We have been hoping to climb up Volcan Madera, but due to the recent rains, we've been told that the path is too muddy to make it to the top. So, instead, we decided to ride around it, a 38km ride all around the south part of the island of Ometepe.

We first rode up to El Porvenir to see the petroglyphs which are said to be between 3-4,000 years old. There was no record of what the symbols mean, but they were still neat to see. From there, we thought it might be fun to keep riding around the island. We asked the local groundkeeper if the road is good and he told us it is "perfecto"with only one hill.

Turns out the ride was more gueling than we had been led to believe - not really perfecto at all. The road was very rocky and steep in places. There was a ton of mud and puddles to cross, but it was also largely shaded in parts and the views were spectacular. At one point, we came across a woman in the back of a truck who sold us a bag of "pan pico" which we devoured, and then a tiny little market selling Fanta to complete the healthy meal.

We rode and rode along this path, through the tiny, remote villages of Balgue, La Palma, San Pedro and Tichana. These villages rarely see tourists, so they were all very friendly and we got hundreds of "holas". As we have seen for most of our travels in Nicaragua so far, the villages are all very neat and clean and they locals all seemed to be enjoying their weekend with the family.

Hot, exhausted and filthy, we arrived back to the Hacienda about five hours later and immediately jumped in the cold shower. Chris aksed me "can we be done with activities for the day?" - I conceded and we went for lunch and a nap.