Next stop, Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua! This requires a local bus back to Rivas where we pick up the ferry for a couple of dollars (Cordobas) and about a 1 hour ride. According to our travel book, the more popular activities on the island include hiking one of the two valcanos, relaxing on the beach and bikeriding around the coast. Sounds like a plan! Whatever happens however, we absolutely need to be back in surftown to catch the SuperBowl game since that seemed to be Danny's best bet at having any sort of party atmosphere in a sporty type of setting.
During our stay in San Juan we had scored a really sweet apartment with a kitchen and a balcony above the only Irish pub in town. Even better was that our plan to come back meant that we could leave our backpacks in storage so that our trip to the island could be done with our day packs only.
Once on the island we score a ride with a bunch of other travellers to take us into Santo Domingo which is a very small stretch of beach in between the 2 valcanos. The island is shaped as a figure 8 and the choice of transportation includes one very rare and inconsistent bus or motorbike/bicycle/horse rental. Of course there is always the option for hitching or hiking. We find a hostel called Buena Vista with a very appealing back section overlooking what was once the beach and an even more attractive price tag of $18 for the room for the night!!! The area had recently experienced the heaviest rainy season in 70 years and we were quite happy to settle for the resulting waves crashing up against the deck of our hostel as background noise and what also made for an absolutely mesmorising visual.
Time to scope out the area and figure out our next day. The one and only place to buy water and snacks also serves as our source for information and rentals. Our hostess who doesn't speak one word of English seems to suggest with confidence that taking a bike ride around Volcano Maderas would be 'bonita' and a good idea. From what I understand, done 'rapido' the ride should take 4 hours which sounds like a great introduction to the coast of the island and all the beauty it has to offer. I wake up the next morning with a sore back and very hesitantly back out of the ride figuring it is the smarter thing to do. We go over the map one more time as Danny makes his final preperations for the day ahead: one pocket with his camera, another pocket full of cash, skin lathered with SPF which warrants a no-shirt policy as far as he is concerned. Off he pedals into the smooth cobblestone path as I turn the other way to welcome my day of solitude and relaxation. Ahead are a few Americans and I strike up converstaion asking them about what they know about the area. "Whatever you do, DON'T rent a bike and go THAT way" one says as he points towards in the direction where my most recent memory moments ago were of Danny's trailing words 'good bye' and 'see you later'. The American insists "The trail is absolutely brutal and I would never reccomend it to anybody!". These precautions start ringing in my head as my heart skips a beat and I feel helpless in the cause to warn Danny. Apparently, the smooth ground I am standing on only lasts for another 50 feet before its' unpredictable terrain unravels into it's natural state of uneven rocks and boulders. There is only one thing I can do: wait.
Perhaps the average person on what is less than an average bicycle may figure that 10 minutes into this harsh path was enough to warrant throwing in the big fat white fluffy towel. Except Danny is by far an average person. He loves to push the limits and conquer the unknown with fists pumping and fires blazing...this is one of the many reasons I love him so....so, I wait.
5 hours later the brave warrior himself appears bruised but not broken. He orders a cold Tona as he recounts the days events. I listen with wonder as he explains his first four hours of a head-to-the-ground and pound white-knuckling experience. There is no opportunity for sight-seeing or picture taking as he was just merely trying to stay upright and fight the terrain. He finally stopped at a rest point to buy water at which point in his refined version of sign-language Spanish, asked a local how much further? She took one look at his bicycle and back at him with a shake of her finger to explain "not a good idea, but the bus will be here in 10 minutes!" So, he waited. As he soon found out, the last 6 km were so brutal that even the bus had trouble lumbering up and through and beyond. We still don't understand exactly what our hostess meant by 'bonita', but it doesn't matter, Danny survived and is living to tell the story!!
Needless to say, neither of us was in any shape to climb any volcano the next day and instead opted for a lazy 20 minute walk to the Eye of the Water, a man-made Natural Spring Pool which proved to be just what the Doctor ordered.
Wow! Sounds like quite a ride!
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