From Ometepe to El Castillo

We rose at 4.30am (do you detect a pattern here?) and struggled with our suitcases by the light of our iPads along the pitch-black path from our Eco-cabin to the hotel reception area.  Around us the howler monkeys grunted in alarm and night birds uttered a warning call. We sat in the darkened reception and wondered if our taxi driver would come to meet us.  We heard his 4-wheel drive climbing the steep rock-strewn track to the hotel and then we were on our way back to the ferry port of Moyogalpa.  

We made the ferry at 5.59 with one minute to spare and crossed Lake Nicaragua on the one hour journey back to San Jorge. Sharing the journey with us were  a heavily pregnant young girl, and a man attached to a drip, both requiring medical attention that could not be offered on the island.

At San Jorge we were once again met by our guide, Elvis, and were driven for two hours back to Managua, arriving at the airport at 9.15.  Elvis and I share the same passion for photography and own identical cameras, so we swapped many stories on the journey.  We also shared stories of our families and experiences of life and felt like good friends when we finally parted. (If you are reading this, Elvis, thanks for sharing your beautiful country with us, and keep in touch!)

We then endured a long wait for our flight to San Carlos, and reflected that this was, perhaps, not the most logical way to travel from Ometeppe to El Castillo.  On a Tuesday or Friday a 4 hour ferry journey connects to San Carlos and this would have been both quicker and more direct.  Also a new airstrip has just opened on Ometeppe and on a Sunday it is possible to fly direct to San Carlos in 20 minutes.  However, by returning to Managua we enjoyed one huge compensation.  Our aircraft, a small 12

Indo Maiz Biological Reserve from the air

seater, did not travel direct to our destination, but flew first to San Juan on the Caribbean coast, before back-tracking to San Carlos. We flew for mile after mile over the green lung of Nicaragua, the Indo Maiz Biological Reserve, that occupies the bottom S.E. Corner of Nicaragua along the Costa Rica border. Looking down the terrain appeared impenetrable, a dense tangle of foliage and a myriad of connecting waterways.  Little did we know we would be exploring this area by foot a day later.

Arriving at 2.45pm on the dirt landing strip at San Carlos, a lively river port on the confluence of the Río San Juan, Rio Frio and Lake Nicaragua, we were met by our new guide, Orlando. He, we were to discover, was charming, warm and friendly, and always with a smile, so typical of the Nicaraguan people.

San Carlos from the air

In the most unlikely of places we enjoyed a superb lunch with fish soup to die for, and then by high speed private boat we undertook a 2 hour journey for 60km along the San Juan river to El Castillo, finally arriving at 6pm.

We were met by Manuel, sporting a  penguin haircut in honour of his son's favourite cartoon character, and shown to our room in the delightful 5 room Luna del Río lodge, perched on stilts on the river front above the rapids. With so much natural wood, a tiny, but spotlessly clean bathroom, fresh crisp linen, wonderful finishing touches, and welcoming owners, this was a great hotel!

Still our day was not done. After an enjoyable dinner we were treated to a private night tour by boat to spot caiman. Our guide, Christian, would not be defeated, and scoured the banks by torchlight, searching for a glimpse of their red eyes which gave away their position.  Banter passed between Christian, Manuel's brother the boatman, and Orlando, like three drunken lads on a night out!  Christian found two small caiman that he allowed to chew on his knuckles.  Finally, he leapt out of the boat in the shallows and returned wrestling with a 1 metre male which he then proudly held out for us to photograph.  Only later did I realise that the baby caimans were not chewing on his knuckles, but on the stump of his finger! It was not too hard to imagine where the remainder had gone! A crazy man!