But what if I get sick?

I mentioned in a previous post that I was overly worried about getting sick on my trip to Nicaragua when I first came down. Today I'm going to go a bit more into detail about what I've learned and actually some fairly useful information I didn't know about the medical system in Nicaragua.

Ironically, as I write this I am in fact rather sick. No, not Malaria... nor dengue... nope not Zika. No there is not a gigantic worm crawling out of my eye socket.... I have a cold. Yesterday I went to a "Farmacia" and spent about $1 on some kind of cold pills recommended by the employee there and I'm feeling a lot better now. Pharmacies in Nicaragua are very common and easy to find, even in the smallest communities. Furthermore they are very inexpensive. They sell the same medications you are used to, even the same brand names at a fraction of the cost you would pay in north america. The medicines they sell you are just as strong, they are not different. Some of the local brand names are in fact more effective.

Now, lets say its something more serious and you need to see a doctor. Being from Canada I'm really not used to the Idea of paying for medical services, but I understand that in the US the thinking is that "you get what you pay for" in terms of medical treatment. Nicaragua has both private and public health services. There are private doctors, hospitals, and clinics that charge a wide range of prices for their services. There are also public clinics and hospitals which are a bit more commonplace. The public health services in Nicaragua are 100% free, sometimes including the medications they prescribe you. This includes foreigners. On my first trip I spent a ton of money on health insurance only to find out the doctors here are free, no one told me that. You as a foreigner can in fact come to Nicaragua, walk into the health center and be treated without paying a single Cordoba and no one will look at you funny (However you do need to speak Spanish or bring an interpreter).

Many people coming from countries where it is necessary to pay for medical treatment tend to feel that paying more will result in a better treatment. Now, its not my place to make medical decisions for people, that is up to you. But from my experience and those of friends and family, the idea that "you get what you pay for" does not apply in Nicaragua. Many private doctors have a bad reputation here in Nicaragua, and some of the most expensive and prestigious private hospitals have a long track record of botched operations. The doctors in the public health centers are often more experienced, as they deal with anyone and everyone that comes to them. The clients of the private doctors are almost exclusively wealthy tourists that come to them once in a blue moon. Another myth is that the public health centers are "filthy" and "disgusting". This might be true of one or two hospitals but they are the exception not the rule. Most are clean, efficient, and well equipped.

I also was quite worried about getting all the "injections" that I needed before coming to Nicaragua. I thought that I had to have certain vaccinations or I wouldn't be allowed off the plane when I arrived, and as such had a printout of my vaccination history. This wasn't true... and honestly I wasted a lot of time worrying about taking care of medical things before leaving for Nicaragua. I also had that mistaken attitude that Nicaraguan doctors were somehow inferior and couldn't help me if I got sick down here. In reality, Nicaraguan doctors know a lot about Nicaraguan illnesses. In my opinion, one is better off to wait until they are here and ask a local if they have some health problems. An illness that is common and easily treated in Nicaragua might be unheard of and have no treatment available in Canada or the US. Parasites for example are super easy to take care of in Nicaragua. The pills are available everywhere and they are dirt cheap, and they do work.

These are just my opinions, your decisions about health matters should not be based on the ideas of any one person, but hopefully this information will help anyone coming down here to make an informed decision about what kind of medical care to choose, and maybe address some fears that people may have before making a trip. Good health to you!

Volcano Boarding, Finally!

When I first was planning to come down to Nicaragua, one of the things I saw on the Internet and really wanted to do was Volcano Boarding. And recently, I finally had the opportunity to do it!

Now, what comes to your mind when you hear the words "Volcano boarding"? What you imagine is, unfortunately, probably a lot more awesome than it really is. No, I was not riding down a glowing red lava river on a snowboard. That would be neat though. Actually, volcano boarding is riding a wooden sled down the slope of an active volcano, but not on lava. It has to be the type of volcano that spews ash. When you have this kind of volcano, on the down-wind side the soft black ash collects and reaches a near snow-like consistency, allowing one to slide down the slope as if tobogganing.

To do the trip we left Jinotepe in the morning, a long with a group friends and family including Jean's younger brother and his girlfriend visiting from Australia. We took the bus to Managua, and then another to Leon. From Leon we met up in the office of the tour business, which also offered tours of the rum factory near by in Chinandega... That may have to be on our next trip. They took us by bus down a dusty road, which eventually became completely black as we got closer to the volcano. The ash from the same Cerro Negro volcano had blanketed the entire landscape in soft, black ash.

We got to another small office at the base of the volcano, and were able to see on the horizon a string of active volcanoes that reach from the northern parts of Nicaragua, all the way to Ometepe Island. They told us that all of these volcanoes are active and are connected to each other. Cerro Negro stands out because it is completely black, covered from top to bottom by ash and stands about 600 meters high.

