Kayaking on Ometepe

All night, I dreamt and slept heavily. I dreamed of waking up for this atrocious hike we were about to embark on come morning. My dreams dished me two scenarios. One was that I followed through and went on the hike and discovered it was truly a ten out of ten difficulty wise. Two, was that I told the girls I was going to stay behind and it was perfect. I woke up about an hour before our alarm was to go off and laid there still struggling with my decision. I wanted to see the view and experience the hike, but I didn't want to be miserable in the process. At six thirty, the alarm went off and we had a half hour to get ready until our guide would arrive. I went with my gut and dream's predictions and told Niki I was staying back. She was cool and my mind had raced so much that there was no going back to sleep for me, so I grabbed my phone and began to work on my blog. A little while in, Rhed awoke and we chatted for a while. It was so cool to lay there and chat with someone from a different country about their ways, their history, and their opinion of the U.S. At one point, I was summing up America's history that we learned all throughout highschool in about a ten minute nutshell. I was asking Rhed about the UK's and he had a great point of the fact that they had so much more history to cover in school, simply because of the differences in ages of our countries.

After chatting for a couple hours, I headed out to the pavilion area to get some breakfast. That is when I met Gloria and Joke again. They were like, "hey, I thought you were hiking today?" and I explained what my plan was. I planned on catching up on my blog and hanging out. They were still up in the air a bit, so we just hung out in the pavilion.

I went back to the cabin at one point to shower, and totally forgot about what a Central American shower involved. What I thought would be a relaxing and refreshing shower, turned out to be my coldest shower yet. I had to lean my head back as far as I could to wash my hair because the water was so cold on my body. It felt good to squeeze the water out of my hair, because that was the only opportunity I had at warm water. The water sitting closest to my head had absorbed some body heat and felt great running down my chilled body. At one point, I had to wash my body so I soaped and jumped in and super rinsed as fast as I could. That was when I wished for home and a warm shower!

Returning to the pavilion area, Rhed had asked me if I wanted to kayak later and I was totally excited! I didn't want to sit around and wait for the girls. I wanted to do something exciting and take advantage of the beauty this island possessed so I told him I was in!

At 1:30, Rhed, Gloria, Joke and I loaded up in the back of a pickup, sitting on a truck bed toolbox and headed for the kayak place. The guy at the front desk wasn't kidding when he said taxi was the only way to access it. The road headed to the kayak company was the worst we had traveled yet. We honked past cattle and bumped and bounced our way to a little lakeside hut where we prepared for kayaking. The man gave us large, recycled mayonnaise jars or something like that to store our dry belongings in that would be in the kayak with us. Meanwhile, a young boy was tying together three kayaks and then attaching the rope to the back end of the boat. As they set up, we gave a small calf tied to a tree a visit and took some photos with him. He had been snacking on bananas or plantains for the day.

When the young boy signaled that he was ready, we boarded the small speed boat which taxied us to the end of the lake bay where the river mouth was located. The guide anchored the boat and him and the boy helped us into our kayaks. Rhed and I shared one and Gloria and Joke shared the other while our guide hopped into a single kayak to show us around.

The river wasn't like I expected. It was more like wetlands and the amazon. Long vines hung from the tree tops and white heron birds patrolled the area for snacks. Our guide took us down a small branch of the river, through lilly pads and under vines to a beautiful little area. He pointed to the trees and showed us some monkeys. As we paddled slowly, he was looking hard for more wildlife. We looked over to him and one point and he had his finger over his lips like, "shhhh", as he pointed into the plants on the edge. He waved his hand calling us over and whispered in Spanish. Thankfully, the Dutch girls could understand bits and pieces enough to translate that there was a crocodile holding a bird in it's mouth. We looked and looked and looked as the guide pointed. Rhed was the first to spot it so he guided our eyes until finally, after like five minutes, we were able to make out a small part of it's nose and the feathers. Our guide told us that this croc was about four or five feet long. I was pumped now!

We continued to paddle up and down small little tributaries of this very slow paced river. About twenty yards away, our guide pointed out another crocodile that none of us could see until the very end when I saw it waddle off. The portion of the tail that I saw was way bigger than I had expected. I took a ton of photos as we weaved our way through the beautiful scenery with the volcanoes in the background. This was such an awesome way to experience the wildlife of Omotepe without having to hike a grueling mountain. I was already feeling very thankful for my decision.

