The days here on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua are flying by. We are trying to take advantage of our time and experience as much of the area as we can. Today we decided to try a bus trip. Tours are hard to come by because it is off season, and a driver quoted us $70 for a day. We knew that bus couldn’t be near that much! So, we headed to town.

You need to get your mattresses home, so what do you do? Put them in a motor taxi, of course!

La Princessa takes a break from grazing and eats some of the tree

Today’s volcano photo

Washing clothes can be a social event.

These farmers have taken their cows for some beach time

This one didn’t want to come back in

We met these two guys as we walked to town. They saw me taking pictures and wanted me to take one of them.

Someone was cooking behind the old abandoned building. I don’t know what it was but it was bubbling away and smelling good.

We made it to town and got the bus schedule from the bike shop, learned nothing was going to our intended destination for a while so we decided to go towards the ferry dock where Robinson, our taxi driver contact was waiting for some potential customers. Down there at the bus stop was a bus about to leave for San Marcos, a town on the north side of the island that we wanted to visit also so we hopped on.

We are on the bus!

We arrived in San Marcos to discover the holiday festivities were going on! It was kind of like a parade that didn’t move.

These girls danced and did their thing with lots of energy for a very long time out in the hot sun.

A girl nearby was doing the washing outdoors. Apparently they cook with wood indoors and the smoke goes out the openings in the block, judging by the color.

I have heard about pigs and mud but didn’t realize they truly enjoy it very much.

I almost need a photo album called “pigs in mud”

The bus just waited here for an hour until it was time for the return trip, which was perfect for us, just enough time to enjoy the festivities and walk around town a bit.

A guy gets off the bus and heads home

Traffic jam! The bus had to make its way though a large group of cattle in the road.

We had biked almost this far earlier but I was glad to go all the way to San Marcos. The road isn’t paved so it is a bit of a bumpy ride, but it was a chance to see a more untouched area. There are probably very few gringos who visit there because we got many curious looks, but everyone we greeted was pleasant and greeted us back.

This is only a small part of what this island has to offer, so we have more excursions coming up!