Road Block

18 June 2009

We decide to spend our last night on Ometepe by the beach: Charco Verde is a nature reserve by the water, with great views of both volcanos and many beautiful walks.

The transfer proves rather adventurous. The night before our departure, we try to arrange a cab for the next day but are told that this will have to wait till the morning. Apparently the only phone of the pension is a mobile phone, which has insufficient credit to make calls (The boy who usually brings the charge cards from the village has not shown up that day). The next morning, the phone is charged, but there is no network. So much for taking a taxi then, on to plan B, taking the bus. With our heavy backpacks on our backs, we start the 15 minute walk down to the main road (aka dirt track). As we're approaching the road, we already hear the bus announce its arrival by honking. It arrives 15 minutes early. We are lucky and just make it.

The bus takes us to Las Esquinas, where we need to connect to another bus. After a few minutes, a 4WD stops and two women from the bus stop get on. The driver asks us about our route and tries to explain that the bus will not be able to take us to the hotel and that we'd be better off riding with him (for 2 USD each). We decide to get on. We pick up a few more passengers on the way, including a police officer in uniform (Gaudi was worried for a second that this spelled trouble but the officer simply needed a ride to the next village).

Soon we see the reason why the bus could not get us to our destination today: heavy rain during the night provoked a mud-slide from the volcano El Concepcion. Lava gravel covers a large section of the only paved road on the island and makes passage impossible. As there are no heavy machines on the island, people start to clear the rubble by hand (more of a hundred meters of road are covered by massive rocks). Travelers have no other choice than to walk across the rubble field, and take buses and taxis on either side of the blockage. We had to cross with our luggage. Our courteous driver carried Natasha's suitcase across.

Another taxi already waits for us on the other side of the rubble field and brings us to our destination. We are rewarded with a lovely cabin directly on the sandy beach.

More Charco Verde pictures here:

Charco Verde