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

Day 11 - Managua

Had breakfast at La Perla and checked out and loaded up the car. We drove over to Via Via to drop off some books for someone we had met the night before. We made it out of Leon and were headed down the highway when we came across a really bad accident. The police and medics were there working on some victims - a car looked like it had rolled over a few times and was about 10 meters off the road. After waiting a few minutes where they got traffic diverted we were once again on our way. This time we took the good highway to the north - nice and smooth with no potholes! Closer to Managua we say people selling iguanas alongside the road. I think they were being sold for food. Once in Managua we were in the wrong lane as the highway enters the city and got headed the wrong way but were able to eventually get turned back around and headed in the direction of the airport.

We got to the airport and checked into the Best Western Las Mercedes (we were told later to refer to it just as Las Mercedes since thats sounds better than saying you stayed at the Best Western). Next we returned the rental car to the Budget office at the airport. Initially I had trouble finding their office, I saw a guard shack and went inside and found a soldier with an AK-47 on his lap - he pointed me in the right direction and we returned the car and then walked over to the La Costeniaoffice to see about changing our flight to Corn Island from tomorrow afternoon to the morning flight. That wasn't a problem but we were told to be at the airport at 5am!

We then walked across the road to the hotel and had some BBQ chicken sandwiches and beers at the hotel restaurant. While we were eating a cat joined us so we gave him some chicken from our lunch. Next we went swimming in the hotel pool and had some more beers at the poolside bar and talked with some other people who were going back home the next morning. Since we had to get up super early we were back at our room and watched some tv before crashing out early