Day 17 - Managua

We woke up early since we had to be at the airport at 7am. We had arranged for a taxi to pick us at 7 but he showed up at 7:20. We checked our bags, got some orange juice at the snack bar, and were on our plane at 8:30. This time it was a much smaller plane and I sat right behind the co-pilot. We didn't stop in Bluefields and instead flew direct to Managua.




Video of landing at Managua
Once in Managua we were met by Manfred from La Pyramide Hotel. When we got closer to the Hotel he pointed out some nearby restaurants that we might like to go have lunch and how it was safe to walk around as the neighborhood pays for security guards to be stationed on almost every block. Once at the hotel we got our nice room and were brought some glasses of fruit juice. We walked over the main street and had some beers and Quesadillas at Hippo's which is a totally American style trendy restaurant - even the menu had everything in dollars instead of cordobas. Next we took a walk to the Metro Centro Mall which was pretty similar to any Mall in America except with armed guards at most store entrances. The mall was pretty packed as everybody had just received their x-mas bonus money and were out doing x-mas shopping.

We then walked to the Supermercado to get our favorite Chilero hot sauce, some Flor de Cana, and coffee to take back home. After we checked out of the supermarket $80 poorer but now loaded down with 10 pounds, or coffee, 2 liters of rum, and 12 bottles of hot sauce I realised that I only had a $20 bill on me and no taxi driver was going to have change for that! We started the long walk in the hot sun back to the hotel taking a wrong turn along the way. Fortunately we found our way and finally made it back. I was feeling pretty tired and my stomach was a little funky so I took a nap. When I woke up I was really feeling crappy (no pun intended) and took some imodium. Kat had dinner at the hotel and brought me back some soup and tea which I ate and then went back to sleep.

Day 12 - Corn Island

Woke up at 4am and we took the hotel shuttle across the street at were first in line at the La Costena terminal at 5am. We checked our luggage with was a few pounds overweight (30# limit per person), normally they charge if it's too heavy but they let us slide. Next we paid a $2/person airport tax and went through security into the terminal. There was a snack bar so I got us some cold Victorias (breakfast of champions). The terminal started filling up with people going to Puerto Cabesas, Bluefields, and Corn Island. Or flight was the last to board - it was a twin propeller plane that looked pretty old



We took off about about 7am and had an uneventful flight, making a quick stop in Bluefields and then arriving on Corn Island at about 8:30am. We collected our baggage, gave the officials our passport information, and took a taxi (they are collectives and cost $1/person to anywhere on the island)to where we were staying at Sunrise Hotel. We got checked in and since we were the only guests at the hotel we were "upgraded" to an ocean view room. The room was nice with a/c, hot water, and cable tv. Outside there were hammocks and chairs on the balcony. The hotel has a restaurant so we had some breakfast before taking a taxi into the town on the other side of the island where we w looked for the islands only internet cafe. We couldn't find it and it was pretty hot so we stopped for some beers at Fisherman's Cave by the docks. We wanted to take a day trip to Little Corn so I went to the docks and found out the the boats to LCI leaves daily at 9am.

I had read about some beach side bars on Picnic Center Beach so we took a walk along the beach seeing lots of kids playing in the water. Finally we made it to Picnic Center which is drop dead gorgeous with white sands and turquoise clear water. We passed Arenas Hotel which was unfortunately close for remodeling - they had a sweet spot right on the beach with chairs and a "boat bar". The only other place was Picnic Center Hotel which had a beach side restaurant which was going to be our daily hangout for the next few days. We got a table that was about 20 feet from the water, ordered some beers, put on sunscreen and hit the water. No waves, clear warm water, you could still be standing about 150' off shore.



We got a little hungry so we ordered some "chili" cheese fries which consisted of french fries with unmerited american cheese draped on top and no chili!

We took at taxi back to our hotel to shower and then went to the restaurant where we met A few locals and Tony from Florida who lives on the island part time. We ordered a bottle of rum with a coke and some limes. Since I had been up since before dawn and hadn't eaten much I was getting pretty drunk and needed to eat. Tony recommended the fish - normally I don't like fish too much but had eaten it a few times in Costa Rica and was never disappointed since its caught the same day. I ordered the Yellowtail and it was delicious!



After finishing dinenr we went back to our room and I passed out at 8pm