We were each given a bag, containing a denim jump suit for protection, a pair of gloves, and a pair of safety goggles. We were also given a board. What I didn't know, is that we had to carry all that all the way up to the top of the 600 meter high volcano. And there was no "path", we had to hike it over the rocks at a 45 degree angle, some times steeper. The hike was completely exhausting. You cannot do this tour if you are not in very good shape. If you have heart problems or asthma or any kind of disability, don't do this. I'm 26 and felt like I would die by the time I got to the top.

That being said, the view was worth it. At the top you are walking along the ridge of the crater of an active volcano, on your left is a steep drop to the bottom of a huge mountain, and on the right a smoldering pit of steam and sulfur. (Insert obligatory ash-hole joke) Its so high up that you can see the ocean on one side, and the rest of the country on the other side. This is a moment few people get to experience in their life, so its totally worth it, even if you can't work up the nerve to slide down. When you're on the down-wind side of the crater you can smell the volcano, which smells quite similar to spent matches. Inside the crater there are many different colors of rock, mostly black, red, and yellow. There is also a rather ominous bulge in the center, but hopefully some volcanologists are on top of that already.

Volcanic Ridge

The Crater

Before we slid down we walked around to a secondary crater, where we could see steam coming out of the ground, and if we dug a small hole with our shoes in the gravel, we could put our hands on the ground and feel the warmth and moisture coming through. The deeper one dug the hotter it would get, to the point that the moisture would boil and create steam, just from digging a few inches.

The Rim

Then came the time to slide down. I was really scared actually. The further up you go, the less you want to slide down, but there's no turning back as the side you climb up is too rocky and treacherous to try and climb back down. The only safe way to get back down is to slide. We got to the "track" where we were supposed to slide and I thought "this has to be a joke" the angle is easily more than 45 degrees and back in Canada no sane person would sled down a hill like that. I also thought that you only slide part way, but no. You slide from the top to the VERY BOTTOM OF THE ENTIRE MOUNTAIN.

Well, despite extreme terror and seriously regretting coming this far I slid down. And actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought. There is a lot more friction than there is when sliding on snow so you don't actually go that fast, and you do have control because you dig your feet into the ash to steer and control your speed. I was actually overly cautious and went a bit slower than necessary. I'll definitely be doing this again but next time I won't brake so much so that I can get some speed.

Looking back

Its now coming close to 5 years since I first came to Nicaragua. I've since then learned a language, a new culture, and gotten married. Needless to say my view of things is not the same as what it was before. Its been more than two continuous years since I last set foot in Canada. Now the idea of going back there seems more challenging than staying here. Visa runs are now nothing more than a minor inconvenience and before long they will be a thing of the past as I will soon qualify for permanent residency. Thankfully I was also able to find work online. I have to get up quite early in the morning and it took quite a long time desperately searching before I found this one, but now our situation is significantly more stable. Honestly I don't think our financial situation would be any better off in Canada considering how much higher expenses are there.

In this post I'm going to outline some things I've learned, in contrast with some things I thought before. Some attitudes that I've personally had to change and some that I've observed as well. First of all, in terms of safety Nicaragua is not as dangerous as I thought. On my first trip down I was terrified. I was sure that death was waiting around every corner, partly because of things I had been told and partly because of the attitude I had towards "third world" countries. In North America we are taught to be "thankful for what we have" because in other countries people are poor and suffering. When you get older you learn labels like "First world" and "third world". These phrases actually have nothing to do with economics in reality. They originated during the cold war, "first world" countries being those aligned with the United States, i.e. Canada, European countries, etc. "Second world" countries referred to those aligned with the Soviet Union and having a communist ideology, such as China and Cuba. Third world countries were those that did not have ties to any of the aforementioned countries. Most of Africa is considered third world since they were not involved. This means that in reality, Nicaragua is a second world country.

This thinking leads one to imagine that everything is better in one's country compared to the lives of those in these "poor" countries. This also leads unfortunately to a feeling of superiority that I have to admit I had at the beginning. I used to think that because Nicaragua and other "poor countries" are so "bad" that they must be doing everything wrong, and that we do things better in Canada. I've come to realize that people are happier here, and although there are a lot of social and economic problems, we have other issues up north too. Political stability in Satan's world is of course an illusion, so the risk of "something happening" and having to flee the country is quite real in whatever country you live in. To think otherwise is simply being naive.

I was also unnecessarily afraid of disease. Things are not any less clean here, and infectious diseases are no less of a threat in Canada than they are here. Most of the "horrible tropical diseases" are easily treated with very cheap, common medicines that you can buy on any street corner. As for parasites, I thought if I got "a parasite" it would surely take me to my death bed. But guess what, according to some sources 85% of the world's population has parasites, plural. Parasites are everywhere and mostly inconsequential. You get sick when they get out of control. Canada, United States, Europe... these places also do in fact have parasites. If you eat food, you probably have them already.

