Corn Island is 6 square kilometres with a population of 8000 locals of English-speaking Creole people of mixed black heritage. Residents are a mix of cultures from Mestizo and Miskito cultures. This makes a very interesting version of English.

When we landed on the airstrip our plane stopped at a small building that was their airport. As we walked through the building we were met by Ike the owner of Ike's Place, the guest house I’d emailed the day before. Ike gave us a bit of a tour of the island on our way to his place. It was so windy that night. I’m happy I didn’t feel the strong winds in our small plane.

We moved to another location, Paraiso, after 2 days at Ike’s Place. We spent the next few days familiarizing ourselves with the island and spending time on the beach. The beaches are amazing and virtually deserted. We were on Corn Island during the off season but Corn Island is not a well known tourist destination anyways.

This was our private cabana complete with a hammock, AC, and a TV (that was a bonus during the rains)

           

Our daily routine was to arrive at the Picnic Centre restaurant, by taxi, order a Tona (beer), set our things on a table and go out for a swim in the crystal clear, warm Caribbean sea at Picnic Beach. We met a local girl at Picnic Centre who offered to give us a tour of the island on her day off. We rented a golf cart to explore island life with Lilly. Nicaragua is a developing country and the infrastructure is far from modern so an appreciation of rugged culture is required. Families draw water from crude wells in their yard by lowering a bucket on a rope, skinny dogs run all over, and barefoot children play with whatever they find. One thing the islanders have in common is their bright big smile they flash to their friends and visitors to their island. People were always friendly and willing to help out.

          

 Since it was the off-season there was the chance the weather might not always be nice. Yes, it rained. It really rained. We were woken up one night by thunder that was directly over our place that you could feel rumble the ground. The lightening was so bright the sky would be white with light. With this light and sound show came the tropical rain. The wind blew the pounding rain sideways. We seemed to be in the eye of the storm for a couple days. There wasn’t much we could do. We couldn’t get out but we didn’t let that spoil our vacation. We had a choice to be upset about the rain but what it did was the allowed us to talk more, play some card games, read and spend quality time together, in the rain. We can’t predict what will happen at any time but living with no expectations opens us up to new discoveries.

The second day of the storm we ventured out between the rain drops. We went to a little grocery store and sat to watch the locals going about their day. A couple of the kids came in that we’d met earlier. Jestor, a boy we'd met through Lilly, took us to his home to meet his mom Judy. I sat with her and other women who stopped by to chat with me. In the meantime Darren started a soccer game with the boys. At the height of the game I counted at least 30 kids playing and watching. The soccer game was a barefoot game that got lively with people sliding in the mud, Darren included. It didn’t rain while all this was going on but it was getting dark. The game was over with the appropriate 5 goals and a bunch of happy, muddy kids.It was time to go home and scrape the mud off of Darren. This was the one day I didn’t bring my camera but we were sure a source of entertainment for the neighbourhood.

Jestor has a twin brother Jeffery and it was the boy's 14th birthday on Monday. Darren and I wanted to go to the baseball game on Sunday so we said we’d take the boys for their birthday. They showed up Sunday morning after they’d been to church. We took a cab to the baseball stadium but found that since there was so much rain the ball game was cancelled. So we rented a golf cart to tour around the island again. All the side roads were muddy and full of puddles. Of course we had to drive through them and when we came out of the first puddle the golf cart stopped working. We all got out and the three guys flipped open the seat to fiddle with the motor. They got it to work and away we went. We explored more side muddy roads, swamps, and beaches. The boys taught us about what kids growing up on Corn Island do to occupy themselves. It kind of reminded us of when were were young and able to go out and explore our neighbourboods without our parents having to worry. These kids can go anywhere on the island and come home when they are hungry at night. They swim when they want without anyone supervising them, ride bikes whereever they want, and still make it home. The people all look out for each other.   It was a fun afternoon.

        

When we took the boys back and sat at the store we met their mom Judy again. Judy took us to visit her sister’s home. We met Judy’s sister Lidia and all the kids and grandkids that were at her home. We learned about their family from the pictures on the wall. Many island women have children at a very young age so mothers become grandmothers also very young. Lidia has six children and already has grandchildren before turning 40.

         

Since the weather had been a bit rough and unpredictable we waited until almost our last day to visit Little Corn Island. This is a beautiful island gem that is reached by taking a 30 minute panga ride. A panga is an open boat where as many passengers and supplies are piled on to get to Little Corn. You get really close to your neighbours on either side and could end up being support for a sleeping baby. The best seat to get is near the back against the side to support your back while the boat is crashing down on the waves while driving at warp speed. We had a nice but short visit walking on Little Corn.

We made great friends while living on Corn Island Nicaragua and it was a very difficult thing to say goodbye. We left our island vacation and took with us lessons in hospitality, friendship, and an awe of human spirit. I hope to visit Nicaragua again someday and will surely visit our lifelong friends.

                  

              Darren and Jestor snorkling                                  Sunset at Brig Bay