Name: Dobedo
Address: North end, Little Corn Island, Nicaragua, Corn Island, Corn Island, Corn Island, Nicaragua
Rating: 8

Garden

Terrace

Private check-in/check-out

Outdoor furniture

General

Family room

Shower/Bathtub

Linens

Mosquito net

Rooms

Ironing

Laundry

Dry-cleaning

Luggage storage

Wake-up service

Services and amenities

Common kitchen

Restaurant

Snack bar

Bottled water

Meals

Internet access

Internet

Spanish

English

French

Languages Spoken

Barbecue grill(s)

Billiards

Hiking

Picnic area

Fishing

Ping-Pong

Recreation

No parking

Parking

Beach/pool towels

Next to the beach

Pool and beach

Snorkelling

Sports

Playroom

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Dobedo

Corn Island

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

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king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

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5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

After my wife and I walked from town and came upon Dobedo, our first impressions were like "wow, garden of Eden." The variety of flowers and fruit trees are what immediately captures your attention. The place is truly idyllic and abundant with ambiance. The owner has obviously done a lot of work to make the place homey and comfortable. There are beautiful handcrafted shell lamps in all the rooms and a breathtaking shell artwork in the ranch/restaurant area. We were both amazed at the logistics of how all materials were brought here to build the cabinas, how the place was carved out of the jungle, and the well dug by hand. And let me tell you about the well water, better than anything I've ever bought in a bottle. Everyone on the island admits that Mateo has the best drinking water on the island, which can be attested to when you see Yemaya workers coming to ask for water with their gallons almost every day that we stayed there. The cabinas were rustic but what one would expect when you know the history of the place but they were altogether comfortable with quirky cool touches/artwork. It was really nice at this part of our trip to stay with real people, eating amazingly large portions of local cuisine, and learning about local traditions. The pool table and foosball table were awesome too. A Great Time and really look forward to heading back there.

Taste of Paradise

We walked around Little Corn one day and came to Dobedo. We were made a great Nica breakfast and used the pool table and enjoyed the beach from their place. If you're considering staying here, it's rustic cabins in a family style relaxed atmosphere. Five minute walk to the amazing northern side beach and a 20 minute back to the port where all the restaurants are.

Just had breakfast here but it was great!

Dobedo is just as described online - a rustic place near a gorgeous stretch of beach. Our stay started off really well when we met the female owner while waiting for the boat from Big Corn. There weren't any seats left, so she very kindly gave us her tickets, and we were off! There was someone waiting for us at the dock to help with our backpacks (which was so useful, as it rained on us most of the 30 minute walk) and we arrived soaked through, but happy!

Unfortunately, on our second night, we were broken into while we were sleeping. We left our windows open, as seemed the custom, and someone cut the mosquito netting, scared the life out of us when we woke up to a man in our room, and took off with, fortunately, just one bag. Of course, we didn't blame anyone at Dobedo, and the owners and also one of the guys that work there helped us go to the police station to file a report. 

At this point, we were shaken, but still not unhappy with the hotel itself. However, we couldn't stay in that room for our remaining two nights that we had prepaid for. One, we were terrified. Two, the window hadn't been fixed.  It was around the time of the police report filing, that we began to get a sense that the owner named Matthew didn't believe us. He kept saying things like, "Your story is so strange" and "This has never happened before" and "Why didn't you scream louder when it happened?" and "Why didn't you come and get me after it had happened?" He seemed very confused that, after three women woke up to a man in one of our beds in the middle of the night, we didn't go running into the jungle in pitch darkness to wake him up. 

From here, it all went downhill quickly. After no one from the hotel offered any money back, we asked to be refunded for the two nights that we would not be staying (not even bothering with the actual night of the robbery). Afterwards, we also realized that the owner, Matthew, never said "I'm sorry this happened" or "Are you OK?" He just seemed to repeat the above questions about why we didn't scream louder, etc. In the end, his complete lack of empathy and kindness left a bigger mark on us that the actual robbery. 

After initially refusing to refund us any money and after a lot of insistence on our part, Matthew refunded us one night, so that we paid three nights in total. He did helpfully say, "Well, you could just stay here." This was around 5:00 pm and we helpfully pointed out that the window still wasn't fixed, so even if we weren't terrified, no we couldn't stay there.

Luckily, when we went into town to find somewhere else to stay, we found Twila at the Habana Libre Restaurant who had a room available at her guesthouse. She took us in, made us a strong mojito, showed us all the security features at the guesthouse, showed us where she and her husband would be sleeping, introduced us to her dogs, and gave us a wonderful, discounted price, since we were already paying at Dobedo. Her rooms are comfortable with an amazing shower, right on the ocean, have lovely terraces, and are attached to a delicious restaurant right in town. 

If you are considering staying at Dobedo to have access to the beach, you're better off staying with Twila, having a lovely walk to the beach each day, and staying somewhere with people who have a better understanding of empathy and kindness, not to mention better facilities.

