My Nicaragua Vacation Part Two: Big Corn Island

The only major problem encountered on the trip was being stranded, with 2 of the 4 people I was travelling with, on Big Corn Island with no confirmed plane tickets (on a really busy, puddle-jumping route) and with only a few Cordobas left in our pockets in a cash only environment with no bank machines. Our plane tickets got messed up online, and when we went to resolve it in person they cheerfully wrote on our tickets that we were confirmed to fly out with our travel buddies on the 9:00am flight at the end of a 5 day stay on Little Corn Island. But when we arrived back on Big Corn, via a harrowing panga ride (small speedboats overcrowded with wide-eyed tourists and their luggage racing over 3 meter swells), we were informed that they had neglected to confirm our ticket information with head office. So, all we had were tickets with a date scratched onto them, no booked flight out!

We had to wait on stand-by twice that day, but did not get on a flight. Not much fun waiting for hours in a tiny, hot, shack of an airport terminal. But there was a pretty sweet upside - we were in Caribbean paradise! In between waiting on standby, the few Cordobas we had left bought us beers from a thatch roof cabana on the edge of one of the most beautiful beaches we experienced on our trip, and lunch was provided by a roadside Starfruit tree. When it became clear that we would not be making it off the island that day (and no guarantees that we wouldn't be stranded there for a few more days), we were down to our Visas to purchase anything. It turned out that there was one hotel that accepted Visa - the most expensive accomodation on the island! So, darn, we had to book into a luxurious, waterfront cabana, swim in their infinity pool, and dine on lobster in their excellent restaurant. Oh well...you have to be flexible when you are travelling, right?

We did get on the first flight out the next morning, and as much as we enjoyed staying in the lap of luxury, we were happy to be on our way to Granada to meet up with the rest of our party and tour the gorgeously colourful colonial town that I will post photos of next.