Some things are different that may be a shock when you first get here, but after a while you realize that those things were not so important. For example houses here rarely have screens in the windows, or ceilings. But most of the country is nearly bug free compared to Alberta in the summer time. In places with more bugs, its too hot in the day for them to come out so you only see mosquitoes at night, and in those places people use mosquito nets. Even in those places Malaria is rare and something that people get once or twice in a lifetime if at all. And contrary to what one doctor in Canada told me, if you get malaria you won't be a vegetable for the rest of your life. Its a bad case of aches and fever.

When we look at the houses people live in here, people from North America may be inclined to think "oh no, poor people look what they have to live in". But a lot of times the houses here are basic small simply because of the Nicaraguan culture, their viewpoint that its generally bad to over complicate things. People here LIKE things basic. They LIKE living in the bush and seeing nature all around them. They don't WANT to look after a huge mansion when they spend most of their time in one or two rooms. When Nicaraguans have money, they would rather spend it on fancy food and well aged rum than putting in a swimming pool.

Food is different, obviously. A lot of things aren't so available here, like cheddar cheese for example. But thats again simply because different cultures eat different foods. There are some very nice, well stocked grocery stores here. When I first came down, we had been told that if we lived in Bluefields we would have to travel two hours in a boat to go to the city and buy food. I don't know why they thought that, Bluefields has everything. Street food is also quite often safe to eat, especially if its fried. And if you do eat something thats not ok (which also happens in Canada) it just sends you to the bathroom, not to the morgue.

In this time, I've really come to feel at home here in Nicaragua, and gradually I'm starting to feel like I have more in common with the locals than those back in Canada. We're also very happy to have some of my family here. After a lot of hard work convincing them my sister and her husband, and two children have permanently relocated to Nicaragua and I'm actually posting this from their house. You can see my sister's blog about their experiences http://nicalola.blogspot.com/

Hurricane Otto

A few weeks ago Nicaragua was struck by a Hurricane. Having just relocated inland we were not in danger, however many of our friends and family were still on the coast and were getting ready for the storm. I've never been in any kind of natural disaster in my life, so I really didn't know what to expect. As the storm was coming closer information was a bit sketchy. We kept hearing about it on Instagram but as far as local news was concerned nothing was going on.

As it got closer however the media started paying attention. The storm was downgraded to a tropical storm, but then back up to a category three hurricane shortly before making landfall. Our friends on Corn Island were the most concerned, boarding up the windows on the kingdom hall and taking down trees to avoid them falling on houses. Thankfully however the storm took a turn to the south and missed the Islands for the most part. As the storm hit Bluefields we were watching live coverage on TV, when the speaker said "wait... everything is shaking!" a few seconds later we felt it too. As if a hurricane wasn't enough an earthquake hit at the same moment! The table and standing fan in our kitchen started rocking back and forth. Another first for me, I didn't realize it was an earthquake until it had long passed. The shaking barely lasted a second so it was over before we knew what was going on. No damage thankfully, although it turned out to be a 7.2 off the coast of El Salvador.

But it gets better. I was talking to my parents online and telling them about everything as it happened, and my dad thinking it was comical that we had two disasters at once said "You should throw in a Tsunami just for good measure". Literally seconds later the news announced that a tsunami wave would hit the pacific coast of Nicaragua in 30 minutes.

By the end of it all, the damage was very little. The Tsunami did hit the pacific coast, but I guess it didn't have time to gather strength so all that happened is some beaches were a little washed out. The immediate area along the coast was evacuated however. As for us up here in Jinotepe, it had very little effect. We didn't even get rain actually, but it made for an exciting week.

Corn Island Travel Blog

One of the things that Jean and I tried to do in order to make a living back on Corn Island was help plan people's vacations. We had a service of booking hotels for people and recommending good and safe places to stay and where to eat. Many awesome hotels and restaurants don't have websites and are not listed on tourist maps so one can miss out a lot without some insider information. As well, some of the "best" hotels and restaurants online have long since gone out of business or are run down and don't offer many of the services they claim.

Well, since we obviously can't do this anymore even though it was doing alright and we made some great friends in the process... I've decided just to share our information publicly. Below are some of the custom maps we made for our clients. You may notice the Little Corn map is a bit lacking but that's because we didn't have any clients who went to little corn yet. You may also notice a recommendation to steer clear of a few places. I have nothing against these places, and perhaps you may like them yourself, its just that having been there in person and seeing what they have to offer, and more importantly what their competition has to offer I did not feel their prices were justifiable.

