THE LAST OF SOUTH/CENTRAL AMERICA- San Juan Del Sur and Ometepe

Hi Guys! 

This is our LAST blog for South and Central America. I am so lucky to have been able to travel for a year with Jared and a couple of backpacks. It is truly my happy place. We have seen so much, learned so much, and feel so grateful to have had these experiences. But there is still one more blog! And it's a good one, so let's dive in. 

We headed down to San Juan del Sur for some beach time and surfing. We had also heard that there was one really special attraction in this area- sea turtles! The beaches of Central America are a major nesting ground for sea turtles, but they are not without their threats. There is an overpopulation of wild dogs, and they love to dig up the eggs for a tasty snack. Humans have also done this for centuries, as it is part of the indigenous people's diet. The Nicaraguan government sets aside a certain amount of eggs for this purpose, but the rest are illegal to be consumed. We visited a sanctuary, that is behind a big fence so the sea turtles are safe in here. 

We arrived at the La Flor Nature Reserve after dark. Our guide had asked us if his family could come along, and we saw no reason to say no. His son is pictured below. We first picked up this basket of hatchlings from the interpretive centre. They incubate eggs in-house to boost numbers, in addition to the naturally hatching eggs on the beach. There is some thought that the cycle of the moon has an effect on the numbers of females coming up on the beach to lay eggs. However, each source I came across had something slightly different to say, so who knows. The event everyone wants to see is an arribada, in which thousands of turtles arrive on the beach at the same time to lay their eggs. The thought is that there are strength in numbers (from predation). We must have seen hundreds of turtles coming and going on the beach, digging holes, laying eggs and covering them up. It was a truly magical experience. 

This was one of the turtles we placed on the shore, heading for the ocean. 

That was such a cool experience, I can't believe we saw SO many turtles. After the turtle reserve, we headed down to Playa Maderas and Majagual. We walked in about 20 minutes with our packs, but then we had an entire beach and hostel to ourselves! It was pretty rad. 

We played a big game of checkers with driftwood and rocks. 

After the beaches, it was time to head for Nicaragua's biggest lake. We had technically already seen another section of this lake when we were in Granada. This time we took a ferry to the island of Ometepe, which is a dormant volcano. You can still climb up to Conception (on the left) and get some amazing views on a clear day.

We rented some scooters and went touring around the island with some friends. Here is a waterfall we trekked to through the jungle.

Local traffic

The biker gang strikes up again!

This was the dining area at our hostel, which was also a permaculture farm. We did a tour with them one afternoon, and learned about how they are using sustainable farming techniques to produce as much food as possible on the property to feed the hostel guests. They were also composting waste (toilets included), as well as routing their waste water through a biofiltration system.

This is a rainbow eucalyptus tree. If you peeled off the bark, you would encounter different colors of the rainbow.

We stayed on a back section of the property- which was called Elsewhere Land.
Ometepe was a really chill place to spend our last couple of days in Nicaragua. Sadly, it was also the last couple of days of our trip all together. What a ride, I have never felt like a year of my life went by so fast!

I think this is a very suiting last picture. There was a girl that couldn't carry her suitcase down the twisty jungle path from the hostel, so we helped her get down to the road. We promise this wasn't all our luggage! However, I love the picture because it signifies the team work we did, and how there is no way either of us could have done it alone.

 I will always remember the beaches of Rio during Carnaval, getting engaged on the W, making a Mitsubishi Outlander our home for months, taking in Macchu Picchu at sunrise, summiting Huayna Potosi (6088m), watching Fuego's eruptions light up the night sky in red, swimming with hammerheads in Galapagos, meeting Devon and Eric in San Gregorio, and about 1000 other amazing and hilarious things we saw. Thank you for reading, stay tuned for Africa!

Until Next Time!