Thewesternprovinceblog

Hola todos! This is the blog for the final day of the Isla Ometepe side quest!

You know the deal by now, to skip the details I hired the bike again and off out I went to find the waterfall trail. I do briefly stop by the same comedor for breakfast before I hit the trail and ear a french crepe in the wrong way like the island Barbarian that I am!

Anyways I soon hit the trail and after the practice yesterday I end up breezing past the slopey rough ground that I bailed at the other day and then I’m riding on some nice flat dirt roads with some lovely views of the coast. I briefly stopped at a little museum showing the different fish in the lake, which is more like an inland sea how big it is. After this I am soon at the entrance to the waterfall trail. I chat with some fellow backpackers and it’s not an easy trail being a 3 hours uphill hike in the blazing midday sun. 

I give it some thought and decide I’m enjoying being on the bike so bail on the hike and decide you know what? I can walk to a waterfall any day of the week but can’t ride a motorbike so easily back home and decide to challenge myself to complete the full loop around this part of the island

Off I go and realise I’m actually doing way better at this dirt riding than I thought I would be and I am absolutely killing it going through the uneven highs and lows without incident. It’s all about judging what’s in front of you and knowing when you should speed up or slow down on each rough part. I cut through about 2/3 of the full route where I briefly chat with some fellow travellers who were on the bus with me from Potosí to León a week ago. Some are heading to Colombia so might bump into them again. They tell me it’s not long to go and about 15 minutes till your back to the main road. Great stuff. We say our goodbyes and off I go for the last bit of rough riding.

All goes well until we reach the very last village before we reach the main road. There are people about so I’m going pretty slow like 10 kph. I’m nearly through and right out of nowhere this little yappy dog runs in front of me and I split second slam then front brake on sandy ground. I skid cannot correct……I’m going boys!!

Here I go ass over tit cut my knee and left hand and bruise my pinky finger good, not broken but need to take it easy for a while. Joder that fkng hound!! Fair play though the locals help me up and stand the bike up while I use my first aid wipes and bottle of pox that was in my bag sterilise and plaster up the cuts though the plasters sit pretty loosely as sweat gets to them. Once I patch myself up I now cannot get the bike started after this rollover and me and 3 lads are checking the battery, fuses connections etc all looks okay and the starter motor still turns. Try to start w full throttle open. Nothing.

Not being able to start the bike I have to get somewhere with WiFi to WhatsApp the company to send a wagon out. One of the guys says there is a place down the hill but we need to ride down there. I push the bike to the top of the hill and freewheel it down trying to bump start it several times to no avail. We make contact and maxim @greenexpedition sends the wagon out but I have to sit tight for 2 hours. 

The truck eventually comes and the guy gets out and has a look “this is simple” he then pulls open a hidden fuse in the corner which all of us failed to spot even looking up YouTube vidoes. He gives it a clean and bang the bike starts first time 🤦‍♂️. He then says am I happy to ride back or we can put it on the truck. I say I am happy to ride back and I can cut my teeth with a bit of night riding. We get back to the paved main road quicky with him following for a while then leaving me to ride back in the dark on my own. I get back to port fill the bike up while chatting to some fellow travellers doing the same on quads.

I take the bike back to Maxim and he goes over the damages. I’ve lost my deposit and have to pay in US about £35 for additional damage and the truck call out. So this mishap cost me circa £90-100 however despite everything it was an amazing day and I went away feeling like I had slain one of my personal demons although I didn’t end up seeing half of the sights of this amazing island this is more important to me! Also firsthand knowledge doesn’t come free and the experience from this will pay off tenfold next time we have to ride to get round.

After this is wrapped up I go out to eat and while i am sat outside this restaurant a stray dog takes curiosity to my knee which has now been scabbing up and was covered with trousers came up for a sniff. I quickly shoo him away loudly getting the whole street looking at me for a moment but he leaves and I get my food. I eat up and then head back to turn in. I don’t think too much of it in the night but in the morning I am very worried. 

So begins the worst leg of the trip so far by a country mile………..