On Tuesday morning, we left Managua and headed to San Jorge, a small town that is just under two hours away. We were scheduled to meet up with Tim and Marisa here to catch a ferry to the island of Ometepe together. After almost an hour-long ferry ride and a pizza lunch, we parted ways as our friends were staying there for a couple of days while Phil and I were there for just one night. We had to get our tourism done in a day.
We checked into our hotel, unloaded the stuff from the bike, and then went for a ride around Ometepe. The island was formed by two volcanoes protruding from Lake Cocibolca (or Lake Nicaragua). It is not a very big island so you can ride around the whole thing in a few hours. We did not go around the whole island, but we did a good portion of it and were pleasantly-surprised at the nice roads we got to travel on.
Aside from the nice roads, we saw a lot of horses (some just hangin’ out and some being ridden by people) and cattle on the island. We caught glimpses of some white-throated magpie jays, but they were quick to fly away before we could take any pictures. The island is said to also be home to a large population of white-headed capuchin monkeys and a good number of mantled howler monkeys, but we didn’t see any.
We took a break from touring for some cold smoothies since the weather was still blistering and then returned to our hotel just in time to watch the sun set over the lake.
Volcano Concepción
Break time for the riders and the bike
Why did the cattle cross the road?
Sunset over Lake Cocibolca
Just before nightfall
