Route to the Corn Islands

Sunday 16th October 2016 – We awoke weary and worn out. Aaron decided that a breakfast treat would cheer us up…he was right. We sat in a beautiful hotel overlooking ‘The Church of our Lady of Mercy’ (Iglesias La Merced). We watched the Sunday Service comings and goings while sipping aromatic coffee and devouring scrumptious pancakes. A little bit of luxury goes a long way and it put the spring back in our step as we packed our bags once again, jumping on the bus for less than a dollar each for a ride back to the capital city of Managua. There we hopped into a taxi and booked into Pandora Hostel…it was to be the springboard for our trip to Little Corn Island. Tired, we showered and slept as the rain let its hair down outside. In the evening we dined on local cuisine at Chinos Restaurant where a beautiful kitten had the benefit of my unwanted sausage and Aaron’s left over chicken. The kitten thought it was his birthday and with wide, happy eyes devoured the lot. On the way back to our hostel we stopped off at the mall for provisions for the next day…cake and drinks…Aaron amusingly using a child’s shopping trolley as all the adult ones were being used. Before retiring for bed we booked a taxi for 5am to take us to the bus terminal in town in order to reserve tickets on the 6am bus that was destined for El Rama…the first part of our long winded journey to that paradise island known as Little Corn.

Monday 17th October 2016 – Our taxi arrived bang on time at 5am. We left our lovely Pandora Hostel and headed for the bus terminal right across town…about a 20 minute journey with no traffic. The driver was a chatty chap and conversed with Aaron in Spanish the whole way. When I later asked Aaron what they were talking about, he said he didn’t have a clue as he was half asleep…hilarious. I was so happy when we had our tickets in our hands as we had been told the 6am bus gets very booked up with locals heading for the coast. As it turned out we needn’t have worried…there was plenty of room. The journey would be a seven hour one as we passed horses and donkeys grazing in fields and village life. Looming volcanoes appeared in the distance and rustic countryside waved us through. Continuously on our route people got on and off to travel or sell their goods…it reminded me a lot of the African travelling we had done previously. Around 1pm we arrived in El Rama and made our way to the panga boat terminal which would take us to Bluefields. The pangas, that seat around 30 individuals, start at 5am and run until 3pm in the afternoon. Just like with African travel you have to wait until the boat is full before leaving. We waited an hour and a half as passengers slowly arrived and were relieved to finally climb on board, life jackets tightly fastened around us. It was a speedy two hour journey of meandering water. Eagles soared above and oversaw our passage through the debris laden river. At one point, the skipper of the boat had to stop to unravel caught debris from his propeller. Around 5ish we finally docked at Bluefields. It was rainy, grey and desolate looking…not inviting at all. It had the fugitive charm of a pirate town and was perched on the side of a lagoon at the mouth of the Rio Escondido…the river we had just travelled along. The place is renowned for constant rainfall, murderous mozzies and menacing streets…we knew we had to find shelter quick and hole up for the night. Aaron left me in a cafe guarding our bags while he searched high and low for a reasonably priced room. Unfortunately, lodging in Bluefields is underwhelming with gloomy, noisy, overpriced rooms usually the norm. In the end, we settled for a room at The Grand Hotel for $20 a night. Grand it most certainly wasn’t…a musty smell, broken windows, no light in the bathroom and a door knob that kept falling off…but it was our shelter for the night and as such we accepted our fate. That night we wandered into the darkened streets and dined at The Pelican Restaurant on fresh fish overlooking the sea.

Tuesday 18th October 2016 – Amazingly, both of us had slept soundly through the night with the added bonus of realising we had good wifi connection and English speaking channels on our TV…looks can certainly be deceiving. Consequently we decided to stay put for another night…better the devil you know sometimes. At 9am we went for breakfast at a local restaurant…beans, rice, plantain and salad…Aaron had chicken with his. I didn’t know it at the time but that breakfast was nearly the downfall of our trip to Little Corn Island. During the day I started to feel more and more unwell. I couldn’t put my finger on it but a faint, uneasy, queasy feeling was growing stronger in me hour by hour. At the only supermarket in town, I felt so poorly that I had to sit down on the floor so as not to pass out. The heavens outside were opening and a deluge of rain had ensued, mirroring my mood. I just felt so hot and dizzy with a raging headache piercing my brain. Aaron had been anything but sympathetic all day telling me just to take headache tablets and get on with it…he’s not the best nurse in the world unfortunately. Back in the hotel room with our huge bag of supplies for Little Corn (we planned to cook for ourselves as much as possible, we had heard it was very expensive to eat out on the island) I felt worse and worse. Laying down on the bed in our sleasy hotel room I felt as sick as a dog. Suddenly, sweat perspiring like crazy from my forehead I rushed to the bathroom…it was dreaded food poisoning from our breakfast and I cried out to Aaron that I felt terrible…then my body just ejected everything from my stomach in any way it could…you can imagine…I was so ill and could only cry and catch my breath between bouts of agonising sickness. At last Aaron believed me. I hadn’t been fooling around. It was then that the nurse in him was born and he rallied around me as best he could, clearing up after me and doing everything in his power to help me on the road to recovery…better late than never I thought. I couldn’t believe the timing of it all, tomorrow the once a week boat left for the Corn Islands. If we missed it we would have to wait another week to get there…time we didn’t have…and would therefore miss our whole trip to Little Corn. It was all down to me being able to get well enough by early morning. I felt and looked terrible…would we be on that boat? It was all in the lap of the Gods now…tomorrow we would know.

Wednesday 19th October 2016 – After five hours of sleep, the alarm woke us. My stomach was making terrible noises but we needed to be in the queue for tickets by 6.30am. Deciding to at least attempt to get tickets and then see if I was well enough to travel we got dressed and headed towards the dock. Was I ever going to get on that boat…The Rio Escondido…I had no idea. After five minutes we arrived at the office and joined the queue. I sat on a dirty curb, head in my hands, just wanting to lie down while Aaron queued. I couldn’t even stand up I felt so weak. Eventually at 7.20am we purchased our tickets, returned to the hotel, packed and had a lay down on the bed…the fan blowing and cooling my skin. I was so lethargic but told Aaron I wanted to give it a go. Off we set again to the dock, Aaron carrying as much as he could to help me out. Once on the boat Aaron was determined to find me the best seat possible. All the seats inside the air conditioned cabin had been taken, however, there were two seats covered with all the life vests and we knew once given out the seats could be ours. That was it, Aaron sat with life vests coming out of his ears with me on his lap in order to reserve those seats for us. I was so grateful…I might be able to do this journey yet. The air conditioning was like an answer to our prayers and by 9.30 we were on our way…and additionally had the best seats in the house courtesy of all the life jackets being given out. Aaron was definitely making up for his initial reluctance to believe I was unwell and for the whole journey he was the best nurse I could have wished for. There was even a TV on board showing the most titillating music videos I have ever seen in my life…we watched shocked by how rude they appeared, especially with so many children present and watching the screen too! Arriving at Big Corn Island around 3pm, I was delighted to have made the journey. We jumped in a taxi and made our way to Morgan’s Hotel (my nephew’s name so a good omen for me) where for $15 a night we got a lovely room with a TV. There were also two resident cats, one a tiny tabby kitten who had been rescued by the owner, my kind of place…Morgan’s Hotel was living up to its name. After a nap and shower I was starting to feel my old self again. For dinner Aaron had delicious lobster ceviche and I had plain pasta hoovered up by my hubby when my sore stomach had had its fill. Back in our room we watched the Final Presidential Debate…frightening times ahead…I need say no more.