Little Corn Island

 The view over Managua.                                                                                                                      

               After a flight from Seattle to Miami, Miami to Managua, and Managua to Big Corn Island, we took an open panga to get to Little Corn Island. The panga is essentially a large canoe with a motorboat. Riding over four-foot waves, the boat would ride up, drop, and drench us in salty ocean water. A half hour later, we arrived to the dock pictured below. A man immediately offered to show us to our hotel, Dobedos, and carried our luggage the entire 30 minute uphill walk through narrow muddy paths as I struggled to keep up. The town and all of the homes, shops, and restaurants are all near the dock, but there is a nice resort next door where we go for wifi. There are no cars and most of the path is dirt. Our own hotel runs out of power during the night, has cold outdoor showers, and tin roofs that make the wind and rain sound like we are in the middle of the ocean. Thankfully, it hasn't rained much during the day, it's just overcast and windy...a relief for our sticky selves. 

 The mosquitoes here are abundant, to say the least. You could draw constellations on my legs and arms between all of the bites. Conversely, the stars at night have been one of my favorite parts of the trip. I've never seen so many stars, shine so brightly! We saw at least five shooting stars in the ten minutes we stood outside.

The ocean views are my other favorite part, of course. It's too windy for snorkeling unfortunately, but the water feels so warm it could be pool water. We spent a day building a sandcastle with a moat that was a true marvel of engineering. I also love that everyone waves as we walk by, that free-range organic chickens roam everywhere as well as stray dogs, cats, and children (not stray).

Surprisingly, we've met hardly any other Americans! Unsurprisingly, we are the only Asians on the island. We got to the island with the help of an Australian lady who lives on Little Corn and a Swiss couple, and we've met people from the UK, France, and many others. The locals here speak a large amount of English, as well as Spanish, but they also speak a language(dialect?) that is completely incomprehensible to me.

For my parents' sake, the food we've eaten so far has been quite good. Coconut bread, a soft and fluffy, slightly sweet loaf of bread similar to brioche, is served with everything. They also use coconut oil in everything, and seafood is abundant. We've taken advantage of happy hour and the $1.50 beers! (Toña is our favorite) But we already have a list of things we will be glad to appreciate again in Seattle (i.e., the air! Hot showers, less bug bites, blue skies!). And our families of course :)

We leave on the panga again tomorrow morning at 6:30 am...and then fly to Managua so we can take a taxi to Granada, where we will be staying for the rest of the trip! I'm excited to see what comes next.