We arrived safely to Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua on Wednesday, Valentines day, via an hour van ride from Jinotepe to Rivas, a 5 minute taxi to San Jorge, and an hour ferry ride across to the lake to Moyogalpa. There, our contact picked us up and took us to CICRIN, the orphanage we are staying at.
This whole place is not quite what I expected, though that isn’t bad. The landscape in Nicaragua is so different that Mexico, and even Guatemala. We haven’t seen rain since Mexico, even though in many ways it feels more tropical here. On Ometepe, coconut and banana trees are mixed with disciduous trees, some of whom have lost their leaves, and the ground is nearly flat aside from the two volcanos looming above. The ground is dry and dusty, as the last rain was in November, with the promise of rain not until May. There is one main road that follows the outside rim of the island, and all the little towns are big enough only to be called a neighborhood in my American mindset.
Although much of the architecture is similar to Mexico, cinderblock homes and buidlings, the feel of this area is very different. Few cars drive the roads, and yokes of oxen pulling carts are seen often. All the animals graze wherever they can find growing grass, and wander everywhere, so on the journey to and from our new home, we almost ran into a variety of livestock in the road – oxen, chickens, cows, pigs, horses. It’s pretty entertaining when pigs are grazing in the road, I have to say! I really like it here though.
