Is this where my motorcycle diaries begin? Ometepe, Nicaragua

With a grave need to get away from this group of North American students and high tourist prices, I vowed to take myself across borders to the great Nicaragua solo dolo. Upon being asked numerous times to join groups to Granada, Nicaragua, I continually responded with my desire and itch to head alone. Not once did I receive a look or a comment less than a blank stare or a "yea I wouldn't do that". Now if you know me, this naturally fueled my passion to live this out.

So, Friday morning, September 23, I dragged just my backpack and myself to my final, then headed straight for the public bus station(which in itself was unheard of by these student tourists..."so you mean your not taking a direct bus?" "uh nope. Savin $25 by takin public transport"...). Hahaha so I get what I deserve. The bus was naturally running an hour and a half late so I got to spend a bit of time catching up on my Bible reading, and practicing my Spanish with the ticos. So just around noon I caught a bus that should have taken me to Peñas Blancas, which is right on the Costa Rican side of the CR-Nicaragua border, but due to an accident on the Pan American Highway, my plans to cross the border at night changed. I met a dude from Cali on the bus who's been studying here for 13 months. Given the conditions, he was going to stay at an old tico bros house for the night and invited me to join. My gut felt good about it so I tagged along thinking about the money on a hostel I was saving.

Gabriel ended up being a pretty cool guy, and we ended up traveling together Saturday to Ometepe. Let me just state that upon leaving for Nicaragua, I had no plans whatsoever. I just figured I'd head to Granada, which is pretty close to Managua, then play things out, but I was totally open to whatever, as long as it included meeting totally new people and spending next to no money. So, naturally, when I heard about Ometepe, I was all in. (FYI, Ometepe is an island in Lake Nicaragua that is made up of two volcanos. It is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world). This place turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. Even if I just had traveled to see it's formation from the ferry I would have thought it was worth it. Gabriel told me that he had read it was listed as an 8th wonder of the world--I would believe it. I can't even really describe how beautiful this place was. I don't often talk about wanting to go someplace twice, but I definitely think that I will return to Ometepe later in my travels.

From the moment when I saw the island from the Ferry to when I was hitchhiking in the bed of a truck in the pouring rain though basically holes and rivers, my heart was content with a gigantic smile. I had finally found something on this trip of mine throughout the last month that was right up my ally. It was absolutely perfect. Perfect risk matched with perfect beauty. I don't think I could have been happier. I like to think that you know your in a good place when your walking in the pouring rain in unknown territory, trying to find a hostel on some co-op. By evening, I had found Finca Magdalena. I snagged a hammock outside for $3.50 for the night and laid myself to sleep amongst God's creation in a most natural state.

Sunday morning, I woke up before the sun rose, and from my hammock all I could see was a massive lake with a volcano in the distance all surrounded by magnificent flowers and trees. Not to mention the sound of howler monkeys. Again, I couldn't be more pleased. Let me just point out that until this moment, I had only spent about $20 including food, transportation, room, and entry/exit visa fees; this made me all the more happy. Anyway, I continued my fabulous morning by hiking up one of the volcanos. At the top of the volcano, there is a lagoon which I dipped my legs in, but because it was raining, it had gotten pretty chillay. After the hike, I decided I'd catch the ferry back to mainland so I could check out the beach at Juan del Sur which I had been hearing good things about. But as I was waiting for the ferry to arrive my eyes caught a glimpse of a sign for motorcycle rentals. Naturally, I inquired, and discovered that rentals were a mere $5! But, it was raining, and so stuck with my plan to take the ferry. However, as I'm sitting on the ferry waiting for it to load up, the sky clears, and my heart calls and demands more adventure. So, I rush off the ferry. Head to the little shop. And take my first motorcycle ride in Latin America. The guy and the rental shop was shocked that I knew how to ride, and informed me that the gears were a little different here. It's like: N 12345 instead of the 5432N1 that I was used to. This proved to be challenging for the first few shifts as I naturally kept up-shifting when I was trying to down-shift. Anyway, taking the bike was awesome. I had really been missing mine a lot. I loved being on the bike with the wind in my hair, fresh air in my lungs, and volcanos and Rock roads in my view. Again, absolutely gorgeous. Upon finishing my ride, I caught the "Che Guevara" back to mainland and found this sketch hostel for the night. I left there at 5 am and checked out the lake shore and volcanic view one last time before I started back walking towards the next city where I could catch a bus. Ok I love it when hitchhiking is so easy that you don't even have to hold out your thumb. Only about 10 minutes into my walk, a motorcyclist pulls over and I hop on back. He takes me to the next town to the bus stop. And the rest of the trip is mere travels to San Jose.

By the time I returned to San Jose, my body was exhausted, but my soul was so renewed. I can't wait for the semester to be over so that I can do more of this. I want to point out the incredible budget I kept,with only spending $55 all weekend on EVERYTHING,including a hammock. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my weekend.