Reservations at the Casa Iguana

One of the things I'm most looking forward to about our trip to Nicaragua is going out to the Corn Islands. The Corn Islands are about 50 or 60 miles off the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, in the Caribbean. The Atlantic Coast is pretty much just jungle, so we'll take a puddle jumper from Managua rather than traveling overland.

The plane might stop in Bluefields, the biggest town on that coast, but will ultimately land on Big Corn Island. Bluefields sounds like an interesting place, but not somewhere I want to hang out for a long time. It's not connected to any highway system, so the main ways to get there are by plane or boat. A couple hundred years ago, it was a major hangout for -- Johnny D., are you reading? -- pirates (there's a place called Pearl Lagoon nearby, which sounds like something straight out of The Pirates of the Caribbean). Historically, the population has been Creole and English speaking. I've read that the area now faces problems with major unemployment, drug trafficking, and the increased presence of stuff like crack, which is why I don't really want to stay there.

Once we deplane at Big Corn, we'll get in a panga (a little motorboat) and cross about ten miles of open ocean to get to Little Corn Island. Check out these photos of the island and the Casa Iguana, where we'll be staying. The photo albums belong to the couple who own and run the Casa Iguana.