Tracy Carolyn Photography

As I mentioned before, we left Granada for Isla de Ometepe with the intention of staying two (maybe three) nights there, and then heading to the beaches of San Juan del Sur.  We stayed for six.  Our first stop was Merida, a retreat right on the waterfront.

Ometepe is an island in Lake Nicaragua that is largely comprised of two large volcanoes.  It’s currently a bit challenging to get to, which means most of the towns on the island are quite rural and remote.  But things are changing – within the last six months they’ve built the first bank on the island, and they are currently building an airport that will service one hour direct flights from Managua.  (By comparison, we took a 2 hour bus ride, 15 min taxi, 1 hour ferry, and another 2.5 hour bus ride to get to Merida.)  While the airport will undoubtedly make it easier for tourists to reach the island and boost the local economy, whether or not the charm the tourists visit Ometepe to see will still remain intact or not is yet to be seen.

On our first day in Merida, we sought adventure.  Since I’m not much of a hiker, we skipped the 8 hour round trip treks up the volcanoes in favor of horseback riding up to Cascada de San Ramon, a 35 foot waterfall on the side of Volcan Maderas.  It was both of our first time riding horses, and I must say I felt sorry for the poor winded horse for having to cart my lazy butt up the hills.  The last 20 minutes of the trail are too steep for them to climb, so we hiked it ourselves while they took a (much needed) breather.

The falls are quite high and give off an impressive breeze, but we were slightly disappointment that there wasn’t enough water at the base of the waterfall for us to take a dip.Later in the week, we took a boat ride to River Istian (or the swamp, as the locals call it.)If the weather is nice, and you’re a little lucky, you can see several types of birds, monkeys, and cayman here.  We saw a few different birds and a turtle, but no one else was out that afternoon.The trees are still quite striking, though, growing straight out of the water.  Without the howler monkeys around, its eerily calm and peaceful here.

The other three days spent in Merida were more relaxing.  John got a bit of work done (before the internet blew out), but for the most part we spent our time doing yoga and meditating on the deck, writing, chatting and reading books in our huge hammock for two with a view of the lake.

In the early evenings, we’d take a swim in the freshwater lake while watching the spectacular sunsets.

Jump off this dock (yes, that is a rainbow)……and float in the warm lake water while watching these beautiful colors.  (Yes, that’s John’s head bobbing around.)

In all honesty, I vacillated between incredibly relaxed and happy and a bit hungry and cranky during our stay in Merida.  (With the exception of breakfast, the food where we stayed wasn’t excellent for me and there are only two restaurants in Merida.  I get cranky when I’m not well fed.)  John spent the entire stay blissing his brains out, often just looking at me with a huge grin on his face.

I had no need to ask what the grin was for, as the sentiment was pretty obvious:  Life is good.

We arrived on Isla de Ometepe intending to stay for two, maybe three days.  We stayed for six.

The island was gorgeous – this was our view of the sunset every night off the dock of our hostel.  More photos to come.

Apparently tourists love Granada.  It has horse drawn carriages, colorful colonial architecture, and access to Lake Nicaragua.  There are plenty of restaurants with beautiful courtyards, rowdy hostels, and good cheap food.  On the whole it reminded us a lot of Antigua, Guatemala, and of how much we love traveling in Central America.

Of course, in the off season for tourism (which is now), things are a little less exciting.  Many businesses are closed during rainy season, and the ones that remain open feel like ghost towns. I didn’t photograph much in Granada, partially because we were only there for two days, and partially because everything felt closed and boarded up.  There were still locals riding around on bikes and relaxing in Parque Central, but otherwise a lot of Granada’s energy appeared to have dissipated.

The children in town were the big exception – begging kids were everywhere and they were full of energy.  They offered to sell us palm fronds folded into a variety of shapes, and ask for food right off of our plate at restaurants.  While essentially they are begging for food and change, there is a different sort of attitude in these kids.  Rather than appearing desolate and starving, these kids have an upbeat, joyful energy.  I can’t explain it, but rather than feeling sorry for them you just want to smile at their innovation and give them something.  And it doesn’t take much to make them happy.

One day, while eating lunch at an open air restaurant in the park, I had finished eating and was about to put my napkin on the plate.  There was a bit of rice and beans left, and a small boy of about 7 immediately rushed up to my side as I moved to set my napkin down, pointing at my plate and then to his stomach.  Surely you’ve heard some variation of the phrase “Clean your plate – there are starving children in Africa who wish they had that,” either from your mother or someone else’s.  Well this was the most immediate example  I’ve ever witnessed of that phrase in action.  If I wasn’t going to finish my meal, there was a starving kid in Nicaragua, just next to my table, who would be glad to do it.  So I nodded at him, and he pulled the remnants of my meal from my plate and happily went off to eat it.  Such efficiency.

Later that same night, another round of hungry kids found us at dinner.  They came right up, put their arms around me, hugging me, asking for parts of my burrito.  Again, in any other circumstances I would probably have been horrified to have a small begging child clinging to me during dinner, but here I found it somewhat endearing.  I cut them each off a slice of my burrito, and they left a palm frond folded into a flower behind as a thank you.  I then watched as they begged from a man at an adjacent table, who took another look at the menu and ordered a plate of food specifically for them.  When we left, we saw the two boys seated at a table drinking Fantas and tucking into some chicken and rice.

While there was much more we could have explored in Granada, somewhere else appealed to us a bit more.  Isla de Ometepe was calling our names, so we headed there to enjoy nature and lay around in hammocks for a few days.  Photos from paradise soon.