The Chilcotes Are Out of the boat: Nicaragua part 2-- Corn Island

We left the dock after the endless lumber showdown between officials. They left the lumber on the dock, although by now they decided it could have gone with us. The captain pretty much just stayed out of the discussion ready to abide by whatever official word was decreed.
It was a beautiful balmy night with many brilliant stars visible. Jerry and I went to the front deck to view the stars, and were mesmerized by their beauty; so many more visible here in the open darkness. Although pretty tired by now we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The galley was serving delicious microwaved popcorn and Cup O Noodles and had some pop left so we at least ate. It is amazing how good that is when you are hungry. The hammockers were swaying with the boats rhythm and it looked pretty peaceful. It had taken us 2 full days to get this far and we were ready to be there.

We pulled in to port at Corn Island around 10:30, and the pastors guided us to a hotel. It was called Sweet Dreams, just like our last hotel. As a matter of fact it had the same charm. Our room had mildly working AC, but no window. By now we knew that hot water was a thing of the past. Just water or no water was the issue. The shower worked, but the blast of water came out of the pipe in the wall and hit the back wall of the shower, there was no showerhead. You couldn't bathe without anointing the whole bathroom and or peeling your skin off. Also standard in Nicaraguan rooms is one towel per room and no furniture or places to put or hang anything other than the bed. The toilet worked which was probably highest on the list after a clean bed. The only bedding is 2 sheets on the beds. This is standard in Central America as no blankets are ever needed. In the middle of the night the power went out, and we suffocated with no ac or fan blowing and no window to create a breeze.
We slept some as we were beat, but were tired still in the morning. We compared notes and Dale and Shari had no air or fan and didn't sleep well either. Also the feeling of the place was just not hospitable. We decided to seek other digs after we saw the pastors.
In the morning we found breakfast and coffee and then thought we were looking for their church which was a Maranatha church. The only one people knew of was way on the other side of the island, which isn't saying much. The island is only a few miles long, and 2 wide. There is a bus that runs around and around in a circle to service the island, and a reported 120 taxis that also run around and around seeking passengers. For a few cents we went by bus to the church and piled out with our luggage at a interesting church. The man who greeted us was the pastor and he said this was the only Maranatha Church on the island. He knew Henry, but said that Henry's people met in a house. I saw a side building, and saw women working there and went over to say hi. They were making bread in what was the church kitchen. They said that they sold the bread to make money for the church and its kitchen. On a table in front of the window they were making dough including grating coconut and squeezing it in water to make coconut water for the dough. We watched them knead it and make large rolls. These they put into a large heavy aluminum pan. They had built a fire on a concrete covered table. They set the pan on the fire, put a piece of tin roofing on top of the pan and made another fire on top of the tin. Every 10 minutes they moved the firey tin lid and took out the baked rolls and put uncooked ones in. The room was very smokey and the women and kids were all breathing the choking air while baking.
The rolls were delicious. Fine textured, sweet and with a slightly smokey flavor from the fire. They also made a variety of sugar filled rolls and meat filled rolls. We would certainly be their customers as often as possible. The women were friendly and seemed happy to have us there. There were scads of adorable kids who mugged for the camera happily.
The pastor invited us to church that night. It appears that they had church every night at 7pm. We left to find our hotel. We met a taxi driver who gave us a ride. His name was George Morgan. He recommended the house run by Angela Morgan (who happened to be his sister). The Morgans were one of three families that had originally colonized the island.
When we first got there, we were unsure about staying there. The rooms were under her house they were accessed from a large porch which had ironwork grating and a locking door. This would provide an outdoor area where we could all sit together and talk. The common sink was on the porch as were the two shared bathrooms (toilet and shower). We all found rooms with shuttered windows. Each had great fans. It looked like camping more than a hotel as we were nervous about mosquitos without window glass or screens. It did look very clean however and we said ok. It proved to be a great decision. We did need a small amount of bug spray occasionally, but it wasn't too bad. The beds were comfortable and the fans worked fine to keep us cool enough to sleep. The porch became our living room and allowed us to remain connected. We were getting quite used to cold water showering and found that the water had good pressure. I think this trip was making us rethink what we thought we needed from a hotel. By now this seemed pretty sweet, and just $15 a night.
The owner was Angela Morgan who was a delightful beaming woman who was an lawyer and judge on the island. She had visits from police from time to time which probably made us the safest place in town.
Another blessing to the location, was the fact that the church we would visit was just accross the airport runway and down a mile. They opened the runway to people to cross through gates unless a plane was due. We walked that night and it only took a few minutes. The Maranatha Church we went to at 7 pm was fairly typical looking for a 3rd world church. The pastor explained that it had been built 30 years ago after a hurricaine had devastated the Island. The front wall had a full length mural painted on it with Jesus being baptized. He was very hispanic looking except for red hair and blue eyes. Above is head was a decorative but non-working clock. Also on the front wall was a decorative but non-working fruit clock. There was a chandelier hanging above the pulpit area that only had one working light but was strung with a string of white lights in a carefree fashion. In various places from the ceiling were hung some sprays of plastic flowers. And over each side of the aisle was the lettering "Caballeros" and "Damas". Meaning men on one side women on the other. It is obvious that people are trying to hang up every decorative or beautiful thing they can find but have no idea how random it looks. It is touching.
