deep caribbean
View of the promontory where the guest house Casa Iguana was installed.
dawn in the caribbean
Natives paddle towards a Bluefields dock.
supreme view
Caribbean sea and forest backdrop seen from the highest point of Little Corn.
Rust dips
Big Corn Island natives dive from the top of a stranded boat off Brig Bay.
Caribbean look
Coconut palm highlighted above the Caribbean Sea.
Start
A resident of Bluefields - on the Nicaraguan coast - watches a boat pull away towards the Corn Islands.
Hit
A Big Corn native trains baseball on the turf of the island's main stadium. Baseball is the main sport in Nicaragua.
bathing art
Small abandoned facility with whelks on the pristine sands of Little Corn Island.
snorkeling
Visitors to Little Corn Island explore the deep coral sea off the island.
little corn herb
Tropical meadow inland on Little Corn Island.
Bonanza side
The bay that is home to the only village on Little Corn Island.
bathing art
Couple walks past a log construction on Little Corn's idyllic coastline.
Tropical Collection
Resident picks coconuts on a quiet beach on Little Corn Island.
Creole Volleyball
Natives play volleyball, in a game that had ice cream in plastic bags as a prize.
Perfect tropical settings and genuine local life are the only luxuries available in the so-called Corn Islands or Corn Islands, an archipelago lost in the Central American confines of the Caribbean Sea.

Taking a bus from a terminal in Managua is not an experience where you take lightly.

The city breathes an atmosphere of latent hostility.

The grids containing stores, housing and security guards armed with shotguns are intimidating.

Our passage through the capital was thus confirmed in a hurry as we had foreseen. There followed a journey as uncomfortable as it was enigmatic through the interior of the country, along muddy dirt roads, rivers hidden by jungle and fog.

We arrive at Bluefields, already on the Atlantic coast, at the end of the day.

With time to feel, in the streets and in one or another bar, its Caribbean garifuna and reggae pulse, heavy and arrhythmic due to cocaine traffic "white lobster” that gripped the village a long time ago.

Bluefield, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

A resident of Bluefields – on the Nicaraguan coast – watches a boat pull away towards the Corn Islands.

Sunday and Morning Arrival at Big Corn Island

Early the next morning, we flew 60 km over the Caribbean Sea and the two Corn Islands, before landing on the biggest, Big Corn.

We settled in Casa Blanca, a small guest houses family operating in a green and yellow wooden house, aged, worn like almost all around.

With no time to waste, we cool off in the crystal-clear sea on the beach in front. Then, we set out to discover, in two old rented pastries.

snorkeling, corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

Visitors to Little Corn Island explore the deep coral sea off the island.

The trails run past closely spaced clusters of spartan dwellings that tropical storms and cyclones often toss around.

As did Joan in 1988, which cut down most of the coconut trees and the island's vital copra production, leaving it dependent on fishing and negligible tourism.

It's Sunday. We come across picturesque families in full costume on their way to their favorite churches. As in other parts of Nicaragua and the Caribbean, religion supports community. at the same time, it divides it among the various branches that have been installed.

From the crowd that heads to her temple, the Adventist woman seems to have won over most of the faithful. Even less frequented, the Anglicans and the Baptists, do their best in their ceremonies, here and there, performed in the style of a musical gospel.

The natives who did not adhere to any of the faiths, stayed in the houses and small adjacent gardens.

Let yourself be lulled by the Caribbean rhythms that arrive in short wave from the other side of the sea.

Ferrugento boat, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

Big Corn Island natives dive from the top of a stranded boat off Brig Bay.

Meanwhile, they check out the long cooking of yet another lunch of rice and beans, perhaps enriched with some fried fish.

The History and Ethnic Adventure of the Corn Islands/Islas del Maiz

The population of almost seven thousand inhabitants of the Corn Islands / Islas del Maiz was predominantly Creole. Formed by a mixture of indigenous blood with African slaves brought from other parts of the Caribbean, such as Jamaica.

The British colonized the Corn Islands until 1894.

In recent times, the ethnic landscape of the Corn Islands has become more complex.

The islands attracted Hispanic Nicaraguans from the mainland and Miskitos (from Costa dos Mosquitos), both responsible for Castilian being about to overtake English Creole as the most spoken language.

The Miskitos proved themselves to be an unlikely genetic combination.

