Lake like an Ocean!

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Trip Start Nov 16, 2009 Previous
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  Ometepe Island, Rivas, Nicaragua
Thursday, January 28, 2010

Isla de Ometepe in Spanish or Ometepe inland in English was formed by twin volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua.  It is Central America’s largest lake with the following statistics: covers 3,329 square miles (8,624 sq km), 110 miles long (177 km), 36 miles wide (58 km) these facts may not allow you to imagine just how big it is, but the boat ride and the view helps you to appreciate its sheer dimensions.  When you are there it is like being in an ocean, the pictures do not help you, but the map on the right hand side shows how large it is if you zoom out!

The islands two volcanoes are Concepcion, which rises 1 mile (1,610m) above the lake in an almost perfect cone (see pictures), and Maderas .86 of a mile (1,394m) (could not get any pictures from our position).  Lava flows created an isthmus between them, creating the island itself.  

The last major eruption of the active Concepcion was in 1957, but as you can see from the photographs and video (first entry, just click it to run) it is still sending ash up into the atmosphere on a regular basis.  The ferry ride from San Jorge (main port to the island) takes about 1 hour and costs about $1, the taxi half way around the island took 45 miles and cost $8!

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Video Ometepe	View from the Ferry	Ferry & Volcan Concepcion	Coming Toward Concepcion
Concepcion Blows   Comments!	Our Room Fina Vencia	Concepcion on Ometepe	Darcy in Park
It's Alive and Smoking	Our View from Room

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