Hotel is fine, owner is missing some social skills

First the good news. Dobedo is set in a little tropical paradise on the north end of Little Corn Island. There’s a bit of a trek through the island from the village to arrive at a beautiful garden, with a few cabinas scattered around. There are some truly luscious plants and a little concrete pathway that leads through to the reception, where you’ll find the ever smiling Jodell (probably not the right spelling, so apologies), ready to help you with anything. On rainy days (that’s most days in Little Corn) the path across the island is muddy, so don’t complain about it
We stayed for three nights in the Bamboo Cabina. Jodell cooked for us one night, a fried snapper. He’s also quick with a cold beer. We liked the place. It’s just a very quick walk to one of the best beaches on the island. 
But, and it’s quite a but, our cabina – Bamboo – is clearly a work in progress. It does have mosquito mesh on the windows and the roof does not leak, which is good given that when it rains, it really does rain. But the inside, apart from the bathroom (and we’ll come to that later) is not painted. The walls are bare plasterboard or cement. There is no feeling that it’s been decorated or made to feel inviting.  It’s a disappointment after the lovely garden, because the contrast is so stark. We would also have appreciated having the cabina cleaned during our stay. We had to ask for the floor to be swept – inevitably there is a lot of sand walked in. Nor was the toilet paper basket emptied during our stay of three days. 
On the website, the cabina is said to have a bathroom. For north Americans, this might just signify a toilet and washbasin. But for most Europeans a bathroom means a toilet and shower or bath. Bamboo does not have a shower or bath and we were disappointed. There is also a certain lack of privacy because there is no door to the toilet, just a curtain. It's not ideal.  I think the owner should it clear that the shower is in another building. For $50 a night at the moment it seems expensive. We have travelled extensively in Nicaragua (starting in 2006) and today for $50 dollars you can get much more elsewhere. Yes, Little Corn is an island and getting building materials there is hard work and probably expensive. But still, $50 is more than we’d pay for this type of accommodation elsewhere in Nicaragua. It would be a start if the owner finished the cabina, painted it and put in some decorations. Perhaps a bit more furniture to make the place more comfortable that would help. Had the cabina been finished we might not have felt that $50 was excessive. So, conclusion, lovely garden and setting near a fabulous beach, but poor accommodation for the price.

Wonderful surroundings, sub-standard accommodation

Nice at the beginning, ever rude at the end

We spent 3 nights in Dobedo, really nice place, a little far from the center but we love walking so we enjoyed it. The beach nearby is simply beautiful, except for all the trash and plastics in the woods on the way there which apparently is still property of dobedo. Welcome was really nice by both brothers in law of the owner which wasn't there at first. When we got there we where comparing prices in order to find a good deal, got a super price due to situation in Nicaragua. We where the only guests. Fridge at our disposal for food and refreshments, Yodel (one of the sons in law) suggested to go buy us some beer with our money. Than they always kept the access to the fridge locked, so impossible to have breakfast in the morning or access to our drinks without there presence and when they were there we always had to go ask to open the lock which was really annoying. They even served themselves in our drinks without even asking which was really rude. Rooms where OK except the useless mosquito nets which  would let pass all the bugs in . Yodel asked if he could borrow us some money to repare something and impossible to get payed back even thought we reminded him a  dozen of times. When we left, he said we where the worst guests ever and said he would never give our money back. Well we where the only ones, so better treat them well.. in any case we will never set foot over there again. We do not recommend this place. The owner arrived the last day and hardly said hi, and drank one of our last beers which annoyed us even more !!

It s a shame because the place is just really nice but the people are just rude so you just don t want to stay! We had one day more on the island , we preferred changing to another host..



These guys don t do things right...

