Planes, trains and automobiles to get from Jiquilillo to Little Corn Island, actually more like chicken bus, taxi, mini van, taxi, 15 seat airplane, taxi and finally panga (25 seat skiff) to get here. I began my journey at 6am and I arrived at sunset and spent 20 minutes walking around with the backpack in crazy humid heat to find my hotel. Luckily my hotel is on the windward side of the island with tons of breeze. After catching my breath, I checked in with the owner who is a massive man! Simon calls me 'Meester Brat' with a heavy Carribean accent. Supposedly he picked up a six foot long peice of coconut palm trunk and smacked a thief upside the head with it, just last week. It seems they don't have too much trouble with crime on the island because if you are caught you get smacked in the head with a tree. The story goes that 2 Canadian guys got their money stolen from their room the first night they were here. The next day they went back to Big Corn to hit up the ATM and get more money. The second night they got robbed again but caught the guy as he was hopping out the window. The thief out-ran them but they woke up Simon (at 2am) and told him what had happened. He was already aware of the previous nights theft and the Canadians gave a pretty good description of the robber. Simon told them to come with him, they went and woke up the 2 police officers on the island, went to the guys house, broke down his door, dragged him out of bed and beat the crap out of him. That was when Simon grabbed the tree trunk and swung for the fences. Supposedly the guy was completely out for 10-15 minutes, all the while his family were yelling at the Canadians with not so veiled threats. The Canadians were scared stiff and decided they needed to get of the island and out of the country as soon as possible. There are only two ways on/off the island. The official 'panga' which leaves at 7am and 2pm daily (only in good weather) or a locally hired boat (half the size/twice the time) that is considerably more expensive. They got on the panga at 7am only to find the thief handcuffed between the 2 cops sitting right in front of them. The story goes that they got out of the country fast and safely but needed to change their shorts a few times along the way. After hearing the story from many different people on the island this seems to be the official version. Almost everyone realizes that tourism is the bread and butter of this island, in fact, it is too far off the coast to do steady trading with the mainland to depend on anything else. Lobster has been overfished by the big boats so tourism is it. The locals I have talked to say that this thief was trying to take food off their tables because people will hear that theives are on Little Corn and, in turn, not come. They seem passionate about protecting the islands charm by keeping it safe and also about keeping cars and motorcycles off the island. If they can pull this off for the next 10 years I would be impressed. Regardless, I feel very safe with the Simon installed security system that is in place. I'll just be sure to not make the man angry! Geeez!
The island itself is a bit of paradise. Crystal clear Carribean waters, tons of coconut palms, lots of white sand beaches with a coral reef surrounding half of the island. Sea life includes tons of coral, turtles, rays, sharks (nurse, hammerhead, black tip reef and supposedly a few bull but the last is only rumor), lobster, tons of fish and lots of good clean fun! I can see myself wearing out hammocks and reading lots of books. We'll see how this week turns out!
