Running away from the loud, drunken crowds barging around in the streets, loud firecrackers, strange scarecrows being set on fire, I almost ran to the beach tripping over rocks and branches in the dark. It got darker and darker till it was pitch on the shore. This beach is so secret, only the locals next to it know it exists. Slipping into the water the trees opened up to light and fireworks along the Nicaraguan shoreline ahead.

I dived in with my glasses on. Like a right plonker. They dropped to the bottom of the lake!!! It was so dark. I’m so screwed without them. Can hardly see a thing. After 10 minutes of searching, blinking, feeling incredibly irritated and desperate, and shivering, at the exact moment I’d given up hope, I stepped on them! It was the most lost and blind I’ve felt in years. Really weird. Other strange things happened too, but ended well. A bat nearly flew into me. For a scary moment i thought i was hallucinating and had lost all sense of reality. And it rained! And rained. How I have LONGED for rain. It was so gorgeous.

I feel very blessed. To spend a New Year without a frantic party plan. For once! To have my glasses. To be living next to so much water. To be warm in winter on an island. All the things I hoped for for years, are finally falling into place.

I love you Ometepe Island. You ARE magic. I will never leave without coming back sticking in my heart.