Corn Island was the perfect place to end my trip. I spent time relaxing on the beach, diving, and exploring the island. For as beautiful as it was, we were some of the only tourists. The remoteness, the tropical beaches, and getting to spend some time hanging out with my sister made the trip really special; I can�t think of a better way to end it. I am in Managua today then flying to Dallas on Tuesday before going down to Houston on Wednesday. Thanks to everyone who has been following my trip and I hope that you will send me an email or call me sometime once I am back in the states. 

One of the days on Big Corn I went out diving with one of the people from my sister�s group. We took a long boat ride out in a panga to a rock outcropping in the middle of the ocean. The dive was great, we saw sharks, barracuda, rays, eels, and tons of other fish.  

So, flying out the the Corn Islands was an adventure. We took a small plane, a really small plane, from Managua out the the island. As you can see in the picture, I had a nice view of the cockpit and busied myself watching the storm radar. Apparently they were not that concerned with hijackers getting ahold of the plane, presumably because the only building that it could have brought down would be an outhouse. 

Yesterday I met up with my sister who has been working in Nicaragua all summer as a project supervisor for Amigos de las Americas. She and the other supervisors had about 45 high school kids in Granada for their debriefing from the summer. All of the vols go home today and my sister, the other staff, and I are going out the Corn Islands in the Caribbean for a few days before flying home.

I went diving in a freshwater lake that is in the bottom of a volcanic crater outside Granada. The dive was a little different than a normal pleasure dive though because I was helping some researchers to spear fish for a study that they were doing. Apparently the government introduced a fish into the lake and with it a parasite that east the eyes of one particular native species. This made them easier to spear, but it was really sad to see all the blind fish.

So my good luck of accidentally being in a town when they are having a festival continues. Today in Granada I was here for there running of the bulls. Ok, so there were only 5 but when you mix several thousand spectators, a couple hundred cowboys on horseback, lots of firecrackers, absolutely no fences, and 5 scared bulls, and turn them all lose on the central streets of a colonial town it makes for a good time. Oh, and I got to see a police officer tazer a guy who was misbehaving.

While in Granada I took a tour of the small islands near the town that were formed by a volcanic explosion thousands of years ago. We went out in kayaks that our guide had made himself and were mostly stable and leak proof. The trip was great because we got to see all sorts of birds and wildlife, even a rattlesnake.

After Leon I headed down to Granada, the other of Nicaragua´s old Colonial towns. Unlike Leon, Granada is somewhat of a tourist area. The town has a very nice colonial charm to it and is dominated in the background by a large dormant volcano. The central park is great, with a lot of shady trees and great people watching.

I spent my first few days in Nicaragua in Leon, It was a really nice town with what is allegedly the most impressive church in Central America. Now, I have not been everywhere in Central America but I certainly hope it is not the most impressive church. I mean it was nice and was very large inside but lacking in impressiveness. I just thought the blueness of the sky was amazing in this picture.

On to Nicaragua, country # 12

I did my last two dives in Utila Tuesday morning (1 very deep to 150 feet, a PADI no-no but really fun) and then caught the afternoon ferry back to the mainland. After a day an a half of taking: ferry / taxi / bus / taxi / very cheap hotel (similar to prison cell) / taxi / bus / taxi / microbus / taxi, I arrived in Leon, Nicaragua. I am going to spend a few days here and then go down to Granada to meet up with my sister and all of her Amigos.

The place that I stayed was right ont he dock, so I could walk 50 feet in the morning and be on the dive boat. Tha staff at the shop was super friendly and very laid back. Since I had a lot more experience than most of the fun divers there, I hung out with the other divemasters a lot. I also got an offer to come back and work for a couple months sometime but I don�t think that can happen any time in the forseeable future. 

The diving was great on Utila. I spent 5 days and did a total of 15 dives in beautiful water with white-sand beaches. It was super hot and humid there so I spent as much time as possible underwater trying to cool off. I happened to be on the island the weekend that they had their Carnival celebration, so the Saturday night that I was there had a parade and lots of street parties that went late into the night. There are only about 6000 residents on the island and I think every one of them was out that night.