It is reputed to be a stopover, a safe haven, for the Medell n drug cartel's shipments on the way to Miami, and, according to locals, kilos of cocaine often wash up on the beach. It's a place many have touched and claimed, but none has truly conquered. The plane stopped once in the coastal outpost of Bluefields to drop off passengers and for the pilot to catch a smoke, and we continued on. When we landed, we were joined in the taxi by a Peace Corps volunteer from Los Angeles named Tim, who told us he'd been trying for months to establish an efficient lobster fishing cooperative on Corn Island. At Tim's suggestion, we headed for the Hotel Panorama.
Legend has it that their ancestors cooked a huge pot of crab soup in celebration.
That's where the name came from. I scheduled one last Sunday and it rained and nobody showed. Like they never got wet before. This was the first time in 20 years that the Peace Corps had been invited into Nicaragua. Tim slightly bemoaned the fact that the Festival of Crabs was happening that weekend because another Sunday meeting with the fishermen would fall by the wayside.