Local sights!

One of the things I love most about getting around Ometepe by ATV is that you’re not insulated from anything. There’s no glass, no air-conditioning, no separation between you and what’s actually happening on the road in front of you.

Yesterday, I was biking around the Maderas half of the island and we saw a  a kid using his horse to bring home his family’s plantain harvest. The horse was doing the heavy lifting—bundles of green plantains and stalks piled high—while the kid biked behind so the horse could carry as much as possible. 

This is what “authentic Nicaragua” looks like to me. Not curated. Not staged. Just daily life unfolding while you pass through it.

ATV-ing around the island isn’t about speed or adrenaline. It’s about access. You can slow down when something catches your eye. You can notice how food actually gets from field to home, how much thought goes into efficiency when resources matter, how work and movement are woven into everyday life.

These are the moments I want to remember—the quiet, competent ones that don’t ask to be photographed, but say everything anyway.