So Tina and I arrived to Isla de Ometepe the way we've arrived everywhere else on our trip thus far: in FULL FORCE.The boat ride from Granada to Altagracia was an interesting one.At first, a man walked around collecting donations and lifting up his shirt, to reveal a monstrous hernia in his stomach area...and little did I know, he ended up sitting right beside me.It took a while for the ferry to leave, and I was fascinated watching a woman come off and on the boat, selling slushies in bags.At one point, her and another woman, of an abnormally large size, especially for Nicaragua, started arguing; the large woman owed the slushy woman some money, and paid most of it but refused to pay it completely.But I loved watching how the slushy woman delt with the situation: she was a no-bulls*** woman, and yet she managed to make a joke out of it for everyone watching on the ferry...so we all had a good laugh and I shared the laugh with the man who had sat beside me.Also, keep a lookout for gloriously cheesy music videos with Gustavo Layton, Ometepe and Nicaraguan star...and horrible movies like "Missionary Man" that play twice in a row..When the boat finally left, Tina passed out in a very interesting position on her bag, and I ended up talking to the man beside me...not knowing until much later that it was the same man who had the painful looking hernia.We actually had a great conversation and talked about a multitude of subjects, from politics, to agriculture, to Latin men, which was very interesting.José-Daniel was his name and his kind nature and good humour is what stood out to me, as well as many other Nicaraguans that we met.He ended up showing me a close-up of his hernia, which looked agonizing, and told me he would get operated on the 5th of November...I hope that the operation went well and that he raised enough money to pay for his special brace and medication.When we finally arrived to Altagracia four hours later, we were actually not allowed off the boat, because 5 police agents, that looked more like militia forces, came on with a dog to search for drugs.When finally off the boat, Tina and I proceeded to spend one, extremely sketchy night in Altagracia.We barely had enough money to stay there (and then take the bus the next day to a town that had a bank machine) so we ended up sharing a room, which could barely fit our single bed and bags.The man at the hotel said we could share a room and it would be cheaper...and that he would simply place another bed...and by "place another bed" what he really meant was just throw a mattress on the ground.Tina and I had seen some questionable spiders...and there were what appeared to be blood stains on the sheets...so instead of pulling straws to see who would sleep on the floor, we put the mattress with the blood stains on the sheet underneath the other mattress...had two beers for dinner...and went to sleep (to our great relief...they took credit cards at this dingy hotel!So, once again, Tina´s credit card saved the day, and we could actually proceed with our plans, instead of having one person set out in search for a bank machine and then backtrack all the way to the hotel to pay the bill...yes, I know, we travel kind of sketchy.)The next day we went to Moyogalpa, which is much nicer, and stayed in a very nice hostel with a very nice family (until, on the last day, Carlos tried to scam some more money out of Tina and I...that wasn't so nice and I somehow didn't feel as much love toward the cute little family as before).We rented bikes and just cruised around.And the next day it was Ode and Tina Versus the Volcano...The volcano hike up concepción was quite nice.Sometimes we would stop and hear the roar of the Howler Monkeys, or see blue and black butterflies the size of birds, or colonies of ants, or termites, or monkeys or birds....quite a lot.Sometimes it's hard hiking with a group of people though because you constantly have to wait...and take lots of breaks, which I could have done without.But the view, once at the top, was great.The cone was hidden behind a mixture of cloud and smoke, but the view of the island of Ometepe was crystal clear, and we could see off into the distance Nicaragua Lake and Granada, and the volcano just outside Granada.The next day we went for a very crazy bike ride from one side of the island to the other....and we somehow managed to convince others in joining our crazy expedition: César from Argentina and two Germans (I've since forgotten their names)...unfortunately, not everyone made it.This was a point where Tina and I realized that not everyone can deal with the Ode and Tina way of traveling...or the Ode and Tina Adventure.When hills started looking more like mountains and we took a couple wrong turns (and had to go back up some very painful hills that were a riot going down) the German girl kind of started to freak out.But César somehow survived!At one point paved road turned into horribly rocky road...with lots of potholes...and very steep downhill....and this is where we all three (at this point we had lost the Germans) realize that our breaks do not work...So we all scream like a bunch of crazies, hit some crazy jumps and holes...but make it in one piece!Hurray!That night we managed arriving to Santa Cruz, and treated ourselves to a midnight swim in the lake (not as dirty as everyone says) under the stars.Actually, when we were in Moyogalpa the water pipeline ended up breaking and Tina and I haden't had a shower for close to a week...so we took our shampoo and conditioner and soap and went down to the lake for a bath...where there was a father and his children doing the exact same thing!We got nibbled a couple of times...but we were good and clean!Anyway, back to Santa Cruz.The next day, the others (the German couple had arrived, exhausted but still alive, the same night as us...and then bought all the bread in the store so that César was left with nothing for his hike the next day!We were also supposed to go on this hike, but figured we would give ourselves a break and venture on to Costa Rica instead).The next day we got up early, had a wonderful breakfast made by Mirla, Gallo Pinto, and then had a ceremony and buried Tina's dreads!!!!!She had been carrying them around since Canada...and only gotten rid of one (in the crab pit in Utila...) and it was now time to move on...WITHOUT the dreads.We found a nice little stream in Santa Cruz, amidst wild plants and trees, some cows, some volcanic rocks, beside a dirt road....and close by the Maderas Volcano.We took a video...which we'll put up with all the pictures once we find a decent Internet cafe...which is surprisingly hard here in Costa Rica.That's right!We're in Costa Rica now!After the dread burial, we took a taxi van type thing back to Moyogalpa with sore bums and without our bikes...had an awkward encounter with Carlos who tried to charge us more money, and then took a little lancha out of Ometepe!We then had a very tiresome travel day (they always are) to Costa Rica.Now, people think Nicaragua is dangerous and sketchy....Costa Rica seems WAY more sketchy!This is what happens when you take a lot of foreign money and a lot of gringos and put them in a country.First a guy tried ripping me off on the border when I was exchanging my money, then we had to wait a while in a line to get our passports checked, and then had to go over to the Costa Rica side, get our passports checked AGAIN, and then get our bags off the Tica bus and get them searched.We made it to Liberia, and there we took a chicken bus to Playa del Coco, jam packed with human bodies, and then emptied and searched by the police on the highway...Now we're visiting with Tina's parents, Widge and Pete and having such a great time!We'll update again with all of the crazy stuff we've been cooking up here.Chow for now!Ode and Tina