Semana Santa holidays

I´m like a broken record apologising for not having written any blog posts for ages, but I promise you I HAVE been very busy recently and therefore I DO have a good excuse. However, as of yesterday I have a week´s holiday from work for the Easter break, so I´ve come away for a little vacationing in Nicaragua. Yesterday I travelled (complete with hangover from the going away party for three departing volunteers the night before, so my rucksack packing was a little sketchy and sporadic!) from Granada to the twin-volcano island of Ometepe in Lake Cocibolca.

The island is a sort of figure-of-eight shape, with one volcano at the centre of each of the two circular parts. One volcano is still active (no eruptions very recently though) and throws out a bit of ash every now and again; the other (I´m staying on this side of the island) is dead, and the crater is a now a lagoon. I was thinking about climbing up it, but apparently it´s a gruelling 8-hour climb and I popped my volcano cherry last weekend on Volcán Mombacho near Granada (photos to follow, once I´m somewhere with a fast enough internet connection to download them)so I don´t really feel the need. To be honest, I just want to chill out here and rest up with some amazing views. I might hire bikes to go to the waterfalls, or saunter down to the beach and go for a swim, but otherwise I´m just happy sitting out in a hammock, swatting away the bugs and enjoying the break.

The journey here was fine, although I almost missed the 11.30am chicken bus from Granada to Rivas due to a last minute stop off at the office, trying to arrange who could cover the dentist visits for the Monday after Semana Santa (Easter week). But I did make the bus, had my rucksack thrown up on the roof (luckily it came on the same bus as me and arrived in one piece) and a very chivalrous gentleman gave up his seat so I travelled in some relative comfort the whole way. Next to me was an American teacher, part of a group of 4 teachers and 12 students on a 10-day trip to Nicaragua, and I felt for her with having all the responsibilities of looking after teenagers in this country! Then at Rivas I met a Swedish couple and an American couple also travelling to Ometepe, so we all squeezed into a colectivo taxi (yes, that´s five adults, plus five rucksacks, plus the driver in one car!) to travel 20 minutes to the port at San Jorge. We´d timed it right and only 50 minutes later the ferry for Ometepe was leaving (the big ferry rather than the smaller lancha boat, so the crossing wasn´t too rough given that this is windy season!). At Moyogalpa we waited just another hour (with a cold drink in hand) for the two-hour bumpy, dusty bus ride on unpaved roads to Mérida, where I had reserved accommodation at a hospedaje some other volunteers had recommended. It was then a 20 minute walk up a dirt track in the dark, with a five-year-old boy to guide us, and we made it here to Monkey´s Island ranch. So now I really am just chilling out and enjoying my little holiday time. It´s a charming rustic retreat (not luxurious, but clean and friendly) and I´m lapping it up...