Several historians attest that it was generated by the maritime indifference of a Portuguese.

Baseball, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

A Big Corn native trains baseball on the turf of the island's main stadium. Baseball is the main sport in Nicaragua.

The Revolt on the Ship of Lourenço Gramalxo that Africanized the Costa dos Mosquitos

Lourenço Gramalxo he was a captain of a slave boat that transported slaves from Samba Island, off the SenegalWith the Brazil as a likely destination.

During the transatlantic journey, the slaves seized your ship.

Without any navigation knowledge, they didn't prevent it from sinking in the Cayos Miskitos area. In a first phase, they were imprisoned.

Later adopted by the Tawira people who accepted unions of Africans with women of their tribe and their children as free members.

We appreciate the intrusion of Hispanics and Natives Miskitos in the Corn Islands at the bars on Main Street and the Picnic Center beach.

There, the reggae and Calypso and national beers, Toña and Vitória liven up the atmosphere and lead to the easy conversations of Latin Americans.

Trunks, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

Couple walks past a log construction on Little Corn's idyllic coastline.

Gifted by the weather calm, the days succeed one another, glorious, under an always blue sky, caressed by a breeze that softens the tropical heat.

A few clouds venture into the sunset.

The rain that irrigates the island's tropical vegetation only falls at night, in fulminating squalls that cleanse the impending morning atmosphere.

Coconut Bay, Corn Islands, Pure Caribbean, Nicaragua

Coconut palm highlighted above the Caribbean Sea.

Sailing Time from Big Corn to Little Corn Island

After three days of Big Corn Island, we moved from speedboat to the miniature sister, Little Corn Island. The Pequeña Isla del Maíz, as mainland Nicaraguans prefer to treat it.

We quickly understand that it's much more than size that distinguishes Big from Little Corn. The first houses the archipelago's cultural soul and headquarters.

Little, on the other hand, remains on the fringe of events, in a tropical retreat that only its XNUMX inhabitants and a few dozen visitors a day, in high season, are privileged to enjoy.

Shortly after settling in, we took the trail that skirts the island. We discovered the variants of its coast, slightly urbanized on the west coast, protected from the wind and surf.

West Bay, Corn Islands, Pure Caribbean, Nicaragua

The bay that is home to the only village on Little Corn Island.

Almost divinely wild on the opposite side, where the sea is broken by an extension of the second largest barrier of coral of the world. There, it assumes a strange streaked pattern of blues and greens that extends to the white sand and almost touches the line of coconut trees that shade it.

Along this trail and others that branch from it, we come across natives. We greet them with a conventional “Hi” or “Hello”. But, whatever we say, the greeting we get from them is always “OK”.

After some time without understanding the logic, we confirmed with one of the passers-by the explanation for the phenomenon that we had arrived at in the meantime.

The island is so small and has so few trails that its 600 inhabitants end up crossing them several times a day.

In order to avoid the discomfort and boredom of the constant repetition of greetings, they simplified the approaches to the extreme of omitting the question and exchanging only the most basic of answers, “OK”.

The Perfect Panorama From Casa Iguana

A steep slope takes us to the property of Casa Iguana, a guest houses with an almost zero ecological impact that has been installed on a high ledge on the coast and has the best view of the island.

View of Casa Iguana, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

View of the promontory where the guest house Casa Iguana was installed.

"It's something really special, isn't it?" asks us Jeff, a kind of partner-overseer of the place who has moved from vast, frigid Canada to enjoy, for a while, the beauty and cozy warmth of that setting.

“I even get goosebumps when I come back here.”, he confesses to us. And it continues to contemplate the verdant forest of the interior, the curved coastline outlined by the sand and the blue Caribbean that meets it.

The sun falls over the horizon. Without any source of light, we worried about getting back to the west coast before the dark hid our paths.

Prado, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

Tropical meadow inland on Little Corn Island.

We follow a shortcut marked on the “official” sketch of the island. In an area almost at the top of the island, we come across an enigmatic yellowish meadow.

Beach Volleyball and Fresh Coconut Water

In the village, we stopped to watch the end of a home volleyball tournament on the sand. Adolescents and seasoned men dispute it.

Volley, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

Natives play volleyball, in a game that had ice cream in plastic bags as a prize.

Between headlines and effortless shots, they shout, argue and curse in both Castilian and piracy English, almost incomprehensible on the island.

