Little Corn Island-The Shark hunt

After Ometepe...things got kind of garden variety. We got over to Grenada, stayed only for a little bit and then went to Managua (the capital city). As far as ¨Colonial¨cities go, Nicaragua has definitely not put the cash into preserving it like Colombia has. Both Grenada and Managua were ugly messes of decaying buildings and garbage. I looked for some kind of charm in both but couldn´t do it...mainly because I was worried about getting foot mouth disease in Grenada. The second day we were there, they had some kind of horse parade and the streets were blocked with horses at every intersection. We almost got trampled trying to cross the street to eat and definitely stepped in shit getting there. Managua is what I imagine L.A to be like, if L.A was in Nicaragua. The city is a sprawling monstrosity with no recognizable downtown area. You need to take cabs to every point even to the stores to buy batteries. Luckily, we only had to go to Managua to get a plane to Little Corn island which is an island off the Caribbean coast of Nicargua (much like when we went to San Andres island in Colombia)

Little corn is the most remote island I´ve ever been to. There are no hotels just small hospedajes and there is no road so the only option to get around is to walk, use a bike or to get pushed in a wheelbarrow. We rented a little cabina at this place called Carlito´s which was on the other side of the island. Renting at Carlito´s was good for many reasons. One, not many people go to Carlito´s since the restaurant isn´t that great and it´s not a place to party. Two, it´s super isolated because people don´t want to walk all the way to the other side. Three, I heard Carlito served 10 years in a United States federal jail for being caught running cocaine into the United States. This, to me, made the place safer from others since we were already in the arms of the criminal underbelly of Nicaragua. Unsound logic? Maybe, but I bet that if anybody came to mess with his guests and disrupt business, Carlito would probably come out in his khaki shorts and penny loafers brandishing a shotgun. He seemed the type.

I caught up on a 6 year hiatus of diving and snorkeling too (I only went once in San Andres). I quickly became obsessed with the idea of swimming with a hammerhead shark since they hang out around the island. 3 dives and 2 snorkel trips later though, there were none to be found. We saw a lot of nurse sharks, sea turtles, a pack of 5 eagle rays(which is amazing and beautiful in it of itself) and I also got to finally scuba dive with Dolphins. This trumped the Hammerheads anyway. Dolphins are incredibly smart and you know that they are constantly messing with you. They show up out of nowhere, and jump out of the water. You stop the boat dead in the water, everyone frantically gets their stuff on and you jump in and swim after the pod. It´s only after about 10 minutes of swimming that you realize the dolphins are exactly the same distance in front of you...they let you catch up and then swim away. Those things are real tricksters...never trust one with your money.

We got back to Managua and Neesy Bean had to go back to New York so I´m travelling solo again. I guess Leon is next. I´m looking into how to get into Honduras next but currency is not looking so hot these days, someone send money...fast.