Ometepe

The island of Ometepe, located in the middle of Lago Nicaragua, is the biggest surprise of my Pan-American kite trip so far. In Costa Rica, everyone said the wind on Ometepe was much weaker. It is almost as strong. On five out of five days, I was mostly on the water with the nine kite.

In the morning, the wind usually blows very laminar with 20 to 25 knots side-on from the right. It likes to take a siesta at midday. In the afternoon, it freshens up considerably to 35 knots. In the evening and at night it blows violently. Santo Domingo beach is the only kiteable beach on the whole of Ometepe. I circumnavigated both volcanoes on the Enduro on 80 km of gravel track.

The only tourist attractions are the Ojos de Agua natural pools and the San Ramon waterfall. Admission costs 3/5$, and both can be saved.

Both volcanoes offer very challenging trekking tours. On the 1,600 metre high Concepcion, which last erupted in 2010, you hike back for 12 hours in the blazing sun over fine scree. The path up the 1,300 metre-high Merida, which has been inactive for thousands of years, leads permanently through the forest over slippery stream beds. I save myself both and enjoy Ometepe’s colourful fauna, which explodes every morning. The eco-hippie camp El Zopilote on the slopes of the volcano is definitely worth a visit, especially for pizza night.

There are no dangers on the beach: The trees are far enough away, the beach itself is about 20 metres wide and the fine sand is almost completely free of obstacles. There are no stones or poisonous animals in the water. Even the rarely sighted bull sharks have been offline since the 1980s thanks to the Japanese appetite for soup.

The standing area in the panorama between the two volcanoes of Ometepe is at least 100 metres wide and the beach itself is around 2 km long. The waves, sometimes over a metre high, break super constantly and repeatedly in the entire area. When riding outwards, they form wonderful kickers that can easily throw you up to seven metres. When riding inwards, the flat water behind the waves screams for tricks.

There is a small kite school under French management with hire, but no repair workshop. Even if there are reports to the contrary: the water on Ometepe seems to be clean. I didn’t have any problems despite a few heavy impacts and swallowed water. Nobody has heard of kiters dying of infections.

Casa Istiam is a good place to stay. Single room $15/night, double room $20, food ok but always takes ages. It’s only 25 metres from the bed to the board, kite equipment can be stored in the room. Kitesurfing in the panorama of two volcanoes on Ometepe was definitely the best spot in three countries so far.

Then the late effects of the farewell night:

I usually prefer aliterations. But Ometepe just seems to be way much purer than any of my word-mashups could ever be. So I keep the title short. Maybe my hammock facing the strong winds raging over wasted waters shouldn’t shake that much. But it does, to some Franco-Canadians 7th Nation Army sound.

Maybe I shouldn’t have lost my rooms’ keys, celebrating the departure of a place I once more could have been way much more into. But I did, and in fact: if I kissed my girl just one more time and I felt like a bird flying over the slopes of some Nicaraguan volcano just one more time and my doctor told me I’d have to die tomorrow, my only answer would be: “So what?”.

I enjoy the necessity of hard soft typing on a mobile tonight. Any letter hit the right spot must at least be worth a hundred sober words. I feel like hitting them the right way, but you’re the ones to decide.

I enjoy the emotional emptiness of some world travellers blogs’ boring facts, aligned to some pre-written schedule. Makes me feel like I’d be able to succeed in living a life less wasted in high spirits.

In fact, I’m not. Still, I pretend it’s well wasted. No big sights along the road, just magic happening in between. It’s those times you can’t buy. Just the ones that are hard to appreciate, realise and be thankful for – the most. Thank you to the ones that gave me the sound for the incredible views I have witnessed.