I swerve to avoid an assortment of livestock and ad hoc baseball games taking place across the road. I’m riding from the port town of Moyogalpa to our accommodation, a two-hour ride to the south. Leisa has taken a tuk-tuk with our luggage, while I reacquaint myself with riding a motorbike. To no surprise, it didn't take long for Leisa’s tuk-tuk driver to leave me behind. I travel slowly and stop often to take in this Central American version of paradise.
Isla Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua. The active Concepción volcano is in the north while the extinct Maderas is in the south. Small indigenous communities dot the island linked by roads of varying quality. There is no public transport and tuk-tuks are only available from the port. The best way to explore the island is by quad bike, motorbike or scooter.
Ometepe to Nicaraguans, is what Uluru is to Australians - very fucking important. Legend has it the early indigenous settlers were told they would find the promised land where fire rises from a lake. Isla Ometepe matched the description. It is still a big source of national pride for the Nicaraguan people. So much so, it is the logo on the national beer.
We were staying at a self-contained Airbnb in the remote southern part of the island. Our room was surrounded by banana trees, chickens and the occasional snake. It was rural, peaceful and beautiful. Walking from the gate to our cabin was an exercise in dodging falling mangos. The lake-side grounds were littered with them everywhere. The pungent smell of fermenting mangos wafted constantly, as wandering horses munched on them. The isolation was a welcome change after the hustle and bustle of San Juan del Sur.
We took multiple day trips on the bike to explore the small communities dotted around the island. Most of the roads were unpaved and in bad condition. After all the surfing, my body was a wreck and I couldn’t summon the strength to climb the two volcanoes. Instead, we opted to climb up to the waterfall of San Ramon, situated on the side of the Maderas volcano. It was the dry season so there wasn’t much water. Still, the views were stunning and we saw plenty of wildlife. We also took a kayaking trip up one of the inlets. We saw Cayman and plenty of birdlife. On our last day, we visited Ojo de Agua, a natural spring pool with crystal-clear water coming directly from the volcanos.
Our highlight from Ometepe was meeting a dog we would call Emphycita. We met her brother first, who was a larger version with a bad case of kennel cough, so we called him Emphysema. They both had the colouring of Kelpie mutts. Emphycita started arriving on our porch at breakfast, patiently waiting for any stray scraps. She then progressed to joining me for runs every morning. It felt like she was our dog for the week, which was very comforting for us, having been on the road for two months at this point. She had a beautiful temperament but she seemed to become very protective of us.
It was a very painful moment leaving Emphycita. Smuggling her back to Central Australia did cross our minds. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her the morning we were leaving. I told myself she was probably well-versed in abandonment. The ride back to the port felt long and I cried most of the journey. Luckily I had a helmet on.