Sunset on Playa de Mango.
Ometepe Island. This was one of the last two places we hit on the trip—and no doubt, a top 3 spot in all of Latin America for me. Sitting right in the middle of the massive Lake Nicaragua, the island is shaped like a giant figure 8, formed by two volcanoes—Concepción and Maderas. No matter where you are, they’re looming in the background like something out of a painting.
This place feels like a fairy tale or a movie set. The main way to explore? Scooters. Despite my sketchy history on them in Thailand (Yea I crashed in like 40 seconds) my mate, Xavier, convinced me to give it another go—and it just worked, perfectly matching the island’s laid-back rhythm. I didn’t even crash! Well until the last day when I slide out on some sand, which I don’t count anyway.
Floating on a kayak between Concepion and Maderas.
Ometepe is a place where time slows down. Surrounded by fresh water but still feeling like the sea, it blends raw natural beauty with a relaxed local energy. Jungle trails snake between sleepy villages, howler monkeys echo through the trees, and everywhere you look, there’s either a volcano or the sparkling lake horizon. Dirt roads, hidden waterfalls, and quiet beaches give it this untouched, off-the-grid magic. Despite it only being an island, albeit a very very big one, I think everyday you can find a new thing that someone hasn’t found (Not really). One of the days, I just rode my scooter around Maderas on the South side of the island. When randomly, I stumbled upon this random pink church. It looked so out of place, I thought I imagined it. I was pretty thristy and low on water.
Cascada (Waterfall in Spanish) de San Ramón.
It’s not just scenic—it’s peaceful in a way you don’t get often. One of those rare places where you feel like you’re in on a secret the rest of the world hasn’t figured out yet. To add, every sunset is like the most beautiful one in existence (Has you can see in the cover photo, I mean that’s my favorite picture from the whole trip. No surprise, then, that this was the place where I met more than a few backpackers who came for a week and just… never left—they ended up living here. Hence why there is entire hippie community that gravitates such a big pull on the island. My mate and later myself met this guy would mentioned visiting and then just never leaving… that was two years ago!!!
I knew I had to find someone on this island for my finalTrek Talk. On our last day, we set off for a kayak ride through the mangroves—a calm, meditative glide through a forest of trees rooted in water. The timing couldn’t have been better: it was the morning afterWet Wednesday at Raindance Hostel, a weekly party that’s become something of a legend on the backpacker circuit.
Mangrove highlights
If you’ve spent any time traveling through Nicaragua, you know the hostel party scene is next-level. Places like the Treehouse in Granada, Bigfoot in León, and Raindance here on the island don’t just offer a bed—they offer traveler attracted parties.Wet Wednesday at Raindance is a must on Ometepe, with poolside DJs, dancing under the stars, and a mix of locals and travelers that makes for one hell of a night. Highly recommend—it’s as fun as it is messy.
So, after a night like that, drifting through the mangroves was a welcome contrast. That’s where I met Daniel and Obed, two locals running a small kayak rental business on Playa de Mango, the island’s main sunset beach. Super chill guys. They’d never been interviewed before, so I kept it casual and let them lead the way. I didn’t want it to feel like a formal Q&A—I just wanted them to feel comfortable telling their story.
That included skipping the last question—“What do you think is the biggest issue facing the world right now?”—since they weren’t too keen on diving into something that heavy. And honestly, fair enough. What I got in return was something more valuable: a raw, simple insight into life on Ometepe and in Nicaragua from two people who actually grew up there. A trade I was more than happy to make.
Daniel and Obed’s Interview Transcription
Obed: Nicaragua is a beautiful country. Nicaragua has different tourist places where you can visit. For example, in my case, I love the south of Nicaragua. Because in the south of Nicaragua, you can see different species of animals. The nature is beautiful. And also, for example, if you visit Granada, it’s a beautiful place too. You can find different places to visit. The gastronomy is beautiful too. And Ometepe, I think Ometepe for me, Ometepe is the most beautiful place in Nicaragua. Ometepe has a volcano, a beautiful volcano. So in my free day, I like to go around the island because I can see different beautiful things in my island. I am happy here in Ometepe because we don’t have dangers. I feel really safe here in Ometepe.