Big Corn

Little Corn

Here's some good hotels on Big Corn:

Treehouse - Private cabins on long bay, absolutely amazing. Hot water, kitchen, wifi (thats hard to get on Corn Island by the way) and great service. Around $50 per night

Picnic Center - Best beach on the Island, possibly best beach in Nicaragua. Rooms around $40 per night. AC, hot water, stylish.

Hotel Morgan - prices ranging from $20 to $40. Very nice location, breezy. Good looking rooms with AC. Restaurant has good food for good prices with big portion sizes.

Alal Suite - Upstairs rooms have an amazing view of the ocean and all day breeze. AC not necessary. $25 per night

Some places to avoid:

Arenas beach - Looks pretty fancy. They have gazebos on the beach which are nice. We wanted to go there one day and they wanted to charge us $20 per person (5 of us) to sit in the gazebo. We asked the people next to us what they paid (they were Nicaraguan) and they said $10 for their entire group, which was 5 or 6 people. We asked to speak to someone inside and they simply said "The price changed, sorry". On top of that everything is 2x the price of Picnic center which is literally right next to the place. That being said its really a nice looking place if you're OK with being lied to about the prices and taken advantage of for being a gringo.

Paraiso - Used to be a very nice place, unfortunately it hasn't been maintained and has become quite run down. Some friends stayed there recently and left after the first night because of the poor conditions of the room. A lot of the services they offered online weren't there (like hot water).

Little Corn hotels:

Mostly, just wanted to add one we recently discovered while staying for a wedding on Little Corn. the aptly named "Grace's cool spot" which located right where "elsa's" is on the map above. $10 a night for a simple room, $20 for a private cabin. Probably one of the coolest places I've ever stayed in. All the cabins are actually on the sand, on the breezy side of the island, with the waves splashing just a few steps from your cabin's door. One of not so many hotels on little corn owned and run by local islanders.

As for the ones listed as overpriced, its just that. Too darn expensive. Yemaya for example is supposed to be a "resort" for $300-500 per night. I've been to resorts in Mexico. Yemaya is not a resort. It is a hotel. They also offer a private boat to pick you up from Big Corn, but if I were you I'd stick with the panga. Yemaya's boat is tiny.

Speaking of boats, if you're thinking of going to Corn Island, here is a video tour we made of the largest of the passenger boats that takes you from Bluefields to Big Corn. In this video we are on our way to Rama from Corn Island.

Atlantic and Pacific

Its often said that there are two sides of Nicaragua. The yearbook even called the Atlantic coast "The Other Nicaragua" highlighting the vast cultural differences between the two sides of the country. Having lived in both sides now we have experienced this first hand and can really confirm that it is true. The east side of Nicaragua, divided into two departments: Region Autonomio Costa Caribe Norte, or "R.A.C.C.N." and Region Autonomio Costa Caribe Sur, or "R.A.C.C.S." These when translated basically mean "North carribbean coast autonomous region" and likewise as the south. Many maps still show the old name of these departments: RAAN and RAAS, however this was recently changed likely due to RAAS being uncomfortably close to a curse word in the local Creole language.

Many people in the Atlantic regions still speak Spanish, however many do not speak it as their first language. Some speak either Creole which is a dialect of English, or Miskito which is an indigenous language of its own. Economically the Atlantic coast is far behind the Pacific. Many in the Pacific believe that people from the Atlantic coast are wealthy because the cost of living is higher, but the opposite is true, wages are generally lower while cost of living is higher. Having just moved to Jinotepe, Carazo we have found that prices of everyday household items like soap, as well as food are generally twice as expensive on the Atlantic coast, becoming more expensive the further east you go. Corn Island and Pearl Lagoon being the most expensive. This seems to be in part due to the lack of transportation. The highway stops at Rama, and any travel beyond there must be done by boat, or if you're brave by dirt (mud) roads. Another reason for the prices likely is the lack of competition, there are very few shops and no supermarkets besides the ones in Rama and Bluefields, so if someone is selling anything from the pacific they can charge any price they want even for basic necessities.

On the Pacific side of Nicaragua, first of all there's a lot more people. According to some sources 5% of the population lives in the two Atlantic Regions, and 95% in the Pacific. The Pacific is divided into many departments, all of which I have yet to memorize. We live in Carazo, other well known departments are Rivas, Granada, Masaya... names you have likely heard of. There is more business over here and many cities as well. Cost of living over here is generally 50% of what it is on the Atlantic side, although tourist areas may cost many times more. We pay a little bit more for rent over here, but that comes with conveniences that are hard to get in the Atlantic, such as wifi and hot water. We can even drink from the tap in Jinotepe, something we wouldn't even dream of doing in Pearl Lagoon.

