They were brought here during the Sandinista rule in the 1980s, a subtle hint to the islanders that comrades in Managua were watching. The local language, unlike the Spanish of Nicaragua's interior, is a West Indian dialect of English, which dates back to earlier days of British rule. Great Corn Island is about three and a half miles long with a population of about 2,500. Little Corn Island, relatively uninhabited, is reachable only by boat from Great Corn Island. I was hopeful it would be uncrowded, since there were still no paved roads that connected the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua.
Myths swirl around Corn Island.
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.