Five hundred meters to the side, in a minimally planted beachfront bar, a group of Scandinavian visitors delights in drinking coconut water.

Coconut palm, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua

Resident picks coconuts on a quiet beach on Little Corn Island.

Esteban, the Hispanic owner, barman resident harvests them from a coconut tree in his backyard with the meticulous help of a machete and his wife. We join the conviviality.

We admire the simplicity of your business. We compare it to the frenzy of European daily life and praise the lazy life of those almost unknown Caribbean.

Amberris Caye, Belize

Belize's Playground

Madonna sang it as La Isla Bonita and reinforced the motto. Today, neither hurricanes nor political strife discourage VIP and wealthy vacationers from enjoying this tropical getaway.

south of Belize

The Strange Life in the Black Caribbean Sun

On the way to Guatemala, we see how the proscribed existence of the Garifuna people, descendants of African slaves and Arawak Indians, contrasts with that of several much more airy bathing areas.

Lake Cocibolca, Nicaragua

sea, sweet sea

Indigenous Nicaraguans treated the largest lake in Central America as Cocibolca. On the volcanic island of Ometepe, we realized why the term the Spaniards converted to Mar Dulce made perfect sense.

Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica

Traveling through Central America, we explore a Costa Rican coastline as much as the Caribbean. In Cahuita, Pura Vida is inspired by an eccentric faith in Jah and a maddening devotion to cannabis.
Morro de São Paulo, Brazil

A Divine Seaside of Bahia

Three decades ago, it was just a remote and humble fishing village. Until some post-hippie communities revealed the Morro's retreat to the world and promoted it to a kind of bathing sanctuary.
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

The Desired City

Many treasures passed through Cartagena before being handed over to the Spanish Crown - more so than the pirates who tried to plunder them. Today, the walls protect a majestic city always ready to "rumbear".
Henri Pittier NP, Venezuela

PN Henri Pittier: between the Caribbean Sea and the Cordillera da Costa

In 1917, botanist Henri Pittier became fond of the jungle of Venezuela's sea mountains. Visitors to the national park that this Swiss created there are, today, more than they ever wanted
Margarita Island ao Mochima NP, Venezuela

Margarita Island to Mochima National Park: a very Caribbean Caribe

The exploration of the Venezuelan coast justifies a wild nautical party. But, these stops also reveal life in cactus forests and waters as green as the tropical jungle of Mochima.
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
A campfire lights up and warms the night, next to Reilly's Rock Hilltop Lodge,
safari
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, eSwatini

The Fire That Revived eSwatini's Wildlife

By the middle of the last century, overhunting was wiping out much of the kingdom of Swaziland’s wildlife. Ted Reilly, the son of the pioneer settler who owned Mlilwane, took action. In 1961, he created the first protected area of ​​the Big Game Parks he later founded. He also preserved the Swazi term for the small fires that lightning has long caused.
Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 4th – Upper Banana to Ngawal, Nepal

From Nightmare to Dazzle

Unbeknownst to us, we are faced with an ascent that leads us to despair. We pulled our strength as far as possible and reached Ghyaru where we felt closer than ever to the Annapurnas. The rest of the way to Ngawal felt like a kind of extension of the reward.
Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,
Architecture & Design
Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities

Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Aventura
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
Australia Day, Perth, Australian Flag
Ceremonies and Festivities
Perth, Australia

Australia Day: In Honor of the Foundation, Mourning for Invasion

26/1 is a controversial date in Australia. While British settlers celebrate it with barbecues and lots of beer, Aborigines celebrate the fact that they haven't been completely wiped out.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Cities
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo, Japan
Lunch time
Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness

In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.
Horseback riding in shades of gold
Culture
El Calafate, Argentina

The New Gauchos of Patagonia

Around El Calafate, instead of the usual shepherds on horseback, we come across gauchos equestrian breeders and others who exhibit, to the delight of visitors, the traditional life of the golden pampas.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
cheap flights, buy cheap flights, cheap airline tickets,
Traveling
Travel does not cost

Buy Flights Before Prices Take Off

Getting cheap flights has become almost a science. Stay on top of the basics why the airline fares market governs and avoid the financial discomfort of buying at a bad time.
Creel, Chihuahua, Carlos Venzor, collector, museum
Ethnic
Chihuahua a Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico

