Back in Town

There are so many things to tell about my trip that I`m sure I won`t remember it all! Julie, Carla, and I headed out Saturday the 16th and returned Saturday the 23rd from Corn Island and Little Corn Island. They`re off the east coast of Nicaragua and are BEAUTIFUL!

The experience started out weird at the domestic flight check-in at the airport. The actual checking in part went okay. Then we paid a small tax and went through "security". We had no boarding passes. Just our passports and a return voucher type thing for our flight back. When we booked our flight we were leaving at 6:15AM but because travel is so high there during Holy Week, the airlines basically lies to you. The people who get there first leave at 6:15. Once that plane is full the rest of the people wait around until the next plane is ready. We had to wait about an extra hour. Then we just went outside (we didn`t have tickets, they didn`t ask for them or our IDs) and walked on to our plane. An hour and ten minutes later we were on Corn Island.

It`s 6.5 square miles big or somewhere around there. We headed straight to the dock and boarded a small boat to go to Little Corn Island (1.1 square miles, no roads, no cars). We stayed there for 5 nights. It was soooooooooooooo relaxing. We stayed in a hut that wasn`t even wired for electricity. It was a perfect hideout from the mid-day sun. Surprisingly enough, sleeping was actually difficult due to the round the clock creaking from the palm tree growing through the center of our floor and out the roof. That was driving us CRAZY! Luckily it was okay if we were a bit tired since we didn`t have much to do all day.

Don`t get me wrong, there are things to do. We went swimming, on walks, Carla and I discovered a new species (it appears to be a giant slug...picture await you in the new photo link), we went snorkeling (we saw two sharks and about 6 sting rays!), we devoured the local coconut bread, we climbed a lighthouse tower. We laid around and took naps. I read a book and wrote some letters (which will be mailed soon I promise!).

Thursday morning we crammed into the small boat again, along with what seemed like every other person on the island (Julie literally had to sit on my lap for a bit) and headed back to Big Corn Island. Since our flight was to leave early Saturday morning we didn`t want to have to worry about catching the boat and all that nonesense. And frankly, after five nights on a 1.1 square mile island...it was time to head out.

On Big Corn we ate delicious pizza two nights in a row, hung out on the beach, climbed another lighthouse (although this one was shorter), and just chilaxed. In all honesty, I liked Big Corn better than Little. Yes, Little is very attractive for the lack of cars, roads, etc., but it`s too small. After a (short) while I`m sure I would go crazy. I admire the people that can live to isolated, but I need more contact with people. In the short time we were on Big Corn we met more locals than the entire time we were on Little. Of course, that`s partially our fault because we were pretty anti-social on the small island, but it was also because the amount of tourists on Little Corn make it pretty impossible to meet people actually from the island.

It was a great trip. I got to hang out with two of my best friends, I only got sunburnt once (on my back while snorkeling), and it gave me a much needed break from my daily life here. Something that surprised me was that as the trip was coming to a close, I realized I was missing my family and friends back home even more than usual. After a bit of reflection I decided it`s probably because whenever I`ve taken a vacation in my life I always return back to my family. This time it wasn`t the case. Weird, huh?

Don`t forget to check out the new pics! Love you and (obvio) miss you too.