8 posts tagged “nicaragua”
Gee, has it been over a month? It's getting to be like going to the dentist, posting on this blog; I realize it's been ages and it'll be harder to update the longer I stay away, but then I put it off again. So I'm going to try to post more often.
First, a little shameless self-promotion: last month I had my first legit article published, on Daily Candy about Corn Islands! Even though I've read DailyCandy.com for years and have written a lot here about the Corn Islands, I still sweated writing this. Hard to make everything clever and cute while being somewhat informative, all in 400 words. Hope it came out well! No byline, as that's not the DC style, but it's titled "The Caribbean’s Last Frontier."
I also add my photos to a lot of Flickr groups: HotelChatter.com, Jaunted.com, IntelligentTravel.com, etc. USA Today was calling for reader hotel pix recently and I added a bunch, two of which are in their online gallery! Here was my Nica photo featured:
I really should start getting paid for championing the Corn Islands.
To come: my recent trip to the Dolomites to visit client Hotel Rosa Alpina, where I saw such beautiful views as this:
Our second day on LCI, we awoke early and finished the paper part of our PADI Scuba Course and learned all about the joys of BCDs and wet suits. We then finally got into the water with all of the gear, where I unfortunately freaked out. It was all so alien and weird, I've never even snorkeled and I tend to be a massive wuss anyway, so I sat the rest of the course out. To my credit, I later got back in the water and did some basic exercises, but never had the chance to really dive. H completed the course over the next two days and is now a certified Open Water diver. But I highly recommend the great peeps at Dolphin Dive, for being so patient with my sniveling, scaredy cat self.
We ate most of the time at the hotel, as it was a central location where everyone tended to gather for meals, coffee, beers, etc., in between dives. We wanted to eat at Farm, Peace, Love one night (the token Italian place), but the owner had an emergency and had to return to Italy. We did eat at Casa Iguana on our second night, and our hungover (our fault) chef made an awesome meal. Another evening we went to the Cuban Restaurant, which really is the best place on the island, if a bit pricey. Really great authentic Cuban food and amazingly good service: they actually asked what we wanted to drink when they brought us menus! They didn't just drop them off and run away! They even waited to hear our order! Awesome. On our last night, we ate with a couple we had met from Guatemala at another restaurant on the, er, main strip. After dinner, we decided to check out the island disco. It's on the north end of the island, away from most of the other businesses, and mostly locals playing pool or dancing under disco balls. We did see a couple of very drunk, hippie girls on the dance floor, which made us all realize why movies like Turistas are made. Oh, hippie gringas, no good can come of that! Not that there was any hostile vibe, but it just seemed like a bad idea. A fun last night, though.
On our last morning, we checked out the beaches on the other side, over where Farm, Peace, Love and Ensuenos are. If you are looking for real solitude, definitely check out that side:
Rather than stretch this out for ever, feel free to check out all of the Nicaragua trip photos on Flickr. Here are a few more of my favorites from the Corn Islands:
Further evidence to my theory that Little Corn is the island on Lost:
Finally inspired to finish writing about Little Corn Island, though my tan is only a memory now. Lessee, I talked about the not-fun panga ride and our stay at the Hotel Los Delfines. On our first morning, we spent some time wandering the island, past the ever-popular summer camp for grownups Casa Igauna and other backpacker favorite places to stay. That side of Little Corn has some lovely beaches and a neat-o abandoned resort that was perfect for escaping the sun.
H and I had discussed taking a scuba course while on the islands, but I was not particularly set on the idea, having had no experience or interest in water sports before. In the end, I decided to do it, as I might regret not taking the opportunity, as doing an open water course on Little Corn is pretty easy and cheap. I checked out both dive shops and went with Dolphin Dive, as it was attached to our hotel and we could watch the videos in our room rather than in the shop. Though it would be "intense" to do the course in 4 days, we figured we could do it, we just had to watch a couple of hours of training videos, read the textbook, take some tests, then we could do our in-water exercises and open water dives. Easy peasy. We completed the first section after lunch, planning to watch the remaining 2 hours of mind-numbing scuba videos (Fact: Scuba divers have more fun!) later that night before starting our water exercises the following day.
