Life in a Treehouse on A Volcanic Island
The Magic of Ometepe Island
Everyone says the island of Ometepe is magic and I believe it. There is a special energy on this beautiful volcanic island that stands proudly in the middle of the largest lake in Central America. From the unique climate to the jungle teeming with wildlife, there are endless spots to explore and experience the beauty of this biosphere reserve.
While on Ometepe Island, I made a ritual of watching the sunset every single night. Sometimes I would watch it from the balcony of my treehouse and see the clouds around the volcano change from pink to orange to red. It was breathtaking. Other evenings I would drive my scooter down the bumpy dirt road to Playa Mango - which I would say is the best spot to watch the sunset from and has an iconic swing so that you can swing out in front of Volcan Conception. Ometepe is made up of two volcanos: one active and one dormant. The one that is dormant is called Maderas and is covered in life. In its crater there is a lake where a cloud forest gathers around the top. A thick jungle that covers this volcano from top to bottom providing fertile land and water for the farmers. Conception is the other volcano on the island. Conception is an active stratovolcano which is why there is nothing growing on it like there is with Maderas. I spent a month on Ometepe Island so if you would like to read more on what to do and where to stay, check out my guide here.
Life in the Treehouse
For me, so much of the appeal of Ometepe was also tied into the accommodation I was renting. I spent a lot of time on the island so I can also recommend some other places to stay, but my top recommendation would definitely be to stay in one of these luxurious tree houses. They are affordable and both the staff and design of this place accounts for every last detail that makes all the difference.
The night we arrived, it was dark already so when we checked-in to our treehouse, one of the first things we did was order pizza delivery from the menu that was sitting on the desk with a list of restaurants that would deliver. Yes that’s right, they deliver to the front steps of your treehouse. In the middle of the jungle. On a volcanic island in Nicaragua!!!! And it is seriously some of the best pizza ever! My favourite was the 3 cheese, add pepperoni and onions - life changing.
The treehouse featured rain showers, bamboo and stone walls, a balcony, yoga matts, hammocks, bug nets, and privacy. They are all spaced apart so that you can enjoy the views and sounds of the surrounding jungle with no one to bother you. When you do feel like being social, you can walk over to the main kitchen, which is an outdoor kitchen. Here they serve up the most delicious fresh breakfast each morning, included in your stay. They also provide unlimited coconuts and all sorts of other fresh fruit - some of which I never knew existed, for you to enjoy! Buying groceries in town is extremely inexpensive so we had a lot of fun cooking our lunches and dinners in the outdoor kitchen when we weren’t eating out at the Italian restaurant or exploring other corners of the island.
At the beginning of 2021, I had a strong desire to leave Canada for a while and live in a treehouse in the jungle. Well it didn’t exactly start out as a dream to live in a treehouse in the jungle specifically, but just a dream to live somewhere with the few following criteria: Somewhere hot, somewhere I could bring my dog and she could run off leash without anyone telling me to put her on leash, somewhere I could afford to have my own space without having to share with roommates, and somewhere I would be able to do all the things that I loved but didn’t make enough time for at home. This began my search for the perfect place to kickstart a slow-paced type of travel that I hadn’t done before. After spending half a year in Nicaragua and Mexico, I still haven’t found the perfect spot to live long-term. I have spent about a month in various places, but I always feel an urge to move on and I say to myself ‘ well I’m here now, why not just go see that other place for a while?’ If I had known how much I would be on the move and that I would spend so much time backpacking around Nicaragua and Mexico, I probably would not have brought my dog. After being stuck in one place for so long due to the pandemic, I feel more restless than I thought I would and I just want to keep seeing as many places as I can while I have the time and resources. My initial plan was to just go to Nicaragua and stay in one spot, save money and stay as long as possible. After I arrived it seemed my mindset changed to see as many places as possible and spend as much money as possible….just joking on that second one, but not really because traveling with a dog makes everything about ten times more expensive. If you want to read about my experience traveling with my dog and what to expect in terms of costs as well as tips on the process of exporting and importing your dog into other countries you can read all about it in my blog post Traveling Central America with A Dog.