Grocery store in Jinotepe

Tourism has a much bigger impact on the Pacific side as well. On Corn Island (RACCS) tourism is only beginning, and any tourists found in Pearl Lagoon are either hard-core adventurers or hopelessly lost. San Juan Del Sur on the other hand, in the Rivas department of the pacific has a lot more in common with tourist hotspots like Cancun or Hawaii. many things are priced according to "If you have to ask, you can't afford it". Rental apartments or houses in SJDS are rare, as most opt to rent on a per-night basis and are unlikely to agree to long term. Other communities away from the beach are quite different however and rent can be very cheap. Although the Pacific coast may be more popular with tourists, the Atlantic has natural beauty that is beyond compare, just lacking in accessibility.

Sunset in San Juan Del Sur

Crystal clear water of Corn Island

Architecture on the Pacific side resembles the rest of Latin America. Cities are made up of blocks laid out on a grid, and the buildings in each block are built with their exterior wall immediately on the sidewalk, and their interior walls connected to each other, making the entire block resemble one large building.

San Marcos

In the Atlantic however, houses are well spaced out and disconnected from each other. In fact, in smaller communities the houses may not even be built near a street, but rather be behind another house or simply standing on its own.

Haulover

These are just a few of my observations, but it really feels like two countries in one, and if you spend any time in Nicaragua its definitely worth going to the other side to get the full experience.

Making the move

So having decided to make the move, our first step was to find a place to rent in Jinotepe. This was easier than expected, thanks to some very helpful friends that we met at a circuit assembly who are now our neighbors.

But first, we had to get there. We sold many of the things we had in the apartment so as to be saved the trouble of moving them across the country. Thankfully a couple was moving to Corn Island shortly after we planned to leave, and wanted an apartment in our building. This made things very easy, we just arranged with the landlord that we would give them the key and they would buy our appliances and many of our household items. That got us down to a few suitcases full of items, mostly clothes and some dishes. We didn't have quite enough suitcases, so we bought some cheap 20 cordoba plastic bags known as "Quintaleras" and put them inside sacks commonly used for rice or sugar to make durable water-tight bags to carry our clothes in.

On the day of the move we loaded everything into one taxi, and rode with it down to the main wharf. We had planned to take the Captain D which is the largest of the cargo ships that head to the mainland, but for whatever reason it was a no-show. So we went the next morning on the Island Express, our second favorite... but after getting all our bags on board we found out that it was only going as far as Bluefields, and we wanted to get as far as possible so as to save trouble. So we unloaded all the suitcases from the boat and carried them over to the next boat, the Isleño, our least favorite and also the smelliest of the cargo ships. In any case we left around 11:00 AM on Sunday, and bypassing Bluefields we made it to Rama by midnight. This was now the most difficult stage of the move, we decided to stay in a hotel (we found a rather nice one in Rama for 350 cordobas). We had to carry all of our bags from the wharf, two blocks down to the hotel, and because it was late there were no taxis around. Jean waited with the bags by the ship while I carried them one or two at a time, taking about 4 trips in all. Thankfully Rama is a fairly safe place to be wandering around at night.

The next day we were on the 9:00 AM express bus to Managua, which was a pretty typical chicken-bus ride. 5 hours later we're in Managua. We were debating how to get to Jinotepe from Managua. It is 1 hour bus ride from La UCA bus terminal, however said terminal only has microbus type buses, which are basically big white vans. These can hardly take suitcases as big as ours, let alone so many. If they even agreed to take us they would likely charge for each bag as if it were a passenger, so we were dreading the cost. Also the taxi would charge a fair amount to take us there as well. We ended up finding a fairly reasonable taxi rate to get us to La UCA. He would charge us 230 cordobas, which basically equates to 50 cordobas per person/suitcase. We felt this was reasonable so we agreed. Along the way we were calculating that the bus at La UCA would likely charge the same amount or more to get us up to Jinotepe, when the cab driver asked us where we were going. He offered to take us directly to Jinotepe himself so we could skip the bus stage altogether. We asked how much and I braced myself for some heavy gringo-tax... but to our surprise, he offered to do it for 700 cordobas. Thats a one hour trip up into the mountains, in a comfortable air conditioned car with all our bags safely in the back. We gladly accepted his offer, and we were saved some huge headaches and got to avoid spending any extra time in Managua.

The drive up into the mountains was spectacular. We're both really going to miss the beautiful blue ocean and beaches of Corn Island, but this part of the country also has its own natural beauty. Everything up here is a deeper green color than we generally see on the coast for some reason, and as we went higher we could see further and further. As we started to feel the change in altitude we could see clouds at eye level on either side of the road. Finally, we went straight into them. As we passed El Crucero we were surrounded with grey mist and we could feel the air getting cooler. As we came out of the clouds we were entering Diriamba just as the sun was setting. After Diriamba came Jinotepe where the taxi driver took us to the house of the brothers meeting us.

