MAMITUPU & ACHUTUPU, SAN BLAS ISLANDS

 

 

 

It is February 25th & we are now in Mamitupu, a small island with 1200 residents. It's a very pretty island because a portion of it has not been developed as it is considered to be posessed by bad spirits "espiritu malo". The people are very friendly & this is once again one of the more traditional pueblos. There are 20 ulus at a time coming from the mainland to the village with their ulus chock-full of coconuts. (They're also full of 20 different kinds of bananas) There's a coconut press here on the island & I bought some pure coconut oil from Pablo who also speaks quite proficient English. He had once lived in England for several years, but has come back to Kuna Yala. He's been telling us quite a bit of history & has serious misgivings as to the future of the Kunas. The younger generations don't want to farm the plantations - they want to move to Panama City & not have to work as hard as their parents with all the amenities of running water, electricity, Tv, etc. Pablo has 5 children & 3 of them live in the city. He says it is the way of the future & the Kunas will have to change. Very sad for these people who are trying to hold onto their heritage. We've booked a lobster dinner at Pablos restaurant for tonight ($6.00) & Peter had gone out earlier with "Al" to help catch 3 more. Looking forward to that!
We took a side trip in the dinghy to Achutupu today which is just a couple of miles away. Bought a very authentic mola today - I know it's authentic because it's been worn! The Kuna women have a tendancy to rip their blouses off standing there in bra only trying to sell their molas. Gives new meaning to "giving their shirts off their back" to you.

ISTUPU, SAN BLAS ISLANDS

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February 24 - Istupu & its the Independance Day Celebration, which of course starts 4 days previous to the actual date (Feb. 25), but no matter, the Kunas aren't nearly as noisy as the Eastern Caribes. The music consists of flutes & chanting, but because the big thing here is the re-enactment of the Kunas overtaking the Panamanians, there's a lot of "gunshots" going off at 3 & 4 o'clock in the morning. All very interesting. This is the largest village in all of San Blas. I'm finding the people extremely friendly here, especially the kids & there are thousands of kids. I think half the population here is under 6 years old. All the kids come running out of their homes so excited to see us. They're yelling, "Hola, hola, hola" & wanting to shake hands or give high fives. Wearing nothing (literally), but great big smiles on their faces! They are so cute & it's back to feeling like your famous again. We've been able to actually find some chicken here & the veggie boat came in last night - that's the first time I've gotten verduras since the 4 carrots in Sapzurro. One has to ask - what the heck do these guys eat? They look healthy enough, but there's only so much rice & yucca one can eat. We have found a great restaurant here. $3.25 will buy you the meal of the day which is either pollo or carne, plus a beer for $.85! We come out of there for under $10. for the 2 of us, including the propina. I wasn't looking forward to this place when we first pulled in, but I'm finding the people so very friendly, that Peter & I will be sorry to go. There was also the river run yesterday which was enchanting. The bird song was wonderful & we found the whole journey up the river to be quite enthralling. There's always something special about a place even if it looks pretty rough on the outside. The Kunas are a very gentle people & we're thoroughly enjoying that trait of theirs. We bought a beautiful painting from the local artist, Aleck. He's an extremely nice person & his work is incredibly detailed & truly reflects the lifestyle of the Kunas.

LOS PINOS

 

What is that yellow ball in the sky? It has been about 2 weeks since we have had to seek the shady side of the cockpit for coffee; today the clouds were sparse and the sun was up. David came by about 830 to collect the local anchoring fee, $8, but good for a month. No one would ever stay a month but that was their selling point. David was very nice and spoke a modicum of English. He said he would get us a coconut and some yucca (a tuber which tastes a bit like papa fritas when cooked). He also said if we wanted to see the village we should ask for him and after he introduced us to the Salais (chief) we could tour to our heart’s content. Next week is a national holiday in Kuna Yale and everyone is flying the national flag which the chief kind of pressured us into buying. A little bit of misfortune with its design especially for our Jewish friends, is the swastika in the centre…no relationship to Nazi Germany but awkward none the less. With David’s guidance we bought some eggs and bananas and later more of the national breakfast, corn flakes. At the third tienda we bought some tomato paste, canned pineapple and onions…a pretty exciting shopping day all in all. We hiked up to the top of the island, a 45 minute walk to the radio antenna. I think if you climbed up the 30m tower the view would have been spectacular; but we kind of just stood in the jungle, shrugged and headed back to the village. Well that kind of took most of the day. Back at the boat we chatted with our neighbour from Celtic Dancer, had a swim and dinner including yucca (which I think requires more spices or something and an acquired taste).

