Living large on Little Corn

Erik's entry:
The panga ride to Little Corn was good fun. The boat is small, able to hold about 15 passengers and a bit of cargo. It's open to the elements, and prone to leaps across the waves, throwing you off of the hard bench seat, and then slamming you back down harder than you might wish. It was a nice day, though, and we enjoyed the 40 minute ride.

Once at Little Corn, we were met at the dock by a welcoming committee comprised of staff from the dive shops and hotels, with handy brochure/maps of the tiny island. There are no roads on the island, so we took a wander over to the far side (20 minutes away), to check out the beach bungalows on offer there. In the end, they were a bit too rustic for us (though quite welcoming to all the mosquitos and sand flies), so we headed back to the main side of the island and checked into the nice Delfines hotel. We negotiated a good, off-season deal on the price with them, based on paying in cash and staying at least 4 days. We've definitely let ourselves slip a little in regards to comfort, budgets, etc., but I think that the heat and the strike finally wore us down and we needed a vacation from our travels, and Little Corn Island was the perfect place for that.

I spent my first 4 days doing my Rescue Diver training with Dive Little Corn. It was very hard work, and I finished with a split lip, bruised knees and a sore back for all my efforts. It was well worth it, though. I feel much more confident diving now, and can provide help in emergency situations, though I wouldn't wish my novice CPR skills on anyone! The staff at Dive Little Corn are all very nice, and good fun to have a beer with after a dive.

Talor spent this time getting to know just about everyone on the island. She and I would walk around after my training, and I'd be amazed at how many friends she'd made in so short a time. Small islands are that way, but so is Talor.

Talor's Take: Y'all, I almost don't even wanna tell you about Little Corn... well, ok but promise you won't tell too many people about it. It really is one of the most beautiful, unspoilt places I've ever been to. Tourism has been building up a bit with a smattering of places to stay and eat, but for the most part, it is not developed at all... no cars, resorts, Mickey-D's or even a Domino's Pizza. You can literally walk along stretches of the most gorgeous beach and not see anyone... no beach chairs, umbrellas, nothing! And the only footprints you see on the sand are you own.

The island is really small... you can walk from one end to the other in less than an hour, but try walking down the "main road" just to buy a loaf of fresh-baked cocobread... it will take you more than an hour cause you gotta stop and say hi to everyone. This is the friendliest place I've ever been to... seriously! And the people are always happy to share their knowledge of the island, and point out who's who and what's what. When you walk through the interior, on the muddy paths, through the woods, you see how most of the folks live... it's really rustic, basically 4 walls with a rusty tin roof, no electricity or running water, some living in real poverty struggling to survive, but the moment, you walk by, they will smile and wave hello. And it's just to say hello... never putting a hand out asking for anything. After Granada, I found it really refreshing, and it didn't take long before I found myself smiling all the time too.

The downside is that food, and just about everything else on the island, is expensive (relatively) since it all has to be shipped there by boat. A meal cost at least 100 cordobas (about $5). In the cities, we were used to spending far less to feed the both of us. But we managed by eating lots of cocobread (13 cordobas), mini-beef patties (5 cordobas) and all the free mangoes we could eat. Mango trees are everywhere. A 5-minute walk into the woods and paths would be covered in sweet, juicy mangoes waiting to be picked up and eaten. Also, we were lucky that our hotel bungalow was just underneath an avocado tree (which the locals call pears). When we heard them dropping with a bang on our roof, we'd just walk behind the bungalow and pick them up. Add a bit of local goat cheese and a tomato and we had a meal.

The other downside was the weather... this is the rainy season, need I say more? The first 3 days, it rained almost non-stop, and we were convinced we brought the bad luck with us. After that, it rained on and off, with the sun making an appearance now and again. It got to be that I felt I had the power to control the weather... every time I put on sunscreen and stepped out onto the beach, it would rain, but as soon as I put on my rainjacket to go for a walk, the sun would come out. When the sun was out, the water was absolutely crystal clear and inviting. One day, we woke up to a beautiful morning with the sun shining, by noon, it was dark and overcast, by late afternoon, the winds came and it rained buckets. We holed up in the room, turned on the news and found out it was because Hurricane Alma was on her way. It was only a category 1, but it was slow moving and headed to Leon where it rained and rained causing lots of damage. We were lucky though cause she died down before reaching the Caribbean side, and by evening, the weather on the island was already calm and the skies were clearing up.

Twelve days passed in the blink of an eye, and it was time to leave. We had planned on 10 days, and managed to stretch it to 15, counting the 3 days we spent on Big Corn. Sadly, we were out of cordobas and there are no banks on Little Corn. We had just enough to get on the lancha to return to Big Corn where there is a bank. We said good-bye to everyone with a heavy heart, but in my mind, I thought this isn't good-bye...

Paulie, hope you're gonna keep your promise and look for a piece of land for us to build a house when we come back...

(photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikandtalor/LittleCornIslandNicaragua)