Jinotepe is a city of about 50,000 people according to some Internet sources. It has an architectural style similar to that of some other Nicaraguan cities like Granada or Leon, however very little influence of tourism. The climate is also very different, being at about 560 meters, or 1,800 feet in elevation. The temperature ranges from about 18-30 degrees Celsius throughout the year and is very pleasant. That being said, coming from the coast it feels very cold. This side of the country is far more "developed" also. Jinotepe has nice grocery stores and fruit and vegetables are easy to find. One can even find computer and electronic stores. Cost of living here is also cheaper. I'm not completely sure why things are so much more expensive on the coast even though its less developed. Even things the coast exports are cheaper here, for example lobster is cheaper in Jinotepe than on Corn Island for reasons beyond my understanding.

We do pay more here for rent than we did on Corn Island, but that is mostly because we had a particularly good deal before. We're paying a lot more now, but a long with that we have unlimited Internet (wi-fi) included in the rent along with cable TV, appliances, and furniture. And having a stable Internet connection of course means being able to make a lot more money.

Moving on

After a full year on Corn Island, Jean and I have come to the difficult decision that we will be moving away from Corn Island for the time being. It was a decision we made fairly suddenly and It really wasn't something we wanted to consider, but for various practical reasons we are unable to stay on the Island any longer. Corn Island is a wonderful place and we will really miss the congregation here, there is a lot of need for brothers that can stay here long term, and we really thought we could stay longer.

Some of the reasons for our move were discussed in my last post, namely the amount of time it takes to travel to and from the Island, this has meant at times we spend more time off the island riding buses and boats than we do on the Island itself. Cost of living is also much higher here than on the mainland, but still manageable. One of the main reasons for our move is that its hard to find work here. Our situation is rather unique and different than I would have expected. When we came to Corn Island I was teaching English online over skype, but after about a month of being on the Island i lost the job due to poor internet connectivity. At times the internet was fast enough but it would often cut out without warning or any reason. Also having to pay for data made it unprofitable to do video calls to teach.

Claro que no.

Since then I've tried many other things, I've applied for many of jobs online and even tried starting a business. We've sold food on the street and homemade jewelry. Selling food seemed to do the best out of everything, but this is unfavorable because my wife has to do the selling while I make the food at home, because as a foreigner my hands are tied when it comes to making a living inside the country. I'm not allowed to work, except online for a business outside the country (such as teaching English). And then, even if I could get a job in the country, I'd be looking at a wage of $5-10 US per day, and the process of getting residency takes years.

At one point we decided to give in, and go to Canada to work for a few months and save up. But those plans came to a sudden halt when Jean's visa application was denied. We had applied for a 3 month tourist visa, expecting that should be easy since she's married to a Canadian... but no. They claimed that because of her "family ties" that is, being married to a Canadian citizen, it was too high of a risk that she would attempt to stay in the country illegally, therefore her tourist visa would not be approved. Believe it or not, its easier to get into Canada if you have nothing to do with any Canadians. After some consultation it may still be possible for her to get a 1 month visa at some point in the future to go to Canada, but 1 month is not enough time for me to work enough to even pay for the flights.

Now, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, I just want to share our experience in the hopes that maybe it could help someone in a similar situation. Some may use our situation as an example for why its a "bad idea" to marry someone from another country, and may use our problems as "ammunition". But as Jehovah's Witnesses we are not confined by national boundaries. As citizens of god's kingdom we are above such things. We have these problems because we live in Satan's world, and if someone isn't ready to face these kind of obstacles for the sake of the person they love, then they aren't ready to commit to marriage either.

Of course at any moment I COULD go to Canada on my own, work for a few months sending money and come back. I could buy a plane ticket, go to the airport and be in Canada within 24 hours, and be working in any minimum wage restaurant within a couple days which would easily pay all of our expenses for a good while. We do not consider this to be an option. Matthew 19:6 says "What God has yoked together, let no man put apart". We've had many articles in recent years about the problems that arise when a husband leaves his family to work abroad in hopes of making more money. We feel that this counsel now applies to our situation, and so we refuse to live apart. Where I go, Jean goes. Where Jean goes, I go.

And so finally, after considering all these things and what options we have we have decided to leave Corn Island. Jehovah has provided a way out for us, that doesn't force us to live apart or sacrifice our spirituality. We are moving to another part of Nicaragua where reliable Internet is easily obtained, and costs of living are much less. We will be moving to Jinotepe, Carazo and serving in the English Congregation in San Marcos. This way we will also be closer to Managua and to the border so that we won't lose time and money traveling, and the process of my applying for Nicaraguan residency will be much easier.