SULUDUP, PANAMA

 

 

Suludup - Our second stop in the San Blas Islands chain. We are tucked away all by ourselves in a stunning locale. Very, very tranquil...until the first ulu appears banging beside our boat. He's looking for a pair of pants, Yes, you heard right, he wants a pair of Peter's shorts. Pete just happens to have a nicely mildewed-way-too-big-for-him-pair which we offer up. I mean, these Kunas are little people (second in stature to pygmies). They would've been hysterical on him, but he was thrilled, so away he went. Chalk up a point for the gringos!. The next morning was busy with all sorts of locals going past the boat on their way to work in the fields. There's cocos, sugar cane, mangos - all to be harvested & taken back to the village. We had a couple of women & a young boy come by looking for a cup of coffee & some sweets. After that, Mateo, the "official" came by requesting our $5.00 anchoring fee. We agreed we would come into the pueblo at 1pm & he would give us a tour of the village (for an additional $3/ea. of course) We met with Mateo & he showed us the typical, traditional Kuna village. We had a nice visit with Mateo & his family & ended up buying our first mola - nothing special, but very colorful & made up like a placemat. ($8.00) Awoke to another cloudy, windy day - it just won't clear up. Today's visitors were an older fellow just wanting to check us out. They are a very curious race. Every one of these visitors comes by & peers into the cockpit as if their staking us out. I don't think that's the case at all, they're just curious. They ask all sorts of questions of which I don't have any responses, but we fake it! They desperately want our snorkeling gear & one lady even offered her dress for it!!! We had alot of the fishermen come by today, selling, pescado (fish), langustas (lobster), even octopus. We bought some fish which we had tonight. It was a red snapper of some sort & it was very good. I feel like we're really eating like the locals. We had fried green bananas, plantains, local fish - but I have a feeling they didn't have the glass of vino blanco that we had with our dinner!

ANACHUKUNA - PERME, PANAMA

 

 

 

 

Panama - The much anticipated San Blas Islands & the KunaYala. Our first encounter with the Kuna Indians was a welcoming ulu shortly followed by a couple of Kunas looking for a $10.00 fee (everything is in U.S. dollars now) to anchor in their waters & the priviledge of visiting their pueblo. Pretty pricey if you ask me, since there are over 200 islands in the San Blas chain - I think the math speaks for itself! I guess we're going to really have to pick & choose which islands we want to visit. It's really too bad because they want you to come to the pueblos to buy their molas, so it all kind of adds up. Anyway, this particular village is a very traditional one (the further east you are, the more traditional they are & this is the easternmost of all) They live in huts & have only their ulus (dugout canoes). The huts have nothing in them except maybe a couple of plastic chairs & hammocks for sleeping. They are a very simple people, but very happy. Always smiling & welcoming. Of course, they always wave you over to look at their molas. We are still very much an oddity here. The children run out to stare & giggle when we try to speak Spanish. (The Kunas have their own language, but they also speak Spanish.) There is no TV or radio in the most traditional of the villages.The Kunas don't like to have their pictures taken because they feel it steals part of their spirit, so you have to be most respectful of that. Some of the villagers come by in their ulus with their entire family & bring about "regalo" (gifts) which consist of coconuts, plantains, bananas. In return, they want to come on board to see what the boat looks like. They are very curious & want to see everything. I gave out a number of little gifts to the 5 children who were on board with Andres & his espousa. Even after doing that though, The wife wanted more. She asked me if she could have some of my "ropas" clothes, but I wasn't going to go there. Lo siento, necisito" (sorry, I need). She did take off one of her bracelets off & tied it onto my arm, which I was very honored.

