Thewesternprovinceblog

Hola todos. I hope everyone is doing well this last weekend of November. I am currently transiting through San Jose, Costa Rica on to Bocas del Toro, Panamá. We got a lot of catching up to do, as such the next round of blogs are done retrospectively.

After we left off In Granada I considered my options about Ometepe. After giving it some thought I decided yes I want to go, though before I accepted this side quest I made some enquiries with Gerry and the metal man – learning lessons from earlier legs on this trip I wanted to double check I was not walking into another San Pedro before I pulled the trigger. They all said it was good and no it’s not another San Pedro, so with that in mind I booked myself into a hostel in Moyogalpa, the main port on the Island’ staying here would mean it will be easy to get back to the mainland when it comes time to move on.

With that sorted Monday rolls round and it’s time to leave Granada I check out of Gerry’s hotel and walk down to where the chicken bus for Rivas goes from. The bus left early but we can get on another one and change over in the next town and do that. Chat with some Scottish girls travelling to ometepe too and we travel to ometepe together. After the stop in Nandaime we are quickly on the connection and this bus is rammed. I’m practically hanging out the rear doorway 😂

We arrive in Rivas and haggle with a taxi and get ourselves to port and we are in luck as there is a ferry already there and waiting to go. We get our tickets and quickly get aboard. The ride over is pretty interesting as this lake can get pretty rough and this ferry reminded me of the junkboats im Hong Kong. Had a very slow boats to China vibe getting over there.

When I arrive on the walk up to my gaff I am approached by a guy who runs one of the tour companies there and speaks very good English to me. We have a quick chat and tell him I’ll drop by later once I’m settled in. Check into gaff all good then go back to see the man. His name is Maxim by the way and the company is called Green expedition. Sound lads would highly recommend them. 

I ask about booking onto some tours and he runs me through the options. Places look good though there is one small problem. You can’t get to them without wheels and that means you need to hire a motorbike, scooter or a quad. I felt nervous about this as last time I had been on a bike was 8 years ago and it didn’t go well. I tell him I’ll have a think and come back.

I go and have some water and a beer at this bar and hit up some of my mates who ride motorbikes for some advice. The recommendation was take the scooter as automatic and you can just focus on the road. With that sorted I drop back and go back to Maxim and explain that I’m nervous about it and haven’t ridden in a while. I ask “are the roads like Mexico here?” i.e a complete free for all. He says no and once your out of town it’s very quiet actually. Okay I’ll give it a go then. He runs me through the motor I’ll be riding and then offers to drop it off at my gaff in the morning. Okay then happy days.

With that settled I head back to the gaff then go out for some food and a drink then have an early one. Tomorrow we face our fears!