Island Life

Recently I've been hearing from friends that are curious about life here on Corn Island, so its probably about time I posted an update and some general information about every day things here. If you're already down here this probably will all be old news to you but for those looking for a glimpse of Island life from afar I hope you will find this information interesting and perhaps even useful.

First off some things we really like about living on Corn Island. Of course the first thing has to be the ministry, the work we do here is very productive like anywhere else in Nicaragua and we see a lot of fruitage. Secondly the obvious advantage to living on a Caribbean island is the spectacular beaches and ocean views. Even in bad weather this is among the most beautiful places in the world.

Some of the activities we enjoy here are swimming, snorkeling, diving, and fishing. Jean and I particularly love to go snorkeling in front of our apartment. There is a reef not far from the shore, and when we swim past it there is a small cliff where the water gets suddenly deeper and many colorful fish can be seen. After going on a tour I decided to take up free diving, and after just a bit of practice both of us have become much more confident swimmers and able to dive much deeper than before, even collecting cool shells from the bottom.

Getting around on the Island, for us is usually done by bicycle. We find it to be the most practical and cost effective, since the Island has good roads and not too many hills (although there are one or two big ones). Other options are taxis which cost 18 cords per person per trip, or the bus which costs 10 cords.

Now, some of the challenges we face while living in this almost paradise. First and foremost is travel, obviously being on an Island surrounded by ocean results in a degree of isolation. There is one passenger boat that leaves once a week on Wednesday from Bluefields, and returns the next morning. Frankly, I would say this boat is simply too small to be in the open ocean, and riding it feels like sitting on a cork in a blender when the weather is rough. The better choice is to catch a ride on one of the larger cargo ships, although their schedules are irregular. The other option, if you absolutely have to get there quickly is to fly, but even then you need to book your flight some days in advance, and it will cost you. Up to $120 US per person each way. Since this is something few of the local Islanders can afford, doing so also affects the way the locals perceive you in the ministry (and on an Island, everyone knows what your up to, and when you've been to the airport)

Another challenge is internet. How this works is still a mystery to me, but as far as I understand it goes something like this.

You can get 3g data on your cell phone, but that data is limited to a very small amount, and is slow. If you want the "residential" service, that is internet as we know it in other parts of the world where you pay a monthly fee and have wifi in your house, well then it gets complicated. In my case, Claro (the internet people on the island) simply told me "no".

Allegedly, the reason is that there are only a certain number of connections available on the Island, and they aren't interested in installing more. So if your house has it, good for you. If not, tough luck. So most of us get by on data, which is also inconsistent, in fact as I was writing this post I ran out of data and had to save it for posting later. Somehow writing a couple lines of text used around 350 megabytes.

Claro also has a habit of taking your money and not providing the service. This is a country wide problem however. You can put money on your prepaid phone or modem, and then never receive the package you ordered, even after receiving confirmation of your payment. No refunds will ever be given, thats their policy and sadly they have no competitors.

Cost of living here on Corn Island depends very much on the individual. Local people make around $200-500 per month at their work, be that fishing or working in a company, and they live fairly well off of that in comparison with communities on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. My wife and I spend about 600-700 Cordobas per week on food, eating mostly Nicaraguan style foods. basically whatever happens to be available when we go shopping. I have the advantage of being married to a Nicaraguan who knows how to cook with local ingredients. I would say though that many locals spend much less than that on food, but at the same time have a lot less variety in their diet.


Rent ranges dramatically based on what you're looking for. Typical homes here do not have closed ceilings, air conditioning, or screens. Often they don't have indoor plumbing either. Islanders who do not own property or a house usually opt to rent or lease a piece of land for $100 or so per year, and build a simple, movable home out of wood and zinc sheets. This way they do not pay rent. Otherwise, there are apartments in several areas of the island that rent from 1,000 to 2,000 cordobas per month. If you want something more modern, american-style homes are plentiful and range from $200-$500 per month, furnished and unfurnished, with and without air conditioning. It is good to do your research as on corn Island, the addage "you get what you pay for" simply does not apply. Some houses are on the market for $650 to $1000 per month, and are in bad locations and have fewer amenities than many cheaper homes. Many homeowners would rather take the chance of getting a big payday and let the house sit empty for years than rent it for a cheaper price.

Hopefully this gives you some insight on what its like to live on Corn Island. We have enjoyed our time here on the Island, and despite the inconveniences I would still say that this is one of my favorite places in the world.

