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NICARAGUA
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About 70km (43mi) off mainland, both Little Corn Island and Big Corn Island offer the beautiful white sand beaches and clear turquoise waters that people travel from all around the world to visit, with everything except for the crowds and resort-y tourist traps.
I love the chaos of Latin American cities. Traveling up north from the calmer city of Granada I was ready for a change of pace back to that chaos and authenticity like Managua-that is one of my favorite things about León, the authenticity.
When thinking about Nicaragua’s beautiful beach towns , mostly situated on the Pacific coast, most travelers think of the more visited towns down south such as Popoyo or San Juan del Sur. As many travelers pass through León and hit the standard spots before continuing to head north or south, Las Peñitas is not the most talked about or visited spot, even though it should be.
The White Cathedral of León, or the Cathedral Of The Assumption Of Mary (Real E Insigne Basílica De La Asunción De La Bienaventurada Virgen María), is one of the two UNESCO World Heritage sites in Nicaragua, and probably León’s most recognizable pieces of architecture. Built between the years 1747 and 1814, the cathedral still holds the title of the largest in Central America.
With a population of only under 7,800 people on both islands combined, I was the only one on the beaches 99% of the time, with local families occasionally swimming by, and a couple of other backpackers and foreigners wandering around as well. Though the entirety of both island’s coast lines are so beautiful, there are some spots that just stood out.
Approximately 50 mi (70km) off the east coast of mainland Nicaragua sits the Corn Islands, two of the most untouched and underrated Caribbean Islands. As tourism is gradually increasing on the islands, there is a good amount of small family run hotels and guesthouses. During my time spent on both Big Corn and Little Corn I gathered a list of accommodation options to share here.
A (somewhat) calm, oasis on the shores of Lake Nicaragua just outside of the Latin American city chaos of Managua and León, Granada is a place that was totally off my radar, and is now one of my favorite cities. All of the colors of the buildings lining the streets mixed together feel straight out of a postcard. Despite it’s smaller size there is so much to do and see here and lots of nice spots to hit.
Sometimes when I travel, I find myself sometimes stopping in my tracks and asking myself actually what my life is. Standing in the black ash and dust on the top of a volcano overlooking rural Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean in the distance, giant plank of wood in hand about to sled down, I had to stop and really ask myself…what my life is.