Naturally, we decided it was a good time for a cerveza break. But the Sweet Spot was out of beer, so we ended up at the Casa Iguana bar, referred to us by a few off-duty employees. It really is like an adult summer camp, you have to take off your shoes to enter and then you can hang out, drink beer, play games, and eat dinner at communal tables. I liked the whole CI vibe but I was happy that we stayed at Los Delfines; you feel a bit forced to be social. After a few beers on the porch, we headed back through the jungle to our hotel, but ran into the aforementioned Casa Iguana employees at the Delfines bar. They turned out to be the chef and bartender, enjoying a night off. We ended up joining them for our first of many rum and cokes and hearing all about living on Corn Island. Matt, the current CI chef, is from Maine of all places and CIA trained, and his food is amazing. Really interesting to hear what it was like buying supplies in Nicaragua, rest assured all of the meat he buys (which you will see lying out at the market in boiling hot sun, ick) is throughly, thoughly cooked. To avoid difficulties with visas, most Americans working in Nica leave on "vacations" every three months to exit and re-enter the country on tourist visas. Island life seems idyllic and relaxed, but then it was the dry season, I later heard that being on Little Corn during the rainy periods is not for the easily bored.
We had such a good time drinking rum and cokes that we forgot about the scuba videos awaiting us. Well, we did watch them, all two hours of them, and I even managed to finish the exams before passing out going to sleep. The next morning was rough to say the least. More on scuba in next post, this has been on my screen for nearly two days, so I will post before I rant anymore.
My posting has been curtailed due to a last minute weekend trip to Paris. Yes, Paris at last! Fortunately, I only found out about it late last week, so I was only able to obsess about it for a few days and then I was gone from Friday to Monday. It was tres fantastique, photos and recap TK. But back to Nicaragua...
We planned to head to Little Corn on the day after Christmas, which was good as there were apparently no boats or planes on Christmas Day. I had stopped by the "ticket office" (I use this term very loosely) to find out about tickets on Christmas Day, and was told that I would have to pay a departure tax there and that the panga to Little Corn would leave at "about nine...or ten" (FYI, it leaves at 10 but get there at 9:30 at latest). At any rate, it was at this ticket office that I had my token Rip Off Experience, that seems to happen to me on each and every trip. The dude at the office told me to pay the tax, and I couldn't understand if it was 3 or 300 cordabas or what, but I had previously heard that the boat was $6 USD per person, so I gave him a $10 bill and waited for his response. He said okay and gave me two receipts. Naturally, I discovered seconds later that the tax is 3 cordobas per person, about 30 cents in USD. Yes, I feel like an idiot, but maybe they will build a school in my name or something.
I prepared for the panga ride with some breakfast and a dose of Dramamine, and I am really glad I did. After stepping into a tiny boat and getting a life jacket, they collect the fare (120 cordoba/$6 USD per person, just like I thought about the tax) and you're off.
I was still shaking when I got off the boat and didn't have the energy to fight with the enterprising young man who offered to walk us to our hotel, which I could see from the dock. We stayed at Hotel Los Delfines, in "downtown" Little Corn, right in the middle of the action. For $50 a night, you get a nice room with A/C, TV, and theoretical hot water in your private bathroom. It's probably the most luxurious hotel on LCI and while it's not on the best beach, I think it was a great place to stay. We met lots of people staying way over at Ensuenos and Farm, Peace, Love, which are on gorgeous beaches and very romantic, but they are a good half hour walk through the jungle to the main "street" of LCI. As we saw these people every day and night, eating dinner and having beers near Los Delfines, I figured it was better to stay in the village and walk to the more isolated beaches if we wanted to.
In some ways, it's like Manhattan vs. Brooklyn. Most people come to New York City and go straight to Manhattan, without really bothering with the other boroughs. Manhattan is smaller, more expensive, with plenty of people living such unusual/glamorous lifestyles you can't imagine how they sustain themselves. Brooklyn is much bigger, with more restaurants and amenities, but many not as fancy or exclusive, and there are many more "native" New Yorkers. This is obviously a major over generalization, but my point is, Brooklyn is pretty sweet too and you get a better sense of how New Yorkers actually live. Such is Big Corn, I wouldn't say you should choose one over the other, but you appreciate Little Corn all the more after you've spent a day or two on the big island. Especially at night, where the lights of BCI look like Manhattan. Damn, I've screwed up my metaphor...
