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!