It was great to be back in San Juan in a place where I was familiar and comfortable, especially the day after Nic left to the Bahamas. I was able to reconnect with the friends I have there and spend the early part of the week getting the next legs of my travels organized. I also had the opportunity to go out on my friend, Justin's boat "Gypsy" while I was in town. He's just begun to do private charters along the coastline which is great!
On Friday morning, I headed to Isla de Ometepe for a few days. Originally, some friends from San Juan were going to join me, but due to work obligations coming up I ended up traveling solo. Isla de Ometepe is an island in Lago de Nicaragua comprised of two volcanoes: Concepcion (active) and Maderas (inactive). There are great crater lakes, waterfalls and hikes to experience. My hostel, Hacienda Merida, was great because they not only worked out tours for us, but they also rented kayaks, bikes and horses . They also had a beautiful fishing pier that you can dive off of. Dining was interesting as well as each night at dinner, every guest sat around together at the same time where we were able to discuss the day's adventures.
I was going to do the hike up volcan Maderas, but when I understood that it was 8 hours return and I'd forgotten socks, I decided against it and rented a bike. I undertook the 38km trek around the base of the volcano which was gorgeous. It was a very difficult ride (known to take 5 hours) with lots of ups and downs. About 30km into the ride, I was getting pretty tired and sped up a great deal down one of the hills. Next thing I knew, I'd fallen off the bike on the side of the road. There were no oncoming vehicles, but I was still pretty cut up. Luckily, a few meters down the road I spotted a truck and a bunch of people waiting. They turned out to be Jehovah's Witnesses who offered to drive me back to my hostel. It was quite funny because in the mean while, a few of them presented me with brochures and asked in Spanish if I was interested in learning more about the Bible. I politely answered that I respect what they are doing, but am not religious in that way. They were ok with that response and proceeded to take me back to Hacienda Merida. The next day I was able to kayak a bit before getting my cab back to the port for my return ferry.
While on the ferry, I overheard a guy of similar age to me who was headed to San Juan so I asked if he wanted to share a cab. He had rented a car to travel around Nicaragua, so I was able to get a ride with him back to town. We arrived back around 3 on Sunday afternoon and as soon as I walked out of the car, I saw a good friend of mine on the street with whom I'd planned to meet up with later on. We watched the Super Bowl at a bar in town and another friend of ours played live music in the longer breaks.
Early Monday morning, I headed to Rivas (about 30 minutes from San Juan) to catch my bus back across the Costa Rican border. The bus ride was smooth aside from the 2.5 hour layover at the border. I got off in Liberia and hired a cab to take me to Monteverde (cloud forests). It was a lengthy and expensive ride, but I was happy to be taken directly there especially following the fiasco at the border that afternoon. The sunset over one of the beautiful crater lakes and I soon arrived at Sleepers Sleep Cheaper...I know, cheesy name, but got the best reviews I found on trip advisor for backpackers. I was greeted by the owner who had expected me and immediately made me feel at home again.
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