Nicaraguan Paradise

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua
March 11th 2008

Published: September 15th 2008

When the inevitable question of travel highlights comes up - Little Corn Island, Nicaragua is high on my list. Basically - this little Caribbean gem sets a new benchmark for paradise on earth. The thing is; I wouldn’t have even gone there if it hadn’t been for St Paddy’s day and a fabulously crazy gang of Irish. But I’ll get to that … If Guatemala is hot on the backpacker destination... Read Full Entry

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Ellen

Ellen Around the World

I'm an Aussie girl who's mad about travel! Me and my pack have covered lots of ground over the past few years .... 2003 - 3 months leave to backpack Europe & Canada 2004 - Holidays in Bali, Indonesia 2005 - Holidays in Turkey, Greece & Thailand 2006 - 5 months leave to travel around the world - India, Nepal, to China, across Mongolia and Russia, through Eastern and some of Western Europe. Then home via Canada and the US. January 2007 - Holidays, North Island, NZ September, 2007 I decided I needed a break from the corporate grind and resigned from Ford in Australia, to do a year ... full info

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Volcano Boarding madness ...

It’s getting dark by the time we take off, two at a time

Flying to Corn Islands

Nine of us made the journey out to Little Corn Island on tiny planes, followed by land, then an open water taxi.

Inside the hut @ Elsa's

Little Corn sunset - west side of the island

After just one night at the Lobster Inn on the western side of the island (where there’s lots of mozzies and no relief from the heat or breeze to speak of) and a memorable bit of night-time swimming, we all moved onto the east side of the island .

Dive Shop

Day two I was already restless and looking for something to do other than read books, swim and laze around in a hammock so Eggy and John convince me to join them for an introductory scuba dive with Dolphin Dive.

St Paddy's Day Jig

We had Shepard’s pie for dinner, mojitos and birthday cake, followed by lots of dancing and frivolity if I recall correctly at one point there was a guy playing a flute and Sarah did an Irish jig.

Little Corn signage

Bike Corn Islands

[courtesy of Courtney Illfield - www.courtneyillfield.blogspot.com]

Eggy and Elsa

Elsa herself is an interesting character a daughter of one of the prominent families on the island sometimes charismatic, sometimes quite reserved in direct proportion to the amount of ron she was drinking I suspect!

Little Corn Palm Trees

Little Corn Turquoise

Elsa's Sea Breeze, Little Corn

[courtesy of Courtney Illfield - www.courtneyillfield.blogspot.com]

View of Volcan Conception

Lago atop Volcan Maderas

Dirty, determined and stubborn, we refused to turn back and made it to the Crater Lake at the top in good time for lunch. No thanks to our guide who took off ahead on his own frustrated with our slow pace! Visibility up top was very poor and despite the grassy surrounds and what I’m sure is a lovely crater lake it will not go down on my travel highlights list.

Muddy shoes on Volcano Maderas

The hike down was never-ending we were filthy, exhausted and had both taken a tumble on the descent.

San Juan del Sur Surf

16th September 2008

el Jefe
Jeff C

Ah memories..
Lot of fun reading your blog, I was in Nica earlier this year and in many of the same places (Granada, Isla Ometepe). We spent a good part of our time at a friend's place in Playa Remanso, about 15 minutes from San Juan del Sur... Very intrigued about the Corn Islands now, I had read they were pretty seedy/dangerous and to not bother going...after seeing your pics and reading your stories I guess I have to go back!

17th September 2008

Ellen Around the World
Ellen

Little Corn
Hey Jeff - before we went across, we were unable to track down anyone who'd actually been to the Corn Islands to give us current feedback about the safety situation. But as you can see - we had no issues, they've cleaned up the islands a lot in the past few years apparently. Cheers, Ellen

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