Puerto Corinto – Nicaragua

This morning we sailed into Puerto Corinto Nicaragua. The passage in was pretty interesting even the Captain mentioned it was a fairly tight and tricky docking procedure. Once near the dock the Pilot spin the boat around 180 degrees by using the bow thrusters and the engine. Disembarkation was a little delayed this morning, however we are not leaving port until 5:30 p.m. so lots of time to explore the town.
Today we opted to stay near the port and we just wandered into the town of Corinto. There was the usual gauntlet of side trip hucksters, bicycle tours, etc. etc. In fact there are significantly more pedi-cab styled bicycles that carry 2 – 4 passengers, than there are cars. The local residents use these as their source of transportation for shopping, traveling around town and of course those lucky enough to own one, the pedi-cab is their source of income. 
Our first impression was that Corinto is very poor and having a cruise ship the size of the Veendam stop for the day is a real boon to the economy. About one block from the port there was a street market with a few vendors selling all sorts of local handicrafts, tee shirts, knick-knacks, etc. This was also the first time we have been approached by young children asking for money. They knew how to say “you got a dollar” and some of them had gum or pencils to give you and some just wanted the money.
A little further on there was a town centre building and local dancers were performing, so we contributed a couple dollars towards the performers.

As we walked around a local by the name of Peter had been chatting up Dean trying to get him to take a bicycle tour of the town. Well, Dean agreed and we were off on a four-seater bicycle adventure. What a tour, Peter started by riding us down the main street and then headed on the road out of the town center area to where the local residents live. This area is very poor and most home are wood and corrugated steel roofing panels salvaged from who knows where. The better off folks have a home built with cement and steel and or tile roofs. Doors and windows are generally wide open however many front windows and doors have steel bars for security. Although they have a water system and sewer system there was evidence of some homes not being hooked up to these services and some of the streets had dishwater running in the gutters.

Along the way we stopped at a local beach where a tsunami had wiped out a lot of the coast line and many houses a few years back.

We then stopped at Peter’s home to meet his family and extended family. From here we headed back to the ship and onboard the ship. Finally, check out this hydro pole in the main center of town 🙂
Tonight is an Oscar’s Party in the main showroom.

More animal art 🙂