July 2016

In the last few months we have been busy with many things, so I have not been able to post much on this blog, but there is a lot happening. First of all, our little Kriol group which was sponsored by a Spanish congregation has now become a congregation of its own! This is an exciting development as it reflects the growth and good results coming from the field. Many progressive students are regularly attending meetings and a number of the need greaters have made long term commitments to staying on the Island such as buying property and applying for permanent residency in the country.

Long Bay

Lobster season is back, which is good news for all the local businesses. Everything grinds to a halt economically and many are forced to live on savings or credit when the "beda" comes, or the ban on lobster fishing, as everything revolves around that industry. 

Heavy rains have also started, and it looks like this year we will have a proper rainy season. Last year was very dry relatively, which resulted in hotter than normal weather. Now we are getting plenty of rain and things are nice and green. High winds however make travel in this season a bit more tricky, nonetheless we have been doing a lot of it. My passport was within 6 months of its 5-year expiry so we had to go to Managua for me to get a new Canadian passport at the embassy. It was a fairly simple process, just pay the fee by credit card or give them a kidney (kidney possibly cheaper). The tricky part is that the application needed to be made in person, and it took a month to get it, so that means two trips to Managua, each of them taking an entire week, after that we had an assembly, so thats another week of travel. So out of the month of June we spent about 3 weeks on ships and buses between corn island and Managua with some days in between wandering around Bluefields.

Now we are happy to be home on the Island, which seems so peaceful and comfortable in comparison with the bigger cities in Nicaragua. That being said there has been some unrest. Without taking sides, I can say that a lot of it appears to be racially-motivated. During what was allegedly a break in (stories vary, again im not going to take any sides) of a local business, the intruder was shot and killed by the owner. Because the one who died was Miskito, an angry mob appeared the next day to destroy and loot the business for revenge. Some days later riot police were brought in from the mainland to track down the looters and the stolen goods, which incited another protest. As serious as it all sounds, the demonstrations have not posed any threat to the brothers or bystanders in general, and has not led to any further violence.

Issues of race and land ownership continue to be a major issue in the minds of people here on the Island. Many people here live on land they do not own, and have done so for generations, meanwhile there is talk of some of the original land owners returning from abroad or from the mainland to reclaim their property, resulting in obvious conflicts. As I mentioned, we still feel very safe here in comparison to other parts of the country. Most of these conflicts consist of arguments and shouting, with the occasional burning of tires, and rarely lead to violence. Meanwhile we do our best to stay neutral, and use world events such as these to draw attention to the real issues at hand whilst in our ministry.

Camping Little Corn

Over the last few months we have done our best to keep up with the meetings and trips to Little Corn every two weeks. Seeing as the pangas leave at 10 in the morning, and we have to return at the mercy of the cargo ship it often leaves us little time to accomplish our work there. So we decided this time to do something a little similar to Pearl Lagoon congregation.

Interior of Little Corn

We decided that this time we would spend the night, and spend the following day following up on return visits and bible students. This sounds very simple, there are a lot of hotels here and restaurants as well. However many of us simply cannot afford to stay in them, and most of the restaurants are not exactly economical either. So we decided we would camp out, and cook our own meals over an open fire. We didn't know where we would be spending the night when we arrived on the Island. Our plan was to just get there with our supplies and see what happened. We checked out a few locations, realistically we probably would have been fine just hiking some distance into the bush and camping there, but we felt it might be safer and more convenient to camp on someone's property that we knew. So we asked one of the bible students we had on Saturday if we could use his land to set up camp, and he was very agreeable to the idea. He even offered to let us use his kitchen, and offered us coffee in the morning, however we were actually looking forward to cooking on the fire so we carried on with our original plan regardless.

Campsite

Supper time

Both days were very successful, as was the meeting. There were four of us camping, the other couple had to return on the first panga at 1:30 PM though, because he had an assignment at the Spanish meeting on the big island. meanwhile Jean and I stayed until 4:30 to try and do some business to finance our trip. We've started making necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry as a side business to our pizza making, and our hope was to sell a few while we were there to help pay our passage. Unfortunately, we seem to be timing our attempts to sell our products very badly. Our first attempt was that Sunday afternoon on Little Corn, but the street thats usually teeming with tourists was dead quiet and nearly empty, not that we were expecting it to be very busy on a Sunday... Our next attempt was on a day when all the pangas were cancelled due to bad weather... So, we are yet to see how this latest scheme will pan out. If only there was a mail system here, maybe we could sell them on ebay.

Our display

Wild monkey came to check us out

We are all excited to see what future developments will take place with the work on Little Corn, our goal is to keep going every two weeks so long as our circumstances and the weather permits. Hopefully more will come to help conduct the meetings, and follow up on bible studies. The couple that camped with us is going back to their country for some time, and seeing as the meetings are in Spanish there is a real need for brothers who can speak it fluently, on both Islands.

Sunset on the way home