CAPURGANO, COLUMBIA

 

We tried but couldn't make the planned 9 am start, but we were on the trail to Capurgano by 10. The walk up to the top of the ridge thru the jungle was steep at times but mostly like the Grouse Grind with heat. The view at the top was pretty spectacular looking one way to the bay and town of Sapzurro and the other to Capurgano. The bird noises were also pretty cool and we did get a picture of some sort of toucan. After an hour and a half, we arrived at Capurgano, a pleasant town of about 2,000. There were donkeys and horses everywhere working drawing carts or carrying bundles. We walked across the soccer field but had to be wary of the "land mines". There were no cars; the nearest road was about 200 km away. Next to the enjoyment of cruising thru the jungle, we needed to get some pesos to pay Sombrero and to shop as from what we were told, Capurgano was going to be our last real chance for a month or two. Well it wasn't spartan but it wasn't Cosco either. We found some basics and a few veggies, passed on the expensive beer and soon thought maybe that was a bad idea. The ride, yes we took a taxi back, a water taxi that was wild and wet. With our 20 to 30 lbs of stuff we didn't want to hike back. The "taxi", driven by Mono who always had a beer whenever we saw him, was a fifteen foot, narrow pirogue and the course took us out into open water where the seas were running 8 to 10 feet. We were a tad damp when we got back, but we got back. Our last night in Sapzurro was rolly and unpleasant, but we enjoyed the town and the people.

SAPZURRO, COLUMBIA

 

Sapzurro is a pretty little town right on the border of Columbia & Panama. We were pretty exhausted from our overnighter, so we laid low for a couple of hours, but headed into town mid afternoon. The Policias Nacionales wanted to see our papers, so we checked in with them & carried on, walking into town. Capt'n Jack who we met 2 years ago & bumped into again in Cartagena, spends a fair amount of time in Sapzurro, so he told us not to miss "Chilis", a bar - soon to be pizza place - owned by...you guessed it, a father & son from Chili. The son spoke quite good English, so we got along quite well in Sapzurro. We hiked into Panama, once again checking in with the military & walked to the most impoverished town of El Miel". How it even existed, I'll never know, completely shut off from the world.

ISLA FUERTES, COLUMBIA

 

 

 

 

Isla Fuertes. We had a beautiful anchorage all to ourselves after being escorted in by a couple of the locals 5,000 pesos. I'm sure we could've done it ourselves, but they weren't going to go away without a "propina" (tip). We wondered into town later in the day & once again were the center of attention. It's remarkable how much you feel like you're on display. (I've made up my mind, that I don't think I'd like to be famous!!) The town is poor, but clean & the people "muy amable". We went to the local tienda looking for some verduras (vegetables) & ended up with a couple of potatoes & onions. After we left, we were approached by the local English teacher, Roberto. He lives above the storeowners place & Carlos told him a couple of English speaking people had been by. We got to talking & one of his 13 year old students joined us. We ended up back at Carlos' buying a beer for Roberto & talking a little of both languages. After our farewells, we said we would be back tomorrow for a walk (el camino). It was a Sunday, so Roberto was available to show us the sights. We went most of the way around the island, seeing such sights as El Bango (the largest tree on the island), the "Walking Tree", the "faro" (lighthouse), & El Cueva de Robert Morgan (the cave) He also took us to visit a local families place where I handed out some paper & crayons. They had offered us some bananas which were excellent. Upon our return, we bought Roberto a beer & as we were leaving he asked us for a Propina. I must admit, the two of us were extremely disappointed as we thought just maybe, for once, we found someone who was actually interested in us. No such luck, but we carried on with our plan of photocopying part of my dictionary for his classes anyway. We went to his school the following morning & copied 14 pages of notes for him & then we asked him back to the boat. He was happy to do so (the thought crossed my mind to charge him for it!). We took him back to town as we had to get ready to depart for the over-nighter to Sapzurro that evening. We had dinner, cleaned up dishes & headed off about 8 P.M. on one of the blackest crossings I've ever been on. It was pleasant enough, not another boat to be seen & the seas coming at us off our beam. At times the winds were light, but we able to sail the whole evening arriving in Sapzurro around 10am.

SAN BERNARDO ISLANDS, COLUMBIA

 

 

 

We are at Isla Tintipan and enjoying the peacefulness. I snorkeled this morning and after lunch we went for a dinghy ride to a neighbouring island, one side is a local beach and a collection of bars and "restaurants", the other side is a very exclusive resort. The security guard, dressed in army fatigues, met us at the dock and after a couple of radio checks walked with us until another guard met us and took over leading us to someone in management. I guess we didn't have the right Medallin credentials or looks. But they were very nice and showed us around. Beer was too expensive so we left and headed to the dormitory island, called Islote, which is supposed to be one of the most densely populated islands in the world. We bought some veggies and a beer and watched some kids skip rope, took some pics and headed home for dinner.