Isla Del Maíz (aka Corn Islands)

After 2.5 months of hard graft (relatively speaking) we decided we needed a wee break. Ali, Jo's sister, has been with us for just over a week so it's been full on with the 2 main 2-day hikes, plus a lot of volcano boarding as it's definitely high season, and we are feeling it a bit. More likely we are feeling the after affects of Cormac's (one of the directors who has been here a year) party, complete with a sacrificial pig and more than a drop or two of rum!

We've actually timed it pretty well as we left the day after the party and have 10 days of chillaxing before we get back in time for the next party, which strangely enough is also our leaving party as we only have another week and a half of hiking and there is a bit of a mass exidos with Sam, Max & Alivia all leaving within a week of each other. I do feel sorry for Job, Marielle & Wilfred, as they are the last guides standing as Miguel has also moved on and Dará & Rachel (our house mates) leave only a week or so after us. Fortunately the season will drop off with the school holidays finishing, but the remaining guides will still have their work cut out for them.

Ali's presence was the perfect excuse to get out to the Corn Islands, 2 small dots of land perched far out from the eastern coast of Nicaragua. This place definitely has a very Caribbean feel, with lilted English being the predominant language, albeit interspersed with a smattering of Spanish.

We took a small 16 seater plane out here, a day spent a couple of days exploring Large Corn before jumping in a little lancha and skipping across the waves to Little Corn. A week of bliss followed, with not much going on other than a lot to lazying around on idyllic beaches, scoffing copious amounts of seafood (lobster season has started :), and drinking a way too much cerveza & rom - but then again we are on holiday!

We did a dive, but we have been spoilt by diving in some of the best spots around the world so even an inquisitive nurse shark didn't do it for us. The next day we did a snorkel trip and it blew the dive out of the water (sorry, bad pun). We woke a bunch of dozing sharks grabbing 40 winks on the sandy bottom and saw half a dozen magnificent eagle rays, along with amazing coral and some beautiful fish.

As it lobster season I almost ate my own weight in seafood, but the culinary highlight was a 4 course extravaganza on the other side of the island (a 10 minute walk!). It was so good we visited twice in a row, and on our last night we sampled Rondon, a local delicacy made from coconut milk, lobster, conch, prawns and a whole fish - delicious.

They are such sleepy and friendly little islands, and it was a perfect place to recharge the batteries before the final week of hiking and getting back on the road again. It was bliss to get away from the oppressive heat of León, the hottest city in Nicaragua, possibly Central America, and the gorgeous cooling ocean breezes. Hopefully it won't be long before we are back on the coast again.Read more