Ometepe Island and Separate Roads

Hello All
I'm going to begin with an apology for not updating sooner, as I have been without internet access for some time now, so now I suppose I have a lot to tell. Our time in San Juan came to a close with a night watching the Super Bowl, crazy to think that we could do that down here, but I guess that's the way it is in a town full of gringos (white people). It was really cool as well, because we were able to meet up with our South African friends, whom we stayed with in Guatemala. That was quite nice to see them again and chat about the travels. After some more good byes, and saying farewell to the sand and surf, we left with an American we met named Zach for the Ometepe Island. Now this place is absolutely beautiful. It is an island in the middle of lake Nicaragua, that has been formed by two volcanoes that joined in the middle forming an inhabitable and rather beautiful island. Once we arrived to the port in San Jorge, we took a rocky ferry over to the island, quite a nice 1.5 hour ride. When we were on the boat we met some other travelers and decided to go with them for a while and split some taxis along the way. We started off at Charco Verde which is a nice lake side town a chilled out and got to know each other a little better, while we all watched the sun set over the lake. The next day we continued over to a small spring, navigating the bumpy roads (if they can really be called that) to go swimming for the afternoon, which was nice and relaxing and a bit of an oasis for us. It was refreshing to swim in some fresh water again. After some time in the sun the whole crew taxied on to Finca Magdelana which is an organic coffee plantation on the side of one of the volcanoes. Beautiful to say the least, with great views of the other active volcano. Life is tough. It was so sweet to sit around the table and play some games with people that we had only met a short time ago and fell like we´ve known them for quite sometime.
After camping out under the Nicaraguan stars, 6 of us guys decided to climb the volcano that our hostel was perched on. Voclan Maderas is a dormant volcano with a small muddy lake in the crater at the top. The hike up was wet, slippery and slightly difficult to say the least. But oh how we were rewarded at the top. A beautiful little lake at the top and a really stunning concept that we were sitting in the bowl of a volcano. After some time of relaxation and taking in the beauty of it all, we decided to head down. Now I should have started by saying that we were supposed to have a guide to summit because it is supposedly tough to get up and down. Now getting to the summit was no big deal but getting down we may or may not have gotten lost and took some other paths to get to the bottom, making out trip a fair bit longer and leading us through some jungle, farmers fields and banana plantations. Its quite a fun time and definitely added to the adventure. I really loved that day, and my body let me know the next morning with some good aches to leave with.
The next day Ben, Kale and I all went our separate ways. Ben back to Guatemala, Kale down to Costa Rica, and I decided to stay another day on the Island before i left with my new traveling partner. It sucked cause I didn't get to say by to the guys because I had to get off the bus quickly which i though they were behind me but they were continuing on the next stop. It was great traveling with them and a pleasure to spend time doing something I love with them.
I'm assuming Ben made it to Guate, and Kale became an illegal alien in Costa Rica, but once that was sorted out he ended up in Tamarindo with me and I got to see him again.
Now I am in Costa Rica on the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific Ocean. I have started to travel with an Auzzie named Dan who has started his trip in Calgary, drove up to Alaska, and is now working his way down to the southern tip of South America. Check out www.theroadchoseme.com for some more information. It has been pretty wild traveling with him and I'm really enjoying it. Last night we camped out in Tamarindo. It was pretty crazy. After finally falling asleep i heard some people come to the camp sight and I figured that it was just a group of people coming in late. Oh how I was wrong...It turns out that there are 75-100 people that just moved in last night and they sure weren't quite about it. Its a combination family reunion, vacation, school trip craziness. So once i realized that my good night sleep was no longer a reality, decided that if you can beat 'em, join 'em, so i went out and talked with them for a while and used the lacking opportunity for sleep as a chance to practice my Spanish, which worked out well for me.
So now I'm going to continue my trip making my way down the Nicoya Peninsula with Dan and eventually make our way down to Panama.
I hope you all have enjoyed, sorry for the length and for being late in the update.
Bye for now

Mike