Muses on Moz: Ometepe, Lake Nicaragua

It was my first girl weekend since Nalia was born… nearly 8 years...my first time on a trip, just me and a girlfriend. Majella flew from San Salvador and met me in Managua. After meeting her at the airport, we took a long taxi ride to San Jorge, and then boarded the ferry to Ometepe (Majella and I both agreed on the luxury of the taxi… we are over and done doing the Central American bus ride, which takes place in a used (though highly adorned and decorated) USA school bus, covers long distances with LOTS of stops and LOTS of dust, all in temperatures that rival a summer kitchen in New Orleans.

Ometepe is in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, which is so large it looks like an ocean rather than a lake. But it’s better than an ocean because it’s agua dulce (sweet water, as they say in Spanish)… during the dry season, the Island looks like a cross between the muted, earthy tones of Western Colorado and at higher elevations, Hawaii. The Island is dominated by two volcanoes, one active (Concepción), and the other inactive (Madera). Ometepe is also Bainbridge Island’s sister island.

On Ometepe, we were cared for by Marvin at Finca San Juan de la Isla, and if there is ever a moment for a blogger to indulge in some shameless publicity, this is the time! San Juan is one of the most relaxing places I’ve stayed for a vacation. It’s a restored 100 year old Spanish hacienda on the shores of the lake, and doesn’t have many amenities, but the hammocks and the wholesome food (prepared by Marvin) were enough for weary burnt out NGO workers like Majella and me. I say that Marvin took care of us because he really did. He got to know us and suggested what we might like to eat based on who we are and where we’d been. And then he went to his kitchen and in a whirlwind of vegetables and pasta, enhanced by some flourishes of secret spices, he’d pull off a work of art that tasted close to ecstasy. That, with one of his famous Ometepe margaritas… put both Majella and me to sleep by 9:30. He let Majella and I take a sneak peak at his kitchen after the storm, and it looked right out of Like Water for Chocolate…. Pieces of ayote on the table, open bottles of capers, eggplant stems, bits of carrots strewn everywhere. Majella asked if he’d clean it up that night and he only said one word, manaña.