Wednesday was a work day, but I balanced things pretty well.  Worked from early until around 3pm, and then I met up with Laurens and we rented bikes for a few hours and rode down to Ojo de Agua, some natural spring on Ometepe.  It was a serene place, just hung out in the water, read for a while, and relaxed.

We rode our bikes back on the beach, which would have been nice had Laurens not been Dutch, and thus impossible to compete with.  Charlotte and Yonda were supposed to meet us at Ojo de Agua, but they crashed their scooter instead.  We found them walking on the way back.  Went for dinner then split a bottle of Flora de Cana and watched the sun set on Ometepe for the last time.

A bunch of people were splitting a taxi to go back to the main land, so I decided to cut Ometepe a little short and go with them.  30 minute taxi, 1 hour ferry, 10 minute taxi, and a 2 hour bus ride later I was back in Granada (by myself, everyone else was headed to Costa Rica or SJDS).

I got some work done, bought a shirt (which makes me look ridiculous, but I just don’t care), cleaned my feet, did laundry, and rested.  I’ll work some tonight, relax, and plan the rest of my trip.

Friday I just worked as well, but Saturday I took a day trip to Laguna de Lapoya, which is a lake made from a crater about 20 minutes outside Granada.  Here is a picture of it:

And here is a picture of my rum and coke facing the other way.

They also had a volleyball court, ping-pong table, and bocce court.  I played some bocce, swam, and kayaked for a bit.  Apparently it’s the warmest lake in Central America too.

Paul (a different one) from Minnesota and I watched some NCAA games in Reilly’s Irish Tavern in Granada.  It’s a nice pub one road off the main street, but not cheap.

Sunday through Tuesday morning. I just worked in Granada, which is mostly rubbish as far as I’m concerned, in preparation for my “vacation” in the Corn Islands.  So I spent the days in relative solitude, pining away at the computer to escape the city.

The traveling wasn’t fun.  Shuttle to the airport, Flight to Big Corn Island, taxi to the ferry, wait 2 hours, ferry to Little Corn Island, then a 10 minute walk.

On Big Corn Island they were chopping down a palm tree full of coconuts, so they cracked a couple open for us and let us have them.  And by us, I mean the group I split the last taxi with, whom I would not see again.

Once you’re on Little Corn Island, it’s lovely.  Here’s a couple pictures.

Tuesday night I joined up with Jim, a jovial alcoholic on vacation, and a few more Canadians for Trivia Night.  We came in 2nd and won some money – almost enough to cover our celebratory jaegerbombs.

I went snorkeling on Wednesday and we saw lots of colorful fish, sting rays, lobsters, and Nurse sharks.  Y&C were doing an advanced diving certification course, so I was mostly left to my own devices (which is perfectly fine with me).  There isn’t much to do on the island, so I “relaxed” as much as I am capable.  Happy birthday to me.

On Thursday, I did a “try dive” which is a scuba diving training course where you take like half a day to learn and then dive down to like 12 meters, which is a Canadian measurement of unknown depth.  This time I saw all those things again, but they were much closer because I was at the bottom, basically running into Nurse sharks.  I also ran into regular nurses a couple times (they were also doing the try dive with me).

I ate at a couple really good places in the middle of the island.  One was Rosa’s.  I forgot the other one, but it’s right next to it.  So if you’re on the island, definitely take a look at those places.

Then on Friday I had to travel all over again.  Walk to the port, ferry to Big Corn, taxi to the airport, flight to Managua, and then a shuttle to Leon with the nurses (people, not the sharks).  All the hostels were completely full (Easter weekend, and we arrived at like 8pm) so we walked around the city in the dark for a while before splurging for a hotel (with AC… whoo).