On Creel's Way

With Chihuahua behind, we point to the southwest and to even higher lands in the north of Mexico. Next to Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, we visited a Mennonite elder. Around Creel, we lived for the first time with the Rarámuri indigenous community of the Serra de Tarahumara.
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

life outside

Dominica, Soufriére and Scotts Head, island background
History
Soufriere e Scotts Head, Dominica

The Life That Hangs from Nature's Caribbean Island

It has the reputation of being the wildest island in the Caribbean and, having reached its bottom, we continue to confirm it. From Soufriére to the inhabited southern edge of Scotts Head, Dominica remains extreme and difficult to tame.
Network launch, Ouvéa Island-Lealdade Islands, New Caledonia
Islands
Ouvéa, New Caledonia

Between Loyalty and Freedom

New Caledonia has always questioned integration into faraway France. On the island of Ouvéa, Loyalty Archipelago, we find an history of resistance but also natives who prefer French-speaking citizenship and privileges.
ala juumajarvi lake, oulanka national park, finland
Winter White
Kuusamo ao PN Oulanka, Finland

Under the Arctic's Icy Spell

We are at 66º North and at the gates of Lapland. In these parts, the white landscape belongs to everyone and to no one like the snow-covered trees, the atrocious cold and the endless night.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
travelers contemplate, monte fitz roy, argentina
Nature
El Chalten, Argentina

The Granite Appeal of Patagonia

Two stone mountains have created a border dispute between Argentina and Chile. But these countries are not the only suitors. The Fitz Roy and Torre hills have long attracted die-hard climbers
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Praslin Island, Cocos from the Sea, Seychelles, Eden Cove
Natural Parks

Praslin, Seychelles

 

The Eden of the Enigmatic Coco-de-Mer

For centuries, Arab and European sailors believed that the largest seed in the world, which they found on the coasts of the Indian Ocean in the shape of a woman's voluptuous hips, came from a mythical tree at the bottom of the oceans. The sensual island that always generated them left us ecstatic.
Couple talking above the surf line on the Pacific Ocean side
UNESCO World Heritage
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

The Mexican Finisterre Outlined by Hernán Cortés

It is near the arch of Cabo San Lucas that the long and eccentric peninsula of Baja California opens out into the Pacific Ocean. In 1535, Cortés explored the region and discovered that it was not an island, as had been indicated by navigators he had sent earlier. From 1920 onwards, American interest and investment made it one of Mexico's most revered beach resorts.
aggie gray, Samoa, South Pacific, Marlon Brando Fale
Characters
Apia, Western Samoa

The Host of the South Pacific

She sold burguês to GI's in World War II and opened a hotel that hosted Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper. Aggie Gray passed away in 2. Her legacy lives on in the South Pacific.
Vietnamese queue
Beaches

Nha Trang-Doc Let, Vietnam

The Salt of the Vietnamese Land

In search of attractive coastlines in old Indochina, we become disillusioned with the roughness of Nha Trang's bathing area. And it is in the feminine and exotic work of the Hon Khoi salt flats that we find a more pleasant Vietnam.

Rostov Veliky Kremlin, Russia
Religion
Rostov Veliky, Russia

Under the Domes of the Russian Soul

It is one of the oldest and most important medieval cities, founded during the still pagan origins of the nation of the tsars. At the end of the XNUMXth century, incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Moscow, it became an imposing center of orthodox religiosity. Today, only the splendor of kremlin Muscovite trumps the citadel of tranquil and picturesque Rostov Veliky.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Vegetables, Little India, Sari Singapore, Singapore
Society
Little India, Singapore

The Sari Singapore of Little India

There are thousands of inhabitants instead of the 1.3 billion of the mother country, but Little India, a neighborhood in tiny Singapore, does not lack soul. No soul, no smell of Bollywood curry and music.
the projectionist
Daily life
Sainte-Luce, Martinique

The Nostalgic Projectionist

From 1954 to 1983, Gérard Pierre screened many of the famous films arriving in Martinique. 30 years after the closing of the room in which he worked, it was still difficult for this nostalgic native to change his reel.
Newborn turtle, PN Tortuguero, Costa Rica
Wildlife
Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

A Night at the Nursery of Tortuguero

The name of the Tortuguero region has an obvious and ancient reason. Turtles from the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea have long flocked to the black sand beaches of its narrow coastline to spawn. On one of the nights we spent in Tortuguero we watched their frenzied births.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.