DEliTOUR: Little Corn

We flew from Managua to the Corn Islands, the Nicaraguan islands in the Caribbean. We knew that Little Corn was a must-see backpacker destination and after researching the overland route (12 hour bus, 4 hour speedboat, 7 hour ferry - 3 days total) with no recommendations we opted for the plane.

We got busted for excess baggage on the way to Big Corn and then changed to the local speed boat for the crossing to Little Corn. This hour long journey was charaterised by the taking of seasickness pills and the large plastic sheet which we had to cling onto for dear life along with the other 20 passengers to avoid being drenched by the bow wave as flew over the swelling sea, smacking hard after every wave. Luckily we had also read the passage in the big book about grabbing the life jackets to sit on them in deterrence of arse-ache, and also sitting in the back of the boat, to avoid the sensation that one is forever on the edge of ejection and familiarity with Davy Jones´ locker.

Little Corn is a tiny island, walkable in 45 mins, with a village of a few thousand, and posadas (guest houses mostly with cabanas) dotted around the beaches on the coastline. It is no longer remote or uindiscovered and the pricing was a bit strong but we struck a deal for a really nice new beachfront cabana (stilts, own bathroom, balcony, hammock, sofa, good roof) with Elsa on the backside of the island.

We spent a week at Little Corn at Elsa´s and it was heaven for us. There was small issue. It rained every day. Not just a little bit. In fact it stormed every day. We were woken by thunder at 2, 3, 5 AM and the lightening storms were regular, spectacular and pretty mean. The thunder was the loudest we have ever heard. But the water was warm, there was time for snorkelling, to explore the island, pick wild fruit, befriend the resident kittens who lived in cabana number 4, feed the scawny abandoned kitten (who we hope the others´ mother has adopted), write songs, read, and just enjoy it.

Little Corn was perfect for us and we met some lovely other people. The Belgians were back - now holding the record for most meetings on the gringo trail with the Deli crew. We got to know Siguri and Rodolpho (yes, his parents had a sense of rumour) much better, we met the dreadlocked-matching-head-torch-Austrian couple with the quality AliG shades, and we met the worse backgammon players in living memory; Alex and Iris. Actually they are the only couple we have ever played against, they had the same set we had bought in India all those years ago - with the dodgy non-symmetrical dice - and, being German, they were going round the world the other way, so we were robbed of more of their company. But they had time to set us straight on a few things; most important of which is that the Galapagos islands are a must, not an option. And they filled us in on some places in Brasil around Salvador, Alex offered me his hair shaver (I am still regretting not induging) and Iris had us rolling in the aisles (or in the isles in this case) with her impressions of Cambodian family tea and beer (and spittle) sharing rituals.

And we met an army of Finns, connected to the Finnish Solidarity organisation that evaluates Finnish origin NGO projects and then we went to Big Corn for the day. And we wished we had gone for longer. We found the beaches were vast and empty, it was easy to get around on the local bus, there was a bit more choice (with budget options) for food and then we found Anastacia´s; a hotel (which we didn´t know about beforehand so we didn´t stay there) a jetty, to a big bar, with the most fantastic snorkelling off the back. It was too far for us to swim to the wreck but we spent a few hours checking out amazing coral walls and the abundant marine life.