Tonight is our fifth and last night on Ometepe, a volcanic island in Lake Nicaragua.
The name comes from the Nahuatl words ome (two) and tepetl (mountain). The island consists of two volcanoes, Concepción and Maderas, joined by an isthmus [I think this is the first time I have ever actually used that grade 6 geography vocab word] to form one island shaped kind of like this:
Twin spirals are a common petroglyph motif on Omotepe.
What could we possibly find to do for six days on a dinky double island in a lake? Well, first we had to get here.
And then we had to get to our lodgings, in our case a working finca (family farm) with a comfortable guest house attached, right next to the water.
At the lodge we enjoyed the beach, swam in the lake, ate good food, and watched people who were working a lot harder than we were but still seemed to be having a pretty good time.
The lodge was great, but there is much more to see on Ometepe. We took a long walk along the lakeshore.
Inland, we swam in a clear pool fed by a natural volcanic hot spring.
We hiked a trail through the rainforest.
We took a bus up to a coffee plantation where we toured the grounds and looked for ancient petroglyphs.
We hiked to another finca with beautiful grounds, more petroglyphs, and lots of butterflies.
We went to a museum to see stuff left behind by a long series of indigenous cultures.
And the rest of the time we just wandered around, soaking up the slow-paced friendly atmosphere.
Lorna of Arabia 