“Out of the midst of the beautiful Lake Nicaragua spring two 
magnificent pyramids, clad in the softest and richest green, all decked with shadow and sunshine, whose summits pierce the billowy clouds. They look so isolated from the world and its turmoil — so tranquil, so dreamy, so steeped in slumber and eternal repose. What a home one might make among their shady forests, their sunny slopes, their breezy dells, after he had grown weary of the toil, anxiety and unrest cf the bustling, driving world.”
“These mountains seem to have no level ground at their bases, but rise abruptly from the water. There is nothing rugged about them— they are shapely and symmetrical, and all their outlines are soft, rounded and regular. One is 4,200 and the other 5,400 feet high, though the highest being the furthest removed makes them look like twins. A stranger would take them to be of equal altitude. Some say they are 6,000 feet high, and certainly they look it. When not a cloud is visible elsewhere in the heavens, their tall summits are magnificent: draped with them. They are extinct volcanoes, and consequently their soil (decomposed lava) is wonderfully fertile. They are well stocked with cattle ranches, and with corn, coffee and tobacco farms. The climate is delightful, and is the healthiest on the Isthmus.”
Sandwiches, Etc.
“Our boat started across the lake at 2 p. m., and at 4 a. m. the following morning we reached Fort San Carlos, where the San Juan River flows out — a hundred miles in twelve hours — not particularly speedy, but very comfortable.”
Daily Alta California, Volume 19, Number 6210, 16 March 1867. Page 1, “Letter from Mark Twain.”
Concepción volcano, Ometepe, 2016
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