La Isla Omotepe, an Island created by twin volcanoes that through eruptions formed an isthmus between themselves, is situated in Lake Nicaragua although here due to the vastness of the lake you feel that you are on the ocean. The ferry ride over to the island was interesting to say the least, a small ferry transporting locals, tourists, motorbikes, chickens, and goods We choose to stay in the port town of Moyogalpa, while not the most picturesque town we only planned to stay the night and take a trekking tour around the island the next day. Our hotel, Hotel Omotepetl, while definitely not the Ritz it was decent accommodations and was well situated near the dock. It was Sunday and all the caballos were in town from the surrounding villages parading through the streets, on horeback and in trucks. Later we went to Yogi’s, a cafe and internet café, and met its eccentric owner, an US expat who has lived and traveled all over Central America, he told us some stories about the places he has lived as well as about being an Army Radio operator whose job it was to listen to Russian radio transmissions.
That night we went to sleep early in preparation for our trekking the next day, but it didn’t last long, some of the others hotel guests who had partaken of the fruit of the vine or something else were confused about which room they were staying in and though the management tried to stop them the 4th, 5th and 6th time they kept trying to open our door or knocking on it or arguing in front of it or sleeping in the chair outside it. This whole experience kind of soured us on La Isla Omotepe and being exhausted the next day we couldn’t go on a tour and had no desire to climb the volcano, so after breakfast we boarded the ferry and returned back to San Jorge. At the dock we got a good price on Taxi to the border, where we had the joy and pleasure of getting our Nicaraguan exit visas( to say that it is unorganized and chaotic would be putting it nicely) and then waiting in a very long line (and finally line hopping) to get our Costa Rican Entrance stamps. We met up with two Dutch girls traveling in the same direction and decided after seeing the 200 or more people waiting in line for the bus, to share a taxi with them to Liberia.
