volcano! .. I remember how small and claustrophobic, and scared and helpless I sometimes felt on that huge thing, completely at the hands of Mother earth. Truth. We got our asses whooped.
Biggest reward on this entire hike for me was when we almost reached ground level and were greeted by a large family of howler monkeys. One lil Curious George came up close to drop a deuce on Yuka´s head. Luckily, she knew what was coming and escaped. We´d seen them so many times before but never so damn close. The real treat was when we discovered a tiny fricken newborn securely attached to its mama´s bosom. Tan precioso.
So that was Volcán Maderas, the highlight of Isla de Ometepe, which was the highlight of Nicaragua. We walked like grandmas until the pain wore off. But we´ll never forget this lil island´s gift to us, and it´s so cliché but I couldn´t help thinking how grateful I am for the arms and legs that allowed me to have this experience. I´m also very grateful I didn´t once have to squat behind a bush on that volcano.
¡¡¡BYE NiCARAGUA!!!
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