First Up, Then Down

Today, second day on Isla de Ometepe, have been a more active day then any day in Nicaragua so far. That doesn’t mean very much since sunbathing doesn’t count as active in most peoples minds. So what did I do that was so active? I climbed another volcano. This time Volcano Conception, the larger of the two volcanoes that form Isla de Ometepe. The volcano is 1650 meters high but since it’s active and there is a lot of toxic gases near the summit, is a climb over 1000 meters not recommended. And since you need a guide, and the guides don’t go higher, is there not much of an option.

The Two Volcanoes Of Isla De Ometepe

The walk up the volcano (it’s actually more of a walk then a climb) took about two hours one way. It was a walk though a rainforest and there was a good chance for some wildlife spotting. But I guess we were unlucky since, apart from the trees, the only thing we saw was of wildlife was a sleeping monkey, the tail of a squirrel and a horse. The horse was actually above the treeline where it was eating some grass in the wind. Don’t ask me why a horse would go all that way for some grass? Maybe it taste better at the top…

Lucky enough for me, was there two other tourist, an American and one Aussie, that walked at the same time as me. The both spoke more or less fluent Spanish (compared with me at least) and the became my interpreter, since only one of the three guides spoke English. All tourist attractions here advertise that their guides are bilingual, but they never specify which two languages they speak. It feels like it’s more common that the guides speak Spanish and some Indian language, then they speak Spanish and English.

So, finally, what did this little trip give me? It gave me great views of the island, some practice in Spanish, a lot of local stories and folklore’s from the guides, and last but not least, a reminder about how incredible unfit I’m…

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