Dia 95 Isla Ometepe 31 kms
Last night, after arrival on the island, I was approached by 3 young fellas while eating dinner. They wanted to speak English with me and began by trying to invite me to drink beer with them. Due to their limited grasp of our language, their invitation sounded something like this: Beer,,, wit, (motion of inclusion) mony,,, you! I misinterpreted, thinking they wanted me to buy them beer, so I scolded them in Spanish for begging beer from a visitor... They shrunk away and sat at another table..... Being a tourist means being hounded at times for money. A little later, one of them got up the guts to come back over and explain, in Spanish, that they only wanted to invite me to drink with them so they could practice their English with me. I apologized for misunderstanding and joined them. We proceeded to have a fun time drinking, while they quizzed me about pronunciation and grammer. They wound up being 3 super cool and motivated 19-20 year olds. I'm so glad that we cleared up the misunderstanding, as I now have 3 more great friends!
Today, as I rolled out of Altagracia to check out the island, I was approached by yet another young man who insisted on being my guide. I told him, I've made it nearly 7000 kms without a guide, I think I can manage it alone.... As I started to ride off, he grabbed his bike and followed, assuring me in his barely understandable English that a guide is very necessary here. "You can pay me a little," he said. So I had to wait for him as he couldn't match my pace, then he couldn't answer any of my questions about the flora and fauna as he didn't have a clue. Then, he wanted to take me in directions that I didn't want to go. I finally had to flat out tell him to get lost. Not wanting to seem too harsh, I gave him a couple dollars worth of Cordobas. He responded by storming off complaining about how cheap I was.....
On my own, I was able somehow to locate an area filled with precolumbian petroglyphs. Then I moved on toward the leeward side of the island to check out a recommended viewpoint called the "Mïrador del Diablo." The island is situated near the middle of Lake Nicaragua, which is like the size of one of the great lakes, in other words, Huge. It is formed by 2 volcanoes, one of which is visably active. I arrived at the access for the Mirador, to see a monster climb in front of me. Not wanting to expend too much energy, I found an abandoned palapa and hung my hammock. It had an exquisite view of the lake to the west and the active volcano Concepcion behind me to the east. I'd hang looking west for awhile, then turn a 180 and watch the volcano. Hours passed peacefully, 'til I was startled by the squawking of many birds which I recognized as Parrots. I turned to have a look and was astounded by a flock of easily 1000 parrots feasting in a field of grain not more that 150 meters away. They would roost in nearby trees and fly in groups of hundreds to land in the grainfield to chow down. This dance in flight continued for 45 minutes until the entire group had their fill and flew off en masse to a brilliant display of sunlight playing off their colorful bodies. They did a bunch of passes over the grainfield and over me as I watched in amazement. I could hear the sound of the flock cutting through the wind as they moved as one..... After they flew off, I did the same and rode on to tonight's magical campspot on the shore of the lake. I write as the sunset reflects off it's waters......
Last night, after arrival on the island, I was approached by 3 young fellas while eating dinner. They wanted to speak English with me and began by trying to invite me to drink beer with them. Due to their limited grasp of our language, their invitation sounded something like this: Beer,,, wit, (motion of inclusion) mony,,, you! I misinterpreted, thinking they wanted me to buy them beer, so I scolded them in Spanish for begging beer from a visitor... They shrunk away and sat at another table..... Being a tourist means being hounded at times for money. A little later, one of them got up the guts to come back over and explain, in Spanish, that they only wanted to invite me to drink with them so they could practice their English with me. I apologized for misunderstanding and joined them. We proceeded to have a fun time drinking, while they quizzed me about pronunciation and grammer. They wound up being 3 super cool and motivated 19-20 year olds. I'm so glad that we cleared up the misunderstanding, as I now have 3 more great friends!
Today, as I rolled out of Altagracia to check out the island, I was approached by yet another young man who insisted on being my guide. I told him, I've made it nearly 7000 kms without a guide, I think I can manage it alone.... As I started to ride off, he grabbed his bike and followed, assuring me in his barely understandable English that a guide is very necessary here. "You can pay me a little," he said. So I had to wait for him as he couldn't match my pace, then he couldn't answer any of my questions about the flora and fauna as he didn't have a clue. Then, he wanted to take me in directions that I didn't want to go. I finally had to flat out tell him to get lost. Not wanting to seem too harsh, I gave him a couple dollars worth of Cordobas. He responded by storming off complaining about how cheap I was.....
On my own, I was able somehow to locate an area filled with precolumbian petroglyphs. Then I moved on toward the leeward side of the island to check out a recommended viewpoint called the "Mïrador del Diablo." The island is situated near the middle of Lake Nicaragua, which is like the size of one of the great lakes, in other words, Huge. It is formed by 2 volcanoes, one of which is visably active. I arrived at the access for the Mirador, to see a monster climb in front of me. Not wanting to expend too much energy, I found an abandoned palapa and hung my hammock. It had an exquisite view of the lake to the west and the active volcano Concepcion behind me to the east. I'd hang looking west for awhile, then turn a 180 and watch the volcano. Hours passed peacefully, 'til I was startled by the squawking of many birds which I recognized as Parrots. I turned to have a look and was astounded by a flock of easily 1000 parrots feasting in a field of grain not more that 150 meters away. They would roost in nearby trees and fly in groups of hundreds to land in the grainfield to chow down. This dance in flight continued for 45 minutes until the entire group had their fill and flew off en masse to a brilliant display of sunlight playing off their colorful bodies. They did a bunch of passes over the grainfield and over me as I watched in amazement. I could hear the sound of the flock cutting through the wind as they moved as one..... After they flew off, I did the same and rode on to tonight's magical campspot on the shore of the lake. I write as the sunset reflects off it's waters......
posted by Bicycle Bob at
7:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home