nicaragua wrap-up

so our first relaxing day on ometepe island we decided to go to this natural swimming hole called ojo de agua (new picture at right). we took the bus... despite my disdain at the whole island bus system. after paying a dollar and walking through a cow field (very carefully) we arrived at the place. the water was kind of a greenish-blue and a little chilly. clearly the focal point of the whole place was the rope swing. a stream of young local boys were swinging off it. we just watched for a while then decided to try it before sitting in the sun for a little bit.

WELL. it was pretty awesome. and after sitting in our chairs for a little while longer we decided that we should try to take some pictures using the rapid fire picture mode on my camera. i was endlessly amused by the whole ordeal and we went on the rope swing many times - while perfecting the method of the shooting mode. such a blast. i was smiling about it for the rest of the day.

the rest of the day we just kind of chilled for a while. we chatted with a few other travlers - sara, tom, and barbara - who we ended up hiking the volcano the next day with.

ah, the volcano hike... well, they said it would be an 8 hour hike - four up and four back - which i was a little concerned about, as i'm rather out of shape. and it certainly was 8 hours. at first it was fine. a challenging hike, to be sure. but after about two and half hours i stopped having fun. the trail was, well, not very trail like. we were basically hiking up a narrow ravine with water trickling down and ankle deep mud. it was incredibly rocky and quite steep. on top of all that - when we got to the top, where there was a crater lake (this is an extinct volcano - the other on the island is still active), it was so foggy/cloudy that you couldn't even really see across the lake.

so i was not really thrilled with the hike. and i could barely walk when i got down (for like 2 days afterwards as well) and i was coated in mud. *sigh*

the next day we left the island and headed up to managua where we were going to catch our bus back to costa rica in the morning. managua was, meh, a city, not all that different from san jose. we sprung for a room with AC, TV, and our own private bathroom. ah, luxury. saturday morning we got up bright and early and walked (yes, the other feature of our "luxury" hotel was that it was less than two blocks to the bus station) to the bus station. another long day on the bus (but again - rather luxurious compared to our other bus adventures in nicaragua) and this time only 2 and a half hours at the border - and no standing in the sun.

arriving back in costa rica kind of felt like coming home. i was half expecting to see someone at the bus station holding a sign for us (man, do i love signs at airports/bus stations!). so home again, home again.