We arrrived in Managua around 10 p.m. and immediately took a 2 hour taxi ride down to Rivas. The only hostel open was rustic but reasonable, Matthias was already conked out and did not wake as I carried him to his bed.
The next morning we took the taxi to San Jorge and jumped on the 7 a.m. ferry to Ometepe. Before getting on the ferry, I put out some posters and talked to the mainlanders about the event. Some of them had heard rumors of the race, but were in disbelief that anyone was actually going to run that distance on such difficult terrain. When the ferry pulled up to the docks of Moyogalpa, the first thing I saw was Abigail reading a book and fishing with Carlos son, Kasther.
Carlos is the owner of Servicios Turisticos IBESA and my local organizer and host for the 2008 event. His family is wonderful and his wife Yalkiria is the sweetest woman you will ever meet. His brothers Ebelio and Danilo are very experienced volcano guides. The entire family works together to run the start-up business.
Abi, Matthias, Kasther and I lugged the heavy duffels of race gear up to Hostel IBESA and greeted Carlos and family. Everyone was excited and very eager to get started on setting up. Carlos even asked me if I wanted to go meet the mayor right then and there. I wanted a rest day and Matthias was still getting used to the fact that no one spoke English, so we just relaxed the rest of the day.
Josue is an avid ultramarathon runner and trail running coach residing in Austin, TX. He is the founder/director of the Fuego y Agua Ultramarathon in Nicaragua and sponsored athlete for Team Traverse. Josue trains with his dog on the trails of Austin. His favorite thing besides running on trails is frozen yogurt.
