The eight of us (myself, Robin, Stephanie, Caitlin, Anton, Steven, Gerrit and Sandra (a Swiss girl who had joined the group for the trip)) set off for Ometepe in the morning. We took a local bus to Rivas, taxis to the docks there and then the ferry across to the island.

We arrived and negotiated a decent price for the 1-hour minivan ride to Santa Cruz. Here we stayed at Hotel Santa Cruz, which at $7/night was decent. The 'town' (consisting of the hostel, a shop, a tienda and a few houses) sat close to the base of the dormant Volcan Maderas. From the terrace at the hostel we had fantastic views of the larger Volcan Concepcion and the surrounding lake (Lake Nicaragua).

On arrival it was time for a late-lunch. We sat down at the local comedor and had a fantastic lunch for a good price. Unfortunately Anton had had a misunderstanding in relation to the price of his soup, with the lady who owned the comedor. They had a heated exchange as the rest of us sat in awkward silence. We wouldn't be eating there for the rest of our stay.

That evening we relaxed on the terrace with a few beers, watching the sun go down over the lake. We got an early night as we had signed up to hike Maderas. We set off at around 8am with our guide. The first hour of the hike was relatively easy-going as we ascended the base to a mirador (viewpoint). We looked out over the other side of the island and the towering form of Concepcion, as well as the two sides of the lake around the island. Nearby were some beautiful birds. We saw a vulture flying close by too.

The next few hours of the trek were exhausting. It was a relentless ascent, first over heavily rooted ground, then through tons of mud that was deep enough to envelop your feet, then over slippery rocks. Finally we got to the highest point and I'm sad to say it was such a disappointment! I've found so far that the effort of trekking up is usually made worth it by the view at the top. Unfortunately there was no view here as everything was obscured by trees. Very sad. We did move on though and got to the crater lake. This was better. It was a strange feeling seeing the clouds over the crater come and go so quickly. It felt like we were sitting in the sky. I approached the water's edge and put my right foot down on what I thought was a solid bit of ground. Unfortunately it was thick mud and my leg sank in half way up my shin. I yanked hard and finally got my foot out without losing my shoe, as people around me were in stitches.

We had some lunch and relaxed at the crater lake for an hour or so - we were all too tired and not equipped to swim in it. We then started the descent. I'd thought that the climb was hard, but this was brutal on the knees. The constant impacts as we moved downhill took their toll!

We finally came out of the dense forest and onto a mesdow with a fantastic view of the larger volcano. We took some poserish group photos here under a stunning orange sky. We finally got back to the hostel and were relieved to be able to shower and sit down to rest our feet. Despite the disappointment of the view, we all felt a real sense of achievement.

The next day we headed to Ojo de Agua. This is a set of natural freshwater cold springs which were not too far from where we were staying. We hired bikes from our hostel and cycled 30 minutes there, following a road along the shore of the lake. We chilled in the cool water for most of the afternoon and relaxed, which was a nice change from the previous day. On the way back, Robin's bike gave up the ghost and so I stayed back with him as he had to coast on downward slopes and walk his bike along flats and upward slopes. It took a good hour to get back, but it was a nice walk/ride under the setting sun.

We parted ways with the Dutch guys the following morning. Myself, Robin, Stephanie and Sandra headed to Masaya for a day, to break up the journey to Managua from where we'd be flying to the Corn Islands. We spent the day strolling through the markets and drinking Nicaraguan coffee from Matagalpa. Dinner was an interesting experience. A few people at the hostel we were at mentioned a street food place. We went there and everything looked amazing. I picked out some kind of meat curry with rice and tortillas. The flavour was awesome but the 'meat' was just fatty skin, which really ruined the dish. I got a couple of pieces of grilled meat which also looked great, but couldn't finish them as they were so chewy. Disappointing all-in-all. One of the guides at the hostel had told us his band were playing in a local live music night that happens every Thursday, so we headed over there for a beer. The music was traditional Nicaraguan stuff which we enjoyed for a couple of hours before heading to bed.