Caribbean Country

The title can be read in two ways. First, for our Spring Break I visited the Caribbean part of the country with a group of friends. Second, the people in this part of the Caribbean listen to country music. This made us laugh because you wouldn't really expect it. The Atlantic Coast (Corn Islands) of Nicaragua is so fascinating and different you hardly remember you're still in Nicaragua.

Rachel and I are holding up our tickets to fly. They are so eco-friendly in Nicaragua that they use painted pieces of wood for tickets which they reuse for each flight.

Language: Most of the people here have dark skin and the predominate language is Creole English. I found it very hard to understand, but very fun to listen to. There are about 8,000 people living on the big island and 1,500 on the small island. On a walk we encountered a school and took a peak inside. The sign on the door tells us that classes perhaps are given in English, not sure what they do about spelling tests though. In talking with some people we discovered that classes are given in both English and Spanish.

Food: The famous food of the island is coconut bread. We were amazed how hard it was to find it since it is raved about so much. Many of the other foods are prepared with coconut as well.

Transportation: The flight out there is in a little 12 seater plane. It wasn't so bad getting there but on the way back it was a little rough. Rachel chatted with the pilot while in flight; that's how close you are to him. The ferry to get from island to island is small and lots of people wanted to go. When we arrived the boat was already packed out, but a second one left a few minutes later and we jumped on it. Once again the way there was golden, but the way back was a little choppy. We had a great time holding ourselves down on the big bumps.

A little nervous for our first flight...

Jammed in the ferry like sardines.

Beaches: The best beaches I have ever been to were on Corn Island. Can it get any better than white sand, calm blue water, and palm trees. It was delicious!

The trip was a great ending to a very busy semester. We enjoyed the opportunity to get away from school for a couple days and just relax. Now I feel ready to take on the last 8 weeks of the school year.