Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua. Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ome (two) and tepetl (mountain), meaning two mountains. It is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua. The two volcanoes of Concepción and Maderas are joined by a low isthmus to form one island in the shape of an hourglass. Ometepe has an area of 276 km2. It is 31 km long and 5 to 10 km wide. The island has an economy based on livestock, agriculture, and tourism. Plantains are the major crop.
The island,with a population of approx. 30,000, is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua, a body of water referred to as a ‘freshwater sea’ due to its sheer size. In the middle of this lake, isolated from the rest of Nicaragua, rise two majestic volcanoes joined by a narrow, flat isthmus – this is Ometepe. To the north of this hourglass, shaped island sits Volcán Concepción, a perfectly cone-shaped active volcano. To the south sits the extinct, or ‘prehistoric’ Volcán Maderas. In stark contrast to the lava stained Concepción, Maderas is covered in cloud forest with a lagoon in its centre. Add a rich history of different tribes and cultures, the stories told by the petroglyphs, ceramics and statues found throughout the island and you can start to imagine the allure and mystique of Ometepe.
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We had a "tour" to take in the San Ramon waterfalls, but we aborted that after half a mile hiking along a very bad track (the jeep took us about half way, but there was still an hour to go). From there to Finca Magdalena - an antique coffee plantation. Finca Magdalena is an organic farm which has a property of 350 hectares and is run by a co-operative of 24 farm families. It produces organic coffee, bananas, milk, honey bee's, corn, beans, rice, vegetables and contributes to environmental protection. It had a small kiosk where we had a smoothie. The guide then took us to his home town of Altagracia, before returning us to our hotel.
Hotel Finca San Juan
8.4 On booking.com and on TripAdvisor 19 rooms. Offering a restaurant and a private beach area, San Juan de la Isla is located in Altagracia, and sits at the end of a 2 km dirt track off the main loop road, and several kms from the nearest town. If you do not have your own transport, then you have to eat here in the evening
They have six or seven new cabins on stilts at the waters edge, and you really want one of these - the older rooms looked pretty abject to me. Our stilted cabin was very agreeable with one balcony facing the lake, the other the lagoon.
The main problems here are the bugs and the wind. And you can add getting around at night. Our cabin was about 200 meters from the restaurant, with little lighting provided by the hotel. In a nutshell walking at night without a torch is dangerous - they do not provide a torch, so you need to bring your own
During our 2 night stay the wind howled unabated, and doing anything on the lake was impossible. I have no idea how typical this is of weather at the hotel.
The breakfast is minimal, but just edible. Dinner was just about OK, but if there was the alternative of eating out, I would have done so.
The staff appeared to let guests get on with it, and you needed to winkle them out if you needed anything. I did not see any sign of a manager while we were staying.
If I were on Ometepe again I would explore other options for staying, but could well end up booking here again
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Two nights here, then back on the local ferry, where we got picked up , and driven to the Costa Rica frontier, where we had a guide waiting for us