Many thanks to David for his illuminating comments about the partially built structures on Big Corn. Hope I didn't offend with my "too many Tonas" comment, I'm sure you wait until at least 10am. ;) Some further info from David:
"the photos you took were at the N.E. corner of Big Corn in the barrio known as Sally Peachy. They were on the beach about 200 meters south of the most extreme N.E. point of land. In reverse, they were taken about 200 meters North of the half finished concrete house on the next little point.
Our land where the dive resort was situated is between the two points and thats where you took the photos of the palm trees and the driftwood log. There also used to be a an unusual shaped palm tree which grew horizontal to the ground before going vertical. We had two big cabins and a main building on the land plus a motorhome."
I do recall some buildings beyond the beach, but they didn't look as if much was happening there. Here is another photo taken right before the beach that might be interesting to you:
Speaking of rejects, I heard a ton of American 1980s music on the trip, especially WHAM! Many of the songs have been recorded with a Caribbean beat or translated to Spanish, my favorite was a reggae cover of Bryan Adams' "Heaven." I think you could make a million dollars if you redid all of Wham's songs with a steel drum, especially "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Also heard a lot of Christmas songs I've never heard before, either in Spanish or with the aforementioned island rhythm. The best was "Jingle Navidad," tune is the same as "Jingle Bells," but with the lyrics: Navidad, Navidad, Jingle Navidad. Mucho catchy.
I can't possibly complain about lolling on the beach, drinking $1 beers on Christmas, but it was rather odd to be somewhere so warm when I'm used to snow, or at least cold weather, around the holidays. Such was the consensus among the many Germans we met, who felt that at least for one day, they actually missed the snow. We spent Christmas Eve like every other day on Big Corn: walking around the island in search of good beaches (FYI: Long Beach is about as good as it gets, but its still tiny), then having afternoon Tona time, some reading and a swim, followed by a dinner of some version of shrimp, rice, and copious butter. On Xmas Eve, we went to Fisher's Cave in "downtown" Big Corn, a vaguely gringo restaurant with good food, amazingly slow service, and water views; and Seva's on Christmas Night for awesome and cheap lobster. Both days we had our afternoon cervezas at Anastasia's on the Water, a cool over water hotel and restaurant that does not seem like it could handle even the mildest hurricane:
On our first day on BCI, I noticed a taxi with a big pot leaf sticker on the window and remarked to H how unusual that was to see on a taxi (I later saw several more taxis with pot leaf stickers). So I was delighted to catch a cab on our last night and discover it was our pot leaf man! Much to my satisfaction, he was stoned out of his gourd and drove right by our hotel, remarking "Sorry, I don't know where my head is at." Indeed. We also saw a large pot farm growing near the airport, which is really just an airstrip. It has been cleared for international flights for several years, but who knows if that will ever happen, especially as people regularly wander across the strip to avoid walking around it. I wondered what would happen when flights were arriving, but supposedly they close the gates so you can't walk across it. The TSA would lose their shit if they knew that anyone can access the airstrip so easily, but no one seemed too bothered about it on BCI. No one seems too bothered about anything on BCI, as long as the Tonas are ice cold.
We awoke at an ungodly hour to walk across the street to the airport for our Big Corn flight. The national terminal is tiny and chaotic and the ticket counters were heaving with people. I couldn't believe the things people were taking on the airplanes: pinatas, enormous sheet cakes, mattresses (sounds like a hell of a party someone is planning). I had made reservations and paid for the tickets ($160 per person) via email, but naturally, they had no record of this. Fortunately, I had printed out a very important piece of paper with all my confirmation numbers and addresses, so it was sorted out and they promised to have my return tickets waiting at Corn Islands. In lieu of boarding passes, we were given large plastic cards with a number on them and our destination. V. eco-friendly. Here is a photo, courtesy of JoTraveller on TravelPod.com. While waiting for our flight to be called, we noticed not one but several people already drinking Toñas
. AT SIX THIRTY IN THE MORNING. But, hey, I'm not judging. Talked to several Americans heading to the Corn Islands, all of whom were there because of Diane Wedner's L.A. Times article. See the power of PR? One article made tons of travelers visit. I saw somewhere that La Costena has Nicaragua's most modern fleet (at least compared to Atlantic Airlines), and while they are a good 40 years old, those badboys somehow manage to stay in the air:
If all you were to see of Big Corn was the drive from the airport to the dock (which most people do when they head right to Little Corn), you'd be pretty disappointed. I've never been to another Caribbean island, but as I understand it, BCI is like any other, but shittier! No fancy boutiques, golf courses or resorts here, or really any attractions other than the beaches. Lots of stray dogs and tin roof (rusted!) shacks, but gorgeous green-blue water and lush jungle frippery abounds. We stayed at the Hotel Morgan, which was definitely the best bang for the buck, if not the best hotel on the island. You really can't beat $35 a night for a room with AC, private bathroom, and theoretical hot water. I say theoretical as there was a hot water heater, but all it delivered was an electrical shock. It's right on the water but there's no place to really sit on the beach, you can just jump into the water. I've heard great things about Casa Canada, but they aren't doing me any favors at $85 a night and have no direct beach access either, just an infinity pool, which is neat.
