Arright! Please allow me to break the silence down here, the last couple days have been sort of disconnected, if not hectic, if not both. Anyway, after two earlier intentions (aka semi-attempts) to go to the Corn Islands, I finally managed to get there! You know what they say - third time lucky ;)

The entire story on the subject is quite extensive, so bearing in mind the majority of visitors prefer a short story (and lots of pics ;)) you´ll find the “director´s cut” below. The full monte can be found by clicking on “read more” at the bottom of this article. Sounds fair, doesn´t it? :)

So here we go… As the islands are pretty isolated (70km off Nicaragua´s east coast), there´s basically two options to get there: by air (aka recommended and preferred) and by bus and boat (aka adventurous and dodgy). This makes for an easy choice: let´s take the latter!

That morning I got away from Lago de Apoyo by throwing both myself and my backpack over the fence. A quick busride took me to Masaya, famous for its “artesanias” - this is where I decided to buy a hammock, bearing in mind the large number of uncomfortable journeys I still had ahead of me (trust me, there´s more to come after this one!). Been there, done that and another busride took me to Managua. Three hours (and three attempts of theft, all unsuccessful) later I was on the bus to El Rama … what is it with Central American capitals!? One I got there all hotels appeared to be full so I spent the night sleeping in the bus - the hammock instantly came to good use :)

After being kicked out of the bus by its personnel (sorry, I have a hard time waking up!) I took the fast boat to Bluefields, and I mean F-A-S-T - the scenery was lovely though I didn`t get to see much as our boat hung almost vertical with speed :) Down in Bluefields I met up with some people (hello Rita and Mario) and together we learnt we missed the ferry to the Corn Islands by about an hour - bummer! Speaking to locals appeared to help though and we learnt a fishing boat would be leaving for the islands from El Bluff, a key just 1km off the coast. Friendly locals and even friendlier fishermen (yah man) allowed us to hitchhike and we got to Big Corn that same day.  We spent Saturday night on Big Corn (Reggae Palaca was nice!) and I left for Little Corn the next morning. I fell in love with the place as soon as I set foot on the dock - once again the pics should speak for themselves! Spent the next days enjoying perfect weather and, more importantly, went scuba-diing! You read that right: I CAN DIVE AGAIN! It was well worth it too; swimming among sharks and stingraysis quite an experience!

Unfortunately all good things come to an end eventually, and I now find myself in Cancun after spending 4 days on boats and buses, ready for the next journey. YAH MAN!

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Sunrise on Rio Escondido ... on the way to Bluefields

More Rio Escondido sightseeing

Our ride to Big Corn!

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Hello Folks!

Yes, I know it´s been a while since I last wrote something… I am equally aware of the fact I did not fulfill my promise of uploading some pics! :) Anyway, time for a short summary on what I´ve been up to in the last ten days: I´m having a blast! FYI; if you´d like to know any details on whereabouts and / or historical details, I suggest you look either here or here.

On the 9th I went from Panama City to Portobelo to get on a ship, sailing from there to Cartagena, Colombia via the San Blas Islands. First new experience to me was the fact that I got seasick on the first night (yay……) but fortunately recovered the day after! Next 2 days were spent in the San Blas archipelago, which is really a wonderful place to be. See the pics for more details, words cannot explain here. After this 2-day ´stop´ the plan was to sail on to Cartagena in 2 days, if it wasn´t for the engine which decided to go on strike in the middle of the trip…. which meant an additional day and a half in the open sea! No worries though, we still had a good time and there were plenty of dolphins around to keep us company!

Upon arrival in Cartagena, I´ve pretty much done all the tourist stuff and it struck me this is really a great place to be. There´s plenty of things to see and do in and around the city (check out those mud volcano pics!) and its whole vibe made me change my travel plans; instead of 2-3 days, I am now having my 6th day in Colombia - I love this place! After Cartagena I decided to travel to a town called Taganga (direction North East), from where I made my first dive trip yesterday. Unfortunately I ended up having to use some eardrops but the diving was still fun ;) The plan is to fly back to Panama City (please, no more boats for the time being ;)) on the 22nd or 23rd, ensuring I´ll still make it to my Spanish classes which start on the 26th. Never thought I´d be running into a tight schedule on this trip but here we go…

Anyway, as a picture is still worth a thousand words, have a look at a short summary of my trip below, including the following: Panama City´s Casco Viejo Area, the Miraflores Locks (Panama Canal), Isla Taboga,  San Blas, Cartagena, the Mud Volcano and some creepy fortress.

Till next time!

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