Today was another travel day. I woke up about 5am and made my way over to the outhouse. I witnessed the turkey stamping on a hen that it had recently killed. I grabbed a rock and kept a wide berth. I whispered something about how it was going to be screwed once the family wakes up and sees this. It is hard to sleep passed 4am in Nicaragua because there is usually a Rooster within 50 ft and they will ensure you will be awake. You would think that an animal used in fighting to kill each other would be a little quieter about its presence. The family was very proud of their cock fighting champions that they locked up in the corner of my barn.
I forgot one other story. I drank 3 or 4 bottles of Aquafina the night before and when I emptied them the family wanted them for returns. When I went to sleep I would not give them to them and that struck them as odd. I could not tell that if I had to go to the bathroom in the night I was not going to walk across the yard, or urinate somewhere allowing the turkey to attack me when I was not looking. The family got up and made breakfast for me. After that we said our goodbyes and one of the brothers drove me to the bus station in the back of a borrowed pickup.
I made it back to the capital, Managua, by noon to check in for my 2pm flight to the Corn Islands. On the way back I ended up taking the "express" bus to get there quicker. This basically meant that the driver of this bus, the same type of bus as the "regular" bus, would just go faster. There was one time we crossed the yellow line to pass 4 other school buses and made back into our lane about 1/2 second before running straight into oncoming traffic. Everyone on the bus was freaked out. I figured this had to be pretty bad if people who are ok with others climbing all over the bus on the highway are getting nervous.
This airline, La Conesta, was the only airline in the country that had domestic flights. They ran their operation the same way the bars, restaurants and hostels did; If your name was on a loose-leaf pad of paper you had a reservation, if not then they would decide whether they liked you and then write it. If you showed them a printed document with your reservation they only looked at you like you were a jerk. I noticed a metal detector about 2 feet in front of me and realized I had my 4 in. knife in my pocket. I decided to just walk through...nothing happened and I really wasn't surprised.
Sitting in the cargo plane awaiting takeoff I noticed my bag sitting on the runway. I asked the flight attendant if it was normal that we were leaving with my bags not on the plane and she told me they would come on a later flight. When we landed she confirmed that they were indeed on a later flight...tomorrow. It seems that there was too much weight so the passengers went, but the bags would go tomorrow. Here is a shot I took of my bag on the cart along with a shot of the plane and one from the window during flight
We landed and I was heading out of the airport to catch a little boat over to Little Corn Island. As I was leaving I saw this big military guy with an M16 and a drug dog. The funny part was that the dog kept jumping up on all of us trying to lick us while wagging his tail.
Below are some shots of the boat ride from the main island to the remote one I would spend the next 2 nights
The rest of this blog got deleted about 1 month after I got back. I am trying to recreate but might not have the same brilliance as the original. You also may miss out on my "final thoughts" section as I cannot remember those gems either.
Below is a shot of the landing party. It struck me similar to the opening scene in Fantasy Island where all the couples arrive and are bickering as the locals look on.
After getting my bearings i found the path through the jungle to the other side of the island where the cheap lodging is....and you know that is where I will be.
About 1/4 mile through the jungle you come upon a beach. Then you walk along this beach and it is simply amazing. You are in this group of people and it just feels like you are walking into som sort of social experiment.
I came upon the cheapest lodging available right as this chick was looking for a room. I asked her if she wanted to split a room to defray the cost and she was cool with it. I think it ended up costing us about $5/night each for a 2 bed room. She was from Austria and had been on the road for 4 years. We dropped our crap and met up with some Danish guys for beers.
I had heard the lobster was good and cheap, and obviously fresh, so we went with that. It was cheap, but a little slim...I don't know why I would complain, I guess I am used to this huge Las Vegas 40lb guys. In this area the claws are not very big so you just get the tail....or so I am told.
After dinner we sat and drank and shared background stories. The the manager of the lode came by and sold some "stuff" to my new friends. He said he got out of jail a couple months ago for dealing drugs and showed the 3 bullet wounds he suffered in the process. I thought it was odd that he jumped back into the same line of work. He tried to upsell them to some more serious white powder, and the Danes were a little scared as there was a guy with a machine gun 40 yards away. I just sat and took it all in as I found it comical, and said my goodnights.
Until next Time, Darren