My boyfriend and I stayed here 2 weeks ago, we had booked a week on little corn at Dobedo however we only stayed 1 night. The day we arrived we were met at the boat and led to the hostel, the owner was not there but the man that ran it was there. Within the first 3 hours of our stay the owner asked my boyfriend to borrow 5000 cordobas, without reason. We didn’t have this much cash on us so he lent him what we had, 1300, expecting him to return it in our week stay. We wanted to go out in the evening so had a few drinks at Dobedo, made by them and played pool, the man in charge (not entirely sure of his name) was present the entire time and told us he would be coming out with us. Eventually we went into town and started at Desideri, i was on my own while my boyfriend got a drink and was chatting to 3 lovely men at the bar, the owner came over and tried to drag me away, saying i shouldn’t leave his side, even grabbed my arm ( bear in mind i’m 18 and he is middle aged) which made me very uncomfortable. He insisted we go to a different bar, where he told us there would be lots of people and a fun evening. There was not a single other person there, however he insisted nonetheless that we stay there rather than go back to desideri, my boyfriend and i left to go and smoke and told the owner we would be a few minutes, after a minute or so he came out and urged us to got back inside, this happened three times throughout the evening. My boyfriend and i asked to go back to desideri where the crowds were and he insisted we stay despite there being literally nobody there from 9pm to 1am multiple times. At 1am we were ready to leave as we felt the night had run it’s course at this point, he was reluctant to walk back with us at this time but wouldn’t let us leave on our own. We arrived back at the hostel with 2000 cordobas in a fanny pack as we checked to update our spending record for travelling, we sat down outside with the owner and had a drink before bed as this was the only time in the day he had turned on the wifi for me, while having a drink i went to our room to go to the toilet and my boyfriend came back for a lighter, stupidly leaving the fanny pack alone with the owner for a few minutes. We returned and sat for a while, my boyfriend went to bed and i stayed awake to download a film but i felt very uncomfortable as the owner was engaging in conversation i wasn’t comfortable with so i opted to go to bed without the film, he seemed upset i had chosen to leave and asked me to stay but i didn’t. the next morning we decided to go to the shop but as we were leaving noticed we only had 50 cordobas left, when previously we had 2000, my boyfriend called the owner over and asked him politely if he had woken up with a bit more cash than expected, hoping it to be a drunken mistake but he denied, and came and sat at our door. I came out and joined them and the conversation went nowhere, hw derailed the conversation multiple times talking about a beer we had bought him and the money he borrowed, both of which were irrelevant to the situation. In the end we explained we knew it was him given that we were the only guests at the hostel this night and he was alone with the bag at one point or another, he came into our room and wouldn’t leave once we said we had finished discussing it for the moment, even when i said i wanted to change my clothes to go out. After this we immediately decided this wasn’t the hostel for us, and booked another place for the same day, not to mention the “kitchen” is awfully equipped (machete without handle is only knife and it’s FULL of ants, “fridge” is a freezer) we left that day and requested a refund on air b&b to which the manager decided as he could have rented it to other guests, even after explaining, he also ignored all messages from us and still 2 weeks later is yet to respond. This was the worst stay we have ever had and could not recommend it less, really put a massive damper on our whole holiday in the corn islands. DO NOT STAY HERE! Especially if you are a young woman, i can promise you won’t feel comfortable here at all.

Worst stay we’ve had. don’t stay.

The man who owns and runs the hotel threatened to shoot myself and my wife as we tried to help his sick dog with mange. He threatened to shoot the dog in the head and now it has disappeared. He is so rude and barbaric and cannot get away with killing an innocent animal. DO NOT STAY HERE!

Disgusting Owner, Do Not Stay here!

Plain and simple Zendo Cabana is squalor at tourist prices.  My girlfriend and I stayed here for 3 nights in December.  We were on Little Corn for about 10 days and this was the third place we stayed.  We gave up a nice place in the middle of town that was cheaper because we wanted to be closer to the beach.  The 20 minute walk to town did not bother us at all.  We enjoyed it and it felt safe.  The beach is a short walk from Dobedo and is nice.  The owner was not there and after reading other reviews and his responses I'm glad he wasn't.  However, during our stay but the staff was SUPER nice and helpful but that is as far as it goes.

The bathroom is advertised as private.  It's not.  It is outdoor about 50 feet away, which isn’t really that big of a deal but when you pay for a private bathroom you kind of want a private bathroom.  Plus it's annoying when it’s raining and you have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.  The shower and sink were communal and the shower was especially run down and there was no shower head. Plus the drain was clogged and all the grey water from other people showering was just pooling in the grass.  Pretty gross.

They advertised free Wi-Fi, well guess what?  No Wi-Fi.

We chose Zendo specifically because it lists it as having a hammock.  It didn't.  The only hammock available when we got there was one in the common area near the pool table.

As for Zendo; the website describes it as “Revel in our largest cabina/meditation space. Pura Nicaraguense, honed with a machete, on the outside. Pure Japanese, with Tatami mats, on the inside.”  My girlfriend is Asian.  We do yoga and meditate.  There is nothing Japanese or Zen about this cabin.  The mats only seemed to serve as a way to cover up the disgusting floor.  The "Japanese" mat should be removed and burned for sanitary reasons.  I would find it hard to meditate in such a dingy space.  The mattresses were horrible and my girlfriend and I got a lot of bug bites.  If this would not have been at the tail end of our trip we would have bailed after night number 1.  But we reluctantly hung in there somehow trying to convince ourselves that it wasn't that bad.

Dobedo's website is outdated and misleading.  It seems like a few foreigners on Little Corn are buying up jungle property near the beach, building barely habitable shacks and charging gringo prices to fund their early retirement.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but being misleading about what you have to offer is unacceptable.  And don't confuse the words "rustic" and "poorly maintained" of "squalor".  I've traveled all around Mexico, Central, South America, The Caribbean; I lived abroad in Asia for 1 year and have traveled all over SE Asia.   This is one of the worst places I have stayed for the cost.

Nothing Zen about the Zendo Cabana unless you consider bug bites while sleeping Zen.

Dobedo

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