It is October, normally fall in the United States, but I was just in the Caribbean for 5 days…it was an experience and I can’t believe we are back already! It has been nice to be back with my host family because we had been away for awhile. They seemed to be worried about me a bit because it rained in Leon the 5 days we were gone and us students went by ourselves and that always worries our families here a bit. Ha, so needless to say they were excited to see me in one piece when we got home on Thursday night.
Being jincho in Big Corn Island is what we did best…this is the Nica way of saying being chill, Maynor taught it to us. We got there early on Sunday morning after leaving Leon around 4 am and then getting to the Managua airport around 7. We didn’t wait long after we got to Managua to board the plane and it kinda made sense when we stepped onto a 14 person plane! It was definitely a different experience, very packed in there and no flight attendants. Ha. We had a great view, the clouds were beautiful and it was crazy when we flew over the ocean, it was something I had never done before. About an hour plane ride and we were landing onto the island! We stepped right off the plane onto the ground, something you only see in movies, and a taxi from our resort was there to pick us up. It took less than 5 minutes to get to La Paraiso (Paradise) our resort for the week. We got checked in and then just explored the place which was right on the beach…how awesome! The water right away looked very clear and so different than I’d seen it before. It was a little rainy right when we got there so we just hung out that morning/afternoon and eventually decided to swim in the rain because we were so excited we were actually there! We then decided to explore the island a little more—its 12 km around which is about 8 miles, so not big at all. We rented a golf cart and had a map and went around the whole thing. A few observations we made about the island was that it was a very chill place with not too much going on, the people were a lot darker skinned than people on the pacific side of Nicaragua (which meant we stuck out even more with our white skin!), there weren’t many other tourists because it is the hurricane season right now, and the ocean water was so clear all around the island! Our golf cart decided to be a little difficult and stopped on us twice but that just made the journey a little more exciting. When we brought the golf cart back we stopped at a beach that looked nice and the water was super calm so we swam in it for awhile. It was such a nice night and a great start to our vacation! We got back and showered then figured out the internet and used that for awhile, which we were really excited about because we don’t have internet all the time in our host homes in Leon. We slept great that night after watching the movie Bridesmaids!
Monday came and we slept in a bit and got up and had breakfast (cinnamon french toast and pineapple that is 10x more delicious in Nicaragua) and hung out that morning-reading, walking along the beach, and using the internet. We had lunch at the restaurant right at our resort called the Bucaneer and then headed out to the awesome beach we had discovered the night before. It was a chill day, and the water was again super calm. It was also clear and we got to see a few starfish, which we flipped upside down so we could see them turn back over, it was very neat. It was great also to just float atop the water because there were no waves and the salt water allowed us to float easily. We stayed there for awhile, and hung out on the couches that were on this particular beach! We were pretty much the only ones on that beach besides a few other people that came later in the day-it was the life. That day was Canadian Thanksgiving so we celebrated with Curtis by dressing up a bit and then eating a nice supper at the Bucaneer that night. It was a good time in the words of Curtis.
Tuesday was similar to Monday; we hung out at our resort that morning and had an early lunch and then headed to the same beach for awhile. It was a little windier than the day before so there were more waves, but it was still sunny outside and not much to complain about. We headed to an outdoor restaurant on the beach for supper with our swimsuits still on. We were the only ones there partly because it wasn’t tourist season, but also because it was 5 pm and people eat supper quite a bit later in Nicaragua in general. It was nice and quiet place and we got to see the sun set right from there, so beautiful. I ate a breaded fish fillet and got to try a piña colada too, a typical Caribbean drink so that was fun! We played some cards that night (scum with Curtis’ rules which was actually pretty fun) and went to bed on time.
Wednesday was different in that we got to go snorkeling in the afternoon! It was a bit windy but the places we went were actually quite calm and it was totally worth it. We went out on a fishing boat just around Big Corn Island (there is a Little Corn Island as well which is obviously smaller, but we never visited it) with 2 guys and one of their sons. It was an interesting ride because the waves of the ocean were quite different than at a lake, much more intense and I had never experienced ocean boating before. We first stopped at a location with a sunken ship and looked around there awhile, seeing lots of different colored fish. The water was super clear and so we got to see them up close and personal! We saw lots of “Finding Nemo” fish and our guide pointed out a sea cucumber, rainbow fish, stingray, and many neat shells and coral to us! We got in the boat and went to two other locations to view the marine life, and we were out for about 2 and a half hours. It was a great time, and we wished we could have done it for longer. We ended the trip by boating around the rest of the island, encountering many large waves and getting soaked but that was all part of the experience! Snorkeling was definitely a highlight of our trip and that night we played some cards and hung out more. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 that night, which we figured was quite fitting because we were of course on a Caribbean island.
Thursday was our last day on the island, so we hung out, finished our books, played in the ocean one last time and said goodbye to the beautiful white beaches and clear water, which was definitely a little sad. We hung out in the airport for about an hour before we boarded our slightly larger plane than last time of about 30 people. We also stopped in the Bluefields airport which is on the east coast before heading to the Managua airport. Another beautiful flight, this time with a sunset. We arrived in Managua around 5 pm and in Leon around 7…I briefly told my family about our trip then headed to bed for the night after unpacking from an unforgettable chill mid semester break!
Today was a homework day as I definitely didn’t do any of that on our trip. It rained again, so it has pretty much rained all day every day this week my family said, which is quite a bit more than the 10 minute rains a day normally. I think Alejandra and I are going to watch the Little Rascals movie tonight so that will be a good time! Next week will be a normal week again, but it was nice to have a few days to recuperate back to normal life after our super chill Caribbean vacation J
PICTURES of the beautiful island…
Cara.
sounds like an incredible break to me!!! =D
ReplyDelete