While there are cars on Big Corn and taxis cost only $1 per person (though I quickly wizened up that that's really only the USD price, in cordobas you pay 15 each, beating the exchange rate of 18.5C to $1USD), we spent most of our time walking around the island. It's only 6 square km and there's a fair amount to explore, and the best beaches require a bit more effort to get to. Still, the beaches aren't very big. Water, water everywhere, but not a spot to sit:
A few practical notes: I take serious issue with Lonely Planet's assertion that "everyone speaks English." Au contraire, only the natives speak English, and it is a hard to understand Creole, similar to Jamaican. Many of the native islanders are also unemployed, whereas many people in the service industry are Nicaraguan mainlanders who came to the Corns for work, and speak only Spanish. Familiarize yourself with some basics, like "beer" and "bathroom," brush up on your numbers, and remember that cintura is Italian for "belt," not "ashtray" (the Spanish word is cenicero). If there were any Italian speakers on BCI the first few days, they would have thought I was crazy.
On money: cash is king on Corn Islands and with few exceptions, your only option. US dollars are generally gratefully accepted, as long as they are in mint condition. The change you receive in cordobas, however, will be worn and torn beyond recognition, but God help you if you try to pass off a $5 bill with writing on it.
Service is slow as molasses, but Nicaraguans are bordering on OCD when it comes to wiping down tabletops and floors. A typical meal will go like this: you arrive and sit down in an empty (or full, it makes no difference) restaurant. The waitress will see you and you will indicate that you are interested in some sort of food or beverage. She will finish whatever she is doing before slowly rising and giving you a menu. She will then disappear for a half hour. After you have memorized the menu, you will track her down and give her your order. Your drink will take another 15 minutes (maybe more if it is more complex than cracking open a beer) and food, even longer. Intermittently, your waitress will come and wipe down your table vigorously, but will not ask you if you want anything or remove anything from the table. This is a sacred silent time, apparently. Your food will invariably include rice, sometimes with beans, and plantains in some form (generally fried). Generally most dishes are either fried or swimming in butter, hence delicious. Despite all this waiting and frying, you will be happy because your beer is colder than your wildest dreams. Even on Little Corn, where electricity frequently goes out, Toñas come from a special cooler served below zero degrees, with a monitor on the top. A little light even flashes when they get too warm, and frequently they have ice in the beers. You can sort of see the cooler in this photo, from a bar in Grenada:
Also, every establishment will wrap a small napkin around the neck of your beer after opening. I was told this is to make it sanitary, but it feels a bit queer (tip: a wise person will save these little cerveza scarves for an occasion without toilet paper). The other amazing thing about Nicaragua is the rum, Flor de Cana. In pretty much any bar, you can order a half bottle of delicious rum and a coke for $10, and they will also bring you a bucket of ice and a plate of limes. This beats the hell out of a New York nightclub's bottle service, and makes a nice evening for two. I found this demonstration on Flickr, here is us enjoying some on New Year's Eve:
Happy New Year, I've just come back from a fabulous vacation on the Corn Islands in Nicaragua. I'm much tanner, not much poorer, and my Spanish has gone from atrocious to merely really bad. It wasn't an easy trip, with many flights, layovers, and cancellations, but totally worthwhile. This wasn't a terribly active trip, but still many stories to be told.
