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.

Baru by Boat & at Johnny's House

 

Johnny's Boat Trip into Baru

It was back to Baru today, this time with a local called Johnny. He took Peter and me, with Edie & Michael from a neighbouring boat, Panda, in his pirogue. This time traveling 3 miles by water through the mangroves was much, much easier than yesterday's walk in the 89 degree heat. Today's mission was to buy some chicken and pork and check out the town with a local guide. There's not much in Baru, but today we got a different perspective. He took us to the store that sold pork. The store, a wooden shack open to the dusty street was busy with a half dozen locals. All of the products, 3 or 4 open shelves, are behind a counter and the service was somewhat slow and methodical. The four of us ordered un poco of pork which was finally presented to us in two small plastic bags. The "butcher's" supply was somewhere out back stored in a manner which we probably don't want to see. We paid & were on our way to the chicken place. It was little more upscale but the demonstration of killing the cockroaches under the fruit box using a match with bug spray like a blow torch kind a told us their standards are different from home. But this time at least the food was pulled out of a freezer. (On yesterday's walk, we politely turned down an hombre who wanted to sell us fresh chicken from his yard..boy the choice one has). Johnny took us to his home & it is of very "modest" means. He has 3 kids (una hija, tres año, un hijo diez año y una hija, doce), his esposa, Mom, Dad, plus about six others - I would assume, relatives of some sort...all in this one bedroom, 2 room house! They were very welcoming & I gave his little niña some paper & crayons which I had brought along. Anyway, we spent a very nice morning in Baru.
Back at the boat, dealing with the pork was a little disconcerting. There was still hair on the skin!!! Yuk!! And the "butcher's" style of using a machete left tiny shards of bone throughout. The smell was very rich and we are hoping a marinade will deal with that; guess what's for dinner tonight! Come to think of it, we never did see that pig that I took the picture of 2 days ago.(see photos below) Lo siento, Porky.