Ometepe Island

Sunday was the election day here in Nicaragua and school was canceled on Monday so we decided to take advantage of a long weekend and see Ometepe Island! Lake Nicaragua is the largest lake in all of Central America and Ometepe Island is the biggest island in the lake. It is made up of 2 volcanoes, Volcan Concepcion and Volcan Maderas, and are joined in the middle by an isthmus. Volcan Maderas is now dormant but Concepcion is active and puffs out hot vapors all the time. The last eruption of Concepcion was in 2010 and has erupted at least 25 times since 1883. **uh...I learned all of that just now. While we were actually on the island I thought the last eruption was in the 1950s!**

Basically all of the island is quite rural. There are a couple of main towns at the island ports but they are tiny. Much of the island is farm land with produce and cattle and pigs everywhere! Mainly they grow plantains to export. Tourism is also a major part of the economy of the island. The one highway is dotted with ecotourist farms with lodging and a restaurant. Many of the accommodations focus on sustainability and low to no impact on the pristine rain forest there. 

We had an absolutely amazing time and loved it all! I will say it is my favorite destination we've seen thus far in Nicaragua, and it's got some really tough competition! 

SATURDAY:

We woke up early and were on the road by 7:00 am. We had to drive a couple of hours to San Jorge to get to the port. The ferry took us and our car across the lake to Ometepe!

A great view of the ferry and Volcan Concepcion in the distance

That's the boat! Cars in the front and people in the back. 

The Canadian couple who took this picture of our whole crew could not get over how many kids we have and how crazy/adventurous we are to be traveling with the whole herd! We get that A LOT here. Haha!

Ometepe Island. Concepcion on the left, Maderas on the right

No one fell overboard! Parent win.

When we got to the island we drove from the port on the north west side of Concepcion all the way around to the south west side of Maderas. The views are breathtaking! We did a short easy hike to see some petroglyphs! 

The whole island is lush and gorgeous like this! I am in love!

What happened to my baby?!!?! They are all growing so fast!

When we left on our little hike we left our car parked in front of this family's house. They kindly agreed to let us leave it there and they even volunteered to watch it for us. They were hilarious and we stayed to talk to them for quite a while! They were very interested in our large family and so very kind and friendly! They brought out their pet parrot Lora to meet the kids. 

After the little hike we went back and checked in to our AirBnb house for the weekend. We struck gold with this AirBnb! It was spacious, comfortable, set on acreage, several hammocks on the wrap around porch, a horse we could ride and a super kind caretaker family that sent their 8 year old son to play with the kids each day! They, and we, were in heaven! 

SUNDAY:

We had a lazy Sunday morning. There are no LDS churches on Ometepe so we missed our worship service but tried to focus on meaningful family time and enjoying God's beautiful creations. While the neighbor boy came over and played with our kids, Mitchell and I spent nearly 2 hours relaxing in the position pictured below. We talked a lot and really enjoyed the time connecting. Mitchell is reading Man's Search for Meaning and we talked about what priorities and activities give life real meaning. Moving to Nicaragua has been such an interesting experience. We quite suddenly went from being 2 busy and sometimes over committed people to having our schedules basically completely wiped clean. We have tried to be very deliberate and purposeful about what habits we create here and what obligations we allow to creep back in to our lives. I enjoy being busy and productive. This has been a great learning and refining experience to remember to stay busy with the most important things. There are endless unimportant or only somewhat important activities that sometimes clutter our lives and keep us from dedicating our finite time to what means the most.

The kids really enjoyed exploring the acreage around our rented house. It was lovely!

When Mitchell and I finally decided to pry ourselves up from the hammocks and move for the day we drove down to Volcan Maderas to hike to the waterfall there. We didn't know what to expect but our kids are great hikers so we don't worry too much. They have proven themselves to be strong and have great stamina many times on hard hikes. This one was labeled 3Km each way. 

A stick bug! Redick and Reid (this is Reid) have no fear of picking up any bug! I keep hoping they wont try to bring me a scorpion one day! Sometimes I hold out my hand and they fill it with centipedes! Ew!

About 30 minutes into our hike the kids started to drag a bit. They said it was hard, it was! They said it was long, it was! (none of us knew it would end up being 2.5 hours each way) They started to have some melt downs and really struggled to carry on. Mitchell and I tried to encourage them and even tried distracting them from the task with songs, I Spy and games etc but they still dragged on with difficulty. Then Audrey shouted, "Hey!! I hear water!" We all listened carefully and indeed we heard what sounded like water! **It turned out to just be the wind in the trees but at that point we thought it was rushing water** That declaration lifted everyone's spirits and was just the thing the kids needed to renew their enthusiasm! They surged forward and excitedly hiked on knowing there was a beautiful waterfall ahead. 

