The road to Isla de Omotepe, Nicaragua
Catching my first glimpse of Concepción Volcano as we cruised into Moyogalpa port on Isla de Ometepe at sunset was another one of those unexpected treasures at the end of a long day of traveling. Starting from San José, Costa Rica at 8:00 a.m., I was just arriving to the island at 6:30 p.m.
I left the San José bus station right across the street from the Monteverde and La Fortuna bus terminal (where you can pick up a hot cup of coffee and an apple strudel) – about 200 meters north of the Coca Cola station. I took the second bus out that morning at 7:45 a.m. Delayed by the Policía Nacional who pulled the bus over and arrested three passengers, we arrived to the Costa Rican/Nicaraguan border known as Peñas Blancas at 2:15 p.m., just as the skies decided to cleanse the border´s dust-and-exhaust-filled air.
Bombarded by kids handing me the official paperwork, and money changers shuffling fistfulls of Córdobas, I made my way into the immigration center on the Costa Rican side. The walk to the Nicaraguan side was a good 400 meters through a second passport check. Two long lines and seven dollars later, I had my stamp and was officially in Nicaragua.
Passing through a turns-dial gate, I was stopped at the entrance by a police officer who asked for my passport. And, once through, by a young woman in jeans and a blouse who handed me a small, printed receipt from the local mayor´s office and requested $1. Now, I was officially in Nicaragua.
I jumped on an old, yellow school bus which still had the rules of conduct for American children pasted to the wall: “Behave on the bus as you would in the classroom.” I got off after 45 minutes, just before the transportation hub of Rivas, at “La Bomba,” which means gas station, at the turn-off to the port and grabbed a taxi for the remaining 10-minute drive.
Squeezing onto the ferry packed with huge, round baskets of vegetables, bags of rice, and motorcycles, I sat on the bow ready to breathe in the cool breeze sweeping across Lake Nicaragua. First came the sunset, and then, the views:
