Volcán Concepción under clouds

Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua's "Oasis of Peace," rises from the waters of Lake Cocibolca in the form of two lush, magical volcanic cones. If this breathtaking volcanic island draws your attention, you're not the first: the Nahuatl people made it the cultural center of their Nicaraguan home centuries before the Spaniards arrived. An intensely volcanic island still steeped in tradition and mystery, Ometepe is the ancestral home of the Nahuatl people and the birthplace of modern Nicaragua. Retaining much of its original forest, Ometepe represents what Nicaragua may have been like in 1522 when Gil González Dávila first set eyes on it: broadleaf trees, clean lake water, and fresh air, all under the towering presence of Concepción and Maderas, two immense volcanoes that make up the bulk of the island.

Legend has it the warrior chief Nicarao still lies buried somewhere along Ometepe's tree-lined coast. The island of Ometepe is Nicaraguense to the core and yet completely insulated from the rest of the country (and the rest of the world) by the choppy waters of Lake Cocibolca. Ometepe's allure attracts Nicaraguans from other regions of the country in addition to foreign stragglers, and a visit here is a sensory experience unlike any other. At night the slopes of the volcanoes echo with the deep roar of howler monkeys, and by day the air is filled with the sharp cry of the thousands of parakeets and hurracas (bright blue jays that scold you from the treetops).

The list of activities on Ometepe is long and exciting: start by hiking one or both volcanoes, each of which offers a radically different experience, join in the coffee harvest, go for long refreshing dips in the lake, paddle a kayak up the estuary, hike up to an icy mountain water fall, or just sit back and enjoy the silence.

the ferry to Ometepe is quick and fun