The original plan was to leave New York on Friday, 12/21 and stay in Miami one night before flying to the capital city of Managua and then to Big Corn on Saturday. American Airlines had other plans for us, however, as both flights were delayed so long due to lack of planes that we missed the flight to Big Corn and had to stay in Managua one night. I am grateful to the very helpful Bell Captain at the Sheraton Miami Mart, who figured out how to call tiny La Costena airlines (which American had never heard of) and communicate in Spanish to book us on the first flight out on Sunday morning.
At the Miami airport, I started to think that if the TSA wants to do something really useful, they will make it illegal to hover by the gate before your number is called. When they announced boarding for the flight to Managua, it was like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. We were graciously upgraded on both AA flights, in fact on one flight, they upgraded us after we had already taken our seats in Coach. When they gave us the "come up here to first class" gesture, I really felt that Santa had come early. At any rate, the flight was easy and short from Miami and the Managua airport is very cute and nice.
Since we had to get up at 4am the next day for our Big Corn flight, we opted to stay at the Best Western, as it is literally across the street from the airport. Unlike an American Best Western, the hotel is set up in many separate hacienda buildings, sort of like summer camp! They were also holding a rather swinging bank Christmas party that went late into the night, including midnight fireworks, which made me wake up thinking that there was gunfire outside my room. Still, it was quite pleasant and definitely a good choice for an early flight. We did take a cab ($12 USD) downtown to the Zona Rosa area, which is packed with massive discos and restaurants. Managua is a frustrating city to navigate, especially as a New Yorker, as there are no addresses or easy neighborhood designations, plus you have to negotiate cab fares when you get it (no meters). Nonetheless, we ended up a bar called Piratas, a pirate-themed bar with turtles swimming in a little pond and American music playing. We drank the first of many
Toñas (the national beer) there and contemplated the meaning of techno pop videos.
Next stop, Big Corn Island, here's a preview:Yoinks, I have been lax with posting, will get back on it this week. I have officially bought tickets to Nicaragua, planning to stay 8 nights on the Corn Islands over Christmas, and heavily into planning. I've discovered a few new resources, aside from the usual guidebooks/magazines/TripAdvisor (which should be taken with a massive grain of salt).
- Newspaper articles: Okay, fairly obvious, but now most major newspapers have archived their travel sections online. I find the articles to often be more current and accessible than travel magazines, who are usually writing for a more affluent (read: spendy) audience. Check New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and USA Today for good profiles and articles.
- Email writers: Since working at Conde Nast Traveler, I've emailed the writers I already know who have written articles about destinations I'm interested in. It just occurred to me to not stop there, I could email writers I don't know! So, I emailed the writer of the LA Times article on Corn Islands that originally got me interested and she has responded with great information. Most newspapers make it pretty easy to email staff writers, Googling also helps.
- Search photos: My new obsession is going to Flickr and Webshots and searching for photos from Corn Islands. These can tell me a lot more than the hotel's website or anyone's review. I can actually see what the beach looks like, how far it is from the room, whether there are monkeys on site (very excited about this, I pretty much live for monkeys and there seem to be quite a few living on both islands), etc.
- Beyond Google basic: I will say without mild hyperbole that I have a PhD in Googling, I love to search and used Google Scholar constantly when I was in school. For trip planning, I find searching News and then Blogs is really helpful in finding random people's trip recaps and photos that don't show up on a regular search, and now Google's Picasa can be added to my photo search. Fun fact: my concierge.com Suitcase comes up on Google Searches now for most of the properties on the Corn Islands! Have I plugged the Suitcase enough?! It really rocks.
- Other guidebook options: This is sort of a catch-all category. It won't work for every destination, but if you can find a good travelogue/memoir for your place, it can be way better than a guidebook. I wish I had taken Pete McCarthy's book to Ireland rather than Fodor's. For guidebooks, Lonely Planet has just put out a cool new feature: Pick & Mix, so you can buy just a chapter of a guidebook rather than the whole thing. It won't work for my Nicaragua trip since Nica is half of the guidebook, but it is super cool and I will use for a future trip. Finally, I'm listing and looking for guidebooks on SwapSimple.com, so I can get books without paying for them and rather than sell them on half.com for pennies, I can trade for stuff I want! They have a Facebook application now too, which I've added to my growing list of applications, like the highly addictive Traveler's IQ Challenge.
Anyway, back to work, will continue the Finnegan's Wake of a travel recap later today.
