January 22, 2019

Corinto is Nicaragua’s largest port and sits on an island connected to the mainland by bridges. It is also the largest country in Central America. And it is a very poor country compared with Costa Rica and other Latin American countries. In fact, we heard it is second only to Haiti in poverty.

Today we didn’t schedule an organized tour, choosing instead to explore the port town. Last visit we went to Colonial Leon and the bubbling mud pots.

There really isn’t much to do in this small port town but we had a good walk around and conversations with local friendly people. Most of them wanted to take us on the bike excursions and just could not understand why we wanted to walk! The farther we got from the port, the cheaper the bike transports became. The most was $10/hour, the least was $1/hour! But we still wanted to walk.

Here’s the view of the port as we arrived.

We were greeted by local dancers, some in traditional costumes. I especially loved the small children who were definitely budding dancers!

There is a small square, a church (which wasn’t open) and some friendly vendors. We do love strolling through the markets.

Some pictures of the square and various statues.

Tomas Martinez Y Guerrero

Nicaraguan culture has strong folklore, music and religious traditions and is deeply influenced by both European and Amerindian sounds and flavors. Lots of music was playing in the square and outside the ship. It is quite a poor country but we saw no begging or apparent homeless people here.

Here are some of the market sights.

Salted meat to preserve it. No appeal for me!

Huge papayas!

On our way back to the ship we said hello to two of the dancers that performed for us this morning!

Why is this cat on a leash?

We now have 2 sea days before our next port of Manzanillo, Mexico. And we have two returning guest cocktail parties on the two sea days. We will get our Diamond pins as part of recognition in the Oceania Club. That also means we get another 14 day free cruise! Life is good.