After the river, we paddled our way down the shores of the lake until we got back to the hut where we started. Our arms had quite the workout and the sun was about an hour from setting, so the guy that had organized this trip, started the long and bumpy journey back to our hostel. Right when we were talking about how bad the road was, and that we can't believe how these vehicles take such a beating, we heard a very unsettling hiss from the front passenger tire. We knocked on the window to tell him his tire was going flat, and quick! The driver put it in reverse and turned around so that we were headed back toward where we came from. Once we got to flat land, right in front of a house/store, he killed the engine. The tire was way too flat to continue so we piled out of the truck and he began the long and hot process of changing a tire on the bumpy and very dusty road.

Like any kids would do, the young boy and girl that lived at the house, approached the street to check out what was going on. The house was small and dark, with a dirt front yard sprinkled with chickens, chicks, dogs and a pig. The animals pecked and rooted around the yard for food and even the animals expressed interest as to what we were doing in front of their house. Our driver told the young boy to get us girls some juice or something to make us feel welcome, but we didn't need it. A large front window on the porch served as a store window where they sold a small selection of toiletries and snacks. I headed into the yard to check out the store and the animals. Just through eye contact and simple hand gestures, I was laughing with the kids about their dog. Next thing I know, they call me to their porch and the girl disappears behind a door for a second to a little lean-to coming off the house. She returns holding a small little black puppy, with really short and smooth hair. Similar to a hound, but without the elongated body, and this one had long and skinny legs. The seven year old, Margarita, extended her arms in my direction, offering for me to hold the pup. I gratefully take the puppy and tell her thank you! After a couple of minutes of holding and playing with the puppy, I handed the puppy over to Gloria for a turn. The puppy in my hands, was quickly replaced by a small peeping chick that Eduardo, about eight years old, eagerly placed in my hand. These kids were smiling ear to ear to have us on their front porch holding their animals. We asked them what the fruit was that they had in the bowl on the porch and they offered us a try.

In my hand, they placed a grape sized, brown fruit. The shell was hard like a peanut shell but thinner and more delicate. It looked like a baby kiwi before touching it. Inside, was a white-ish green soft fruit with a pit or seed like a grape. It was so extremely sour and the kids cracked up at our faces.

We took photos with the kids and the mom and the pets and showed them on the screen of the camera and they loved it! I let them use my camera and take photos of us. After photos, we went around behind the house so we could see their cows. It was really cool and comfortable talking with the kids because I wasn't intimidated to try my spanish. I told her that I have cows at my house and she understood.

After about an hour, the driver called us and said the tire was fixed. I hugged the kids and thanked them for an awesome time and we headed out. They shouted "¡Adios!" for a ways as we disappeared down the road. I was ecstatic driving back to the hostel because of the cultural experience I just had. The other travelers we were with were like, "You've never been to a home like that and had that up close and personal experience?" I assured them that this was the first time I had ever gotten to do something like that and it was amazing! I felt so thankful to be able to bring so much joy to those kids and for the memories I got to walk away with in exchange.

When we returned to the hostel, the girls and the friends they had made on the mountain were all sitting around the tables under the pavilion. Some had just showered while others sat barefoot next to their socks and mud covered boots, looking like they were going to pass out. As we walked up, they were exchanging stories of the mountain and before I even had the chance to ask how it was, the girls just say, "Oh my God Sam, you made the best decision out of all of us!" They said they'd rate it as a 12 out of 10 for difficulty and that I would have been miserable. The two girls who out hiked me, hands down in Santa Elena, were exhausted and completely drained. I was so happy that I went with my gut feeling, plus it was cool to do something on my own. I had made a couple good friends out of it.

Gloria, Joke, Rhed and a couple other friends and I went to a local comedor for a cheap and delicious dinner. It was cool to be in more of a local place with a sassy little Nicaraguan lady serving and cooking. She reminded me of a sassy little Italian lady that you wouldn't want to give any crap to, but from Nicaragua instead. The food was probably the best Nicaraguan food I had had yet. Our choices were grilled chicken or fried fish. My chicken was pounded thinly with a barbecue and slight charcoal grill taste with gallo pinto, fried plantains and a coleslaw sort of dish. The people at my table who ordered the fried local fish, were presented a full bodied fish on their plate....teeth, eyes, fins and all. It was cool to see fish prepared that way, but I was definitely happy with my choice of chicken.

We ended the night by going up the road to another hostel called Little Morgan's. It was a group of about ten of us that walked down there which turned out to be quite the party at their bar. Our hostel was definitely the grab a bite to eat and use the wifi sort of place where this was the loud music, pool table, party place. I had a ton of fun, made a lot of good friends and slept very well after a long and eventful day!

Had to take pictures of my camera screen to show pictures from my day because I didn't have my phone, but it's better than nothing!