A place for a surfer for sure. Easy access to many beaches by the coast with good afternoon tidal waves from the Pacific horizon. For a non-surfer the place is not more than a variety of beaches with average restaurants where the prices do not match the quality.
Playa Maderas
Our stay at Ometepe has come to an end today for this time. We stayed three nights at home stay with one fantastic family and would have liked to stay few more days. The organization named Puesta del Sol was founded by 17 families from the same area which is located few kilometers south from Moyogalpa. They offer authentic home stays here on Ometepe but the organization is much more (find out more: http://www.puestadelsol.org).
When making a reservation you do not know the family you’ll be with. It’s only when you arrive you’ll know. We got a great family and a place for our stay but I bet they all are as good as ours. We had meals together and great discussions with the family. If we visit Ometepe once again some day we’ll definitely take Puesta del Sol’s home stay again. ¡Cinco estrellas!
The island is impressive with its two active volcanoes named Concepción and Maderas. The latest eruption 🌋 was as recently as 2012 [volcanodiscovery.com] when the volcanic ash spreaded over the island once again. Therefore the soil on the island is black. Nowadays the smoking crater of Concepción is full of water, and I guess from which the crystal clear water source next to the volcano, Ojo de Agua, may be formed from. Have to say the place is magical, but in practice a swimming pool created by nature 🏊🏾👍🏾.
Ojo de Agua
We went around the both volcanos i.e. the whole island by a scooter – a whole day trip. The road around Maderas was a bit of a challenge with the scooter but we cleared it well in the end 💯🙏🏽👌🏾🥇. A few pictures from the trip: Continue reading
The first impression of the island Ometepe is brilliant. People are friendly and can’t complain of the views either. 🌋 Tomorrow to explore the island…can’t wait!
3rd moving day behind. The border crossing went smoothly and quickly 👍🏽🇳🇮. At the moment we’re on Isla Ometepe.
In between the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Total traffic jam on the road to SJ at Las Minas so we were one+ hour behind the schedule. Therefore we missed the planned connecting bus to Liberia, but there were cancelled spots on the next bus at 2pm so we took them and got back on track.
We chose to use local Mepe busses for traveling from Puerto Viejo to Liberia via San Jose. They are 10 times cheaper than shuttles and should be as fast as the shuttles – saying this out loud now, I’ll definitely be editing this tomorrow 😂…
Couple of hours ago we arrived in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. From Bocas del Toro it took roughly 4,5 hrs total to get here with Caribe Suttle (boat-minivan-borderbyfoot-minivan). The border crossing at Sixaola was very clear and it took only few moments.
EDIT: Must say that the atmosphere changed after the border from a bit cold to warm and welcoming. It must be the “pura vida” thing they have here that makes the difference. Whatever it is, Costa Rica ya me encanta.
A couple of traveling days ahead starting now. First over the Costa Rican border to Puerto Viejo for one night, then up to Liberia for another and the morning after over the Nicaraguan border to the final destination isla Ometepe.
But today’s ride from here (Bocas) to Puerto Viejo we took it easy way with the Caribbean Shuttle.
Polar Night Escape 