We decided to build in a few days in Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua. 
Ometepe is made from two volcanoes joined by an isthmus (a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land). Concepción is the active volcanos on the northern half of Ometepe, Maderas is the dormant volcano on the southern half of Ometepe.
Our first activity was a hike to Waterfall San Ramón. It was intense. It is a 4km hike up the side of the Maderas volcano. It was not an easy hike for any of us. The total trip time up the volcano was 4.5 hours.
It was exciting to finally make it up to the top. The boys swam in the waterfall. We stayed at the waterfall for about 40 minutes.
We thought the walk down would be easy, but it was not. All of our legs were tired, it was hot outside.
Despite the difficulty of the hike, we all had a great time. We talked, played name that tune and told one-word stores. Thy boys had a lot of questions about the lizards, ants, and plants that we saw.
The boys napped in the van while we headed to lunch at a beautiful spot our driver Luis picked. The boys tackled a whole fish. They also enjoyed being surrounded by baby chicks.
Our next stop was Charco Verde Nature Reserve. We spent about 2 hours exploring a butterfly house and finding howler monkeys on a nature walk around a lagoon. The boys were sword fighting with sticks and climbing trees.
On this day alone we saw horses, pigs, dogs, cats, roosters, goats, monkeys, cows, ox, lizards, rabbits, butterflies, fish, turtles, ants, termites, and various birds.
In Ometepe, it is common to have cows or horses in the middle of the road. They make their way from their grazing fields to a water source twice a day.
Our best days so far on this trip have been in nature. There is something soothing about being outside that we did not notice before in Atlanta where most of our outside time was structured activity or in the city.
The boys are happiest when they are free to roam around outside and explore nature. We are all happier. We can tell the difference between days like this and days we are traveling or inside on devices.
We look forward to many more days outside enjoying nature.
