Island Hopping- Roatan and Corn Islands

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Our weekend in Roatan was great. We stayed at Posada Arco Iris in a studio apartment with its own kitchen. It is situated steps away from a white sand beach and there are 2 resident monkies that are eager to play and hold your hand. Days were spent at the beach, suntanning and snorkeling- there is good snorkeling swimming distance off the shore. Nights were spent with Ryan cooking up amazing meals, Megan relaxing in the hammock with wine. Seems unfair but she had to do dishes. We had our own little deck to relax on and had many lizards, geckos and frogs coming to visit us. The only downside to Roatan were the expensive ferry to get there and away and the many sand fleas at the beach. Either suntan on the deck or use repellant and you aren´t bothered. Next we made our way into San Pedro. Woke up at 3 a.m. to catch the bus to Managua . . .but it was sold out. We reserved a ticket for the next day and set about wasting time in San Pedro. Looked at shoes at Payless and got a burger at Burger King, yes we are still in Nicaragua. That night we splurged on a case of beer for 7 bucks CAD. Up early again for 12 hour bus ride. Arrived into Managua at night and pouring rain. Worn out from the long bus ride our guard was down and we were reminded that while traveling you must always be aware of where you are. Ryan followed a guy to the hostel we were looking for to check it out. Something didnt seem right, the guy didnt really have a sign in front of the hostel, the room didnt seem up to Lonley Planet standards but it was late and raining and we were in a dangerous area so we choose to stay. As soon as we checked in the guy way harassing us to go to the ATM and grab money for the room. Him and a couple friends escorted Ryan to the ATM for protection. Upon return we questioned the guy about flights and he took it upon himself to call the airline. Then he asked for a tip. Fair enough. BUT he demanded 30 bucks Canadian . . more than we had even paid for the room. After quite a while of arguing we paid him 10 and he left, seemingly satisfied. About an hour later, Ryan went out to get food and the guy came back looking for him. Long story short- we were at the wrong hostel, the guy obviously had some sort of gang rule over the neighborhood. We made our way to a new hostel and cut our losses. In all of our travels it is very rare that I have ever felt that unsafe.
On to better days . . . a taxi, flight, choppy boat ride and we were on Little Corn Island. A small, untouched island with stretches and stretches of vacant white sand beaches. The island consists of 2 dive shops, a few places to stay and eat. It rained our first day and left us non divers little to do. That night was the opening night of the Sports bar, .75 cent beers. We hung out with the other tourists and sat on the beach drinking. The next day the sun was shining and we walked around the island until we found our own secluded beach, not hard to do. Amazing snorkling with lots of fish and star fish. It ended up raining hard but we just kept on snorkeling. We had a great lobster dinner at a Cuban place and a long night with friends but somehow made it up for the 7 am ferry the next day to catch our flight back to the mainland. We are now in San Juan Del Sur, a small surfing town on the Pacific Ocean. Wide sand beaches lined with restaurant and bars. The town is pretty sleepy this time of year because of the surfing conditions not being great, but we can see the potential for a great town. A couple days here, weather permitting, and then we are onto to Costa Rica.

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Photos

Roatan
Sunset in Roatan, Bay Islands Honduras.

Corn Islands Nicaragua
Big night on the town!

Corn Islands Nicaragua
Grilled lobster, grilled shrimp and all that comes.

Corn islands
Our crew on the last night.

San Juan del Sur (Nicaragua)
The beach

Corn Islands
On the way to our secluded beach.