When church started, the worship was amazing. The little gal who led was like a worship drill sergeant. She kept it lively. It was obvious that the Spirit was present. We enjoyed it so much. I cannot imagine how people can make clapping sounds that loud. The whole thing was very loud, but not because of cranked speaker volume, just sheer human enthusiasm.
Clint spoke the message and it seemed well received. I can't remember right now what he spoke on. He was speaking without a translator and we are not anywhere near fluent yet. We talked with various folks and then walked back through the dark to the hotel.
When we got back we found we had new hotel-mates. Two cute young couples from Norway were staying in the 2 unbooked rooms. They said that they could hear the singing in the church from the hotel. One said "now that's how church should be". We liked it.
Corn Island if frequented by world-wide travelers most of whom are staying there on their way to Little Corn Island, which is set up for tourists with more luxurious hotels and world class surfing and snorkling. It is about 45 minutes away by boat, we hear. These folks were no exception and the next day they moved on. Corn Island has bars, and some availability to rent a boat or go diving, but is not really a "hot spot" for tourists. It is mostly home to those who make their living from the sea, store owners who supply them, and some really hungry taxi drivers.
The next day we took advantage of our taxi driver's offer to take us on an island tour, we took 2 taxis for the 6 of us and with slow driving, and frequent stops, the tour lasted and hour. Then he took us to a guy named Darcy who had a boat and diving business. For $20 he would take us out snorkling. It was fairly rough with a good wind blowing. Only the 3 men wanted to go out so us ladies walked and explored the beautiful beach. The beach had a fair amount of litter, it is unknown whether it was from the island itself or from passing boats. It didn't dim our feeling of luxury as we sat under palm trees watching the truely aqua and green water break onto the white sand beach.
Darcy was an interesting guy who tried to make a living with taking divers, snorklers and fishermen on tours. He also has small cabins for rent. He also set us up to have a fresh lobster meal for a little more than the cost of the lobster at the market. $7.00. His sister-in-law would cook it for us tomorrow as they had to get the food from the lobster sellers. The diving and lobster were our first real "tourist" stuff of the trip as we were really there to make connections and see what the needs were.
We typically ate at places that served typical food. Usually beans, rice and some kind of meat or fish. In latin america this type of meal costs from $2 to $5 dollars and is usually pretty fast and tasty. We found that often we were bombasted by music that caused us to wince and shout. It is humorous to hear so much country-western in such a foreign place. It must be world-wide by now.
Jerry and I had reservations to fly to Greeley from San Jose on the following Tuesday, so we needed to leave the next day, Saturday if we had a hope of making it. The bus from Rama to San Carlos only ran at 4 am and if we didn't get there by then we would have to spend a day in Rama. The whole venture with all of the journey legs costing boat and bus tickets was getting much more expensive than we had anticipated, so we wanted to minimize extra days if possible.
It was apparent when we got out and about on Saturday that the wind had picked up cosiderably. We met again with the 2 pastors in the morning and then went off to our lobster lunch. It was right by the ocean at Darcy's brother's store, next to the dive business. We ate 2 tails apeice and enjoyed it a lot. None of us had ever had fresh lobster before. It actually has flavor. The wind was so brisk though that our rice was being blown off our forks.
Clint had potentially arrainged for us to go by fishing boat directly to Rama later that day. We would be there overnight and able to catch the bus on Sunday. It became obvious that any smaller craft was not a good option. Even if it sailed, who would want to be 40 miles out to sea with white caps breaking everywhere? The other 2 options were flying to the mainland, a 15 minute hop to Bluefields, and taking the Captian D which sailed at midnight and would cost us a day in Rama.
We did decide to fly for $60 each. The flight was scheduled to fly at 3pm which would just let us catch the last river boat to Rama at 4pm. We made our way to the small airport, and lined up. The incoming plane came in almost 30 minutes late making our connection hopes dim, but the airline was extremely no nonsense. Just as soon as the incoming passengers were off, our luggage was on board. We all marched out and barely sat before the plane taxied. I loved it. Despite a few reservations about flying in a small (30 seater) plane in such gusty winds, the flight was very smooth and easy. We jumped into taxis and rushed to the docks. As soon as we could free ouselves of the "helpful" hoarde Clint went to see about the boat. It seemed that the usual river boat had already gone. The hoarde said that we would never get permission to travel that late on another boat. The harbor really controls travel by boat.
Clint came back and said he had found a guy willing to take us. He said he was a good captian and it was a good boat.

view from the balcony of the Sweet Dreams hotel

A general store on Corn Island

The Captain D. A wonderful experience. Note the area on the back deck with the tin roof. It housed most of the passengers in hammocks.

a cabin by a lumber yard

Clint riding the bus which circles the island. Many buses have pretty curtains which go all the way around. A person touch.

These school kids which crowded the bus were laughing and pushing until I turned the camera around. I think it startled them

The Maranatha Church. The pastor talking with Clint and Renee

The church kitchen, the women inside are the bread makers

The inside of the church. It probably seats 100. notice mural, chanendelier and plastic flowers.
The mural suffer damage, not sure if from the hurricaine or other moisture.