Isn't this a beautiful metaphor in life? If life just seems hard in every way we drag and struggle to keep going. Times of trials in our lives can seem to last forever! However, when we have a goal we are striving for and then receive a little confirmation that we're on the right track that can renew our hope and help us carry on. My friends, try to listen for the waterfall! Even if the water is too far away to see or hear, maybe hearing the wind rustle the leaves of the trees will be enough to remind you that there must be water ahead because there are trees growing around you.

Butterfly whisperer!

The kids were troopers! The last kilometer was quite steep and full of boulders! We were scrambling up and the kids did so well!

Here's a vertical panoramic view. It was breathtaking and so worth the climb!!

The waterfall was absolutely amazing!! It was enormous and so beautiful! The trail claimed to be 3Km but my GPS watch measured it as 3.5 miles each way!! WOW! Of course, I could hardly walk the next day and Mitchell's calves were so sore. The kids? Nope. They claimed they weren't sore at all! Youth.

We saw a few monkeys on the way down!

By the time we finished our all day hiking marathon it was way later than we thought and we were starving! We stopped in at a little hotel and restaurant on the way back. They had a gorgeous view of the lake from their infinity pool! 

While we were waiting for our food to come out the kids were playing in the little courtyard near the restaurant. Reid took a bell from the counter and was playing with it. The waiter came over and asked him to give it back and he refused! This is so strange because he is normally very obedient. I think he got embarrassed and froze. Even when Mitchell got involved he still wouldn't voluntarily give back the bell. That earned Reid a time out in the car (which was parked just outside the same courtyard and quite close by). Just a few minutes later I went to check on Reid and he was not in the car. I looked all around the courtyard and couldn't find him! It was really starting to get dark and my heart began to pound. Mitchell and I both searched and then called in some of the hotel staff to help look. I was near tears and thinking all of the worst case scenarios. It was awful. Early in the search, when the hotel staff joined in, Mitchell and I and our 3 present children knelt down in the courtyard and thanked Heavenly Father that we are a family. We thanked Him for Reid and what a joy he is to our lives. We pleaded that he would watch over Reid and all of us and that he would help us be reunited again very soon. We searched everywhere for about 15 terrifying minutes. Mitchell started shining a flashlight in the bushes and out of a bush popped Reid, "Oh! You found me! I was playing Hide and Seek!" Cue ALL OF THE EMOTIONS! Suffice to say we were extremely relieved. He is one silly boy.

Monday:

Again the neighbor boy came over and played with the kids. They are getting so good at making friends with other Nicaraguan kids. My 3, and especially Audrey, can communicate with a mix of Spanish, English and gestures really well! They are learning so much Spanish already! There was a horse and a saddle on the property where we stayed and the kids wanted to try. Redick and Reid had a short attention span for it but Audrey was enchanted! Thankfully it was an older, patient and lazy slow horse. She walked him around and around the house and yard for 20 minutes before it was time to put the horse back out to pasture. 

Meet Volcan Concepcion. This view was absolutely stunning! 

One of the main tourist attractions on Ometepe Island is a resort called Ojo de Agua (Eye of Water). We had to enjoy it before our trip came to an end. It was lovely. The pool is fed by a natural spring that wells us from the earth. It's full of minerals and they claim it to be a fountain of youth of sorts. Apparently the composition of sulfur and other elements in the water can heal all ailments and restore one's youth. Or so claimed the pamphlet they gave us! The water was refreshingly cool and very beautiful. 

Redick and Layne fell asleep in the car on the way back from Ojo del Agua and we had about 45 minutes before we needed to be to the ferry. We made a last minute stop at a small museum of ancient pottery that has been found on the Island. Audrey, Reid and I enjoyed the museum with a private docent that was a wealth of information. 

These simple pots date back as far as 3,000BC! One of the characteristics used to determine the age of these pots is their color, or lack of. These are plain clay because the indigenous people hadn't yet discovered paint.

These more intricate pots have some red painted designs and date back between 500BC-300AD

Isn't this beautiful?! It dates back to 800AD-1350AD

This is a burial tomb of someone quite important. The urn on the left carried his/her bones and personal effects. On top of the middle urn is a bone necklace and an ancient gold pendant! 

The indigenous people buried their dead in the ground for 3-4 years to allow the bodies to decompose. Then they would unearth the bones and re-bury them in these urns. Many of the urns are in this elongated and rounded shape. This civilization believed in reincarnation and believed that the re-birth would be easier if their remains were buried in the clay urn in the shape of a pregnant womb.

These are ancient whistles that were used for communication over long distances. Primitive cell phones!

This is a mask and another solid gold pendant

This is a pot used for making corn alcohol. They call it Chicha. According to the docent it was quite potent. He offered to let me try some that had been fermented using the same ancient process but I declined.   :)

This is our last look at Ometepe Island as the ferry pushed on back toward the mainland. Ometepe was GOOD to us! I can't wait to go back!