Zach: So for you guys, growing up, what do you guys think of volcanoes? What do they mean to the people here?
Obed: Volcanos?
Zach: Yes, the volcanoes on the islands. What does it mean to the people that actually live here? What do they stand for? Do they stand for anything? What do they mean to you guys growing up?
Daniel: You know, living in Ometepe, as he says, it’s like paradise. We have two mountains on one island, so it’s unique in the whole world. So living here, some people, they are fishermen, they work on the farmers. We have the volcanoes, the name is Concepción. Maderas, have water on the crater. And also Concepción is one of the active ones that is on fire. And Concepción is one of the biggest ones here, like 1,600 meters. And this one is Maderas, it’s one of the smallest ones, it’s 1,330 meters. Also it has a waterfall around the volcanoes, some people they hike it. Yeah, people like life here is good. And we have so many things to do. We have a river where you’re going to see caimans, different points of birds, monkeys and other stuff. Yeah, you have so many things to do here for people like you.
Zach: And so there’s obviously a lot of wildlife here. What do you guys think about that and how unique is it? Because there’s wildlife everywhere, but when you come here it’s insane.
Daniel: Yeah, here is because it’s an island with two volcanoes, that makes this island the most beautiful one around the world. And also because there’s many wildlife, like as I said before, like monkeys, you have deers on the mountains, we have a porcupine, we have a bunch of birds, iguana, turtle, snake, the boa constrictor, it’s one of the most attractive for people. And other stuff, you know.
Zach: A lot of farm life and whatnot, you see pigs and cows everywhere.
Daniel: Also cows and horses, but cows people use it for milk and horses to do tourist round. Or some people they use it for, you know, like carry things, heavy things, you know. Also they use them on the farms, you know, farmers. So living here is beautiful, it’s amazing.
Zach: So you would recommend it to anybody to come here, not just to visit, to stay. Do you guys invite people to come and stay on the island?
Daniel: Yeah, you know, living here I have seen people like they love Ometep and they stay here. And I’m one of the guys who help them to find a land, because some people they want to live here because it’s beautiful, you know. So yeah, I have seen so many people living here, now they are living here, like making business or something, you know. But some other people they just want to live here, you know, like yeah, because it’s a paradise here. Yeah, we have a big lake, youI know, that is made, this lake is one of the biggest ones in Central America, you know.
Zach: In the world, It’s pretty special.
Daniel: Yeah. I’m in Central America. It’s pretty special. It’s fresh water. Some people, they drink it because the water is fresh. Also in this water we have bull sharks. Bull sharks are unique because they can live in salted water and also in fresh water. The reason why they are here is because there’s a river that is connected with the sea and this lake, so they cross to here. That’s why we have bull sharks. I haven’t heard about an attack by bull sharks.
Zach: It’s very rare.
Daniel: Also, we don’t have so many sharks right now because they say, my father also told me that Chinese people came a long time ago, and they were hunting them. That’s why we don’t have so many sharks. They say we still have a few of them.
Obed:They are shy. I think bull sharks are dangerous sharks, but in the ocean, here we never heard of any shark attack on people. In my life, I saw one shark, but he was dying on the coast. Because we have a big fish named tarpon. A lot of people catch it. They put a big net to catch this kind of fish. So the shark gets stuck in the net.
Zach: Just adds to the uniqueness of the island. Someone told me about bull sharks three days ago, and I was like, that’s crazy. It’s actually cooler. That’s the easiest way to say it. Well, Thank you guys, I appreciate it so much.
Both: Thank you. It’s a pleasure. Thank you.
——————————————————————————————–
If you’d like to go Kayaking, wakeboarding, banana boat riding (whatever that is, find out for yourself) on Lake Nicaragua, go to playa de mango beach on your visit to Ometepe. Find my boys Daniel and Obed, they’ll hook you up.