Ignoring this fact for now......let's focus on the present. Right at this very minute I'm sat in a chair, feet up on a stool with a 180 degree view of water ( not an Ocean but a lake). To my rear is a huge perfectly conelike volcano. I can hear a howler monkey, endless birds. Oh and horses and cows are in the water. I am, as they say, at one with nature.
Where is this wonderful place? It's an island called Isla de Ometepe and it's south east of Granada and is in the middle of Lake Nicaragua ( the biggest lake in central america). The write up to this island is good - it's on the shortlist for the new 7 natural wonders of the world. It has not one but two volcanoes on the island, and from where we are staying you can see both. Apparently you have to visit it.
The ferry ride over here was gorgeous - the volcanoes make a stunning backdrop. Unfortunately lots of the accommodation options we tried were full - so we tried a new ( and expensive) finca up towards Santa Domingo beach. It's fair to say it was remote - we had a 10 minute drive off road through a plantain um plantation before we got here. Initially we thought we'd made a mistake, our host didn't exactly bowl us over with an enthusiastic welcome and we seemed to be the only guests. But hey we were here so we made the most of it. We took a walk down towards the main beach area. It was amazing, no tourists, instead we had friendly locals washing their clothes in the freshwater lake, we had abandoned horses drinking at the waters edge. Kids swimming with their friends. We even walked past a goat and a rather porky pig. Still no gringos. This place was wonderful.
We found a local bar, ordered two Tona's and remarked on our good fortune. Only then the insects came. My god and they came in their hundreds. They literally swarmed us. I went for a swim to escape temporarily.
We walked back a lot quicker than the walk there.........turns out the little sandfly type insects don't bite - and are a small price to pay for such an amazing place.
Tonight we head back to the big ugly city of Managua to meet our friend Jess. She comes bringing gifts of English chocolate and fresh novels :-)
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