After our whirlwind trip of Columbia, things really settled
down for a while. We left the marina and
anchored once again out in the Cartegena harbor. It was so beautiful with a lovely
breeze. Great to be back out there
especially with our cruising friends. We
ended up spending another 2 weeks in Cartagena just goofing off. We walked miles, did boat projects,
provisioned for the islands we would do next,
played games with cruising friends and had Wednesday pizza night with a
bunch of cruisers. P
Lee Miles, SSCA cruising station host is a lot of fun so we
were glad he joined us several times. I
hope if any more SSCA members come to Colombia, they will take advantage of his
kindness and knowledge. Also, we had a really nice surprise. A couple from Oregon that we met while
traveling in Medellin, arrived in Cartagena for a few days and called us. We had met them at the hotel in Medellin and
really enjoyed each other’s company.
Anyway, we ended up spending the day with them, touring the “Old City”
and introducing them to our boat in the harbor.
They had fun riding in a dinghy and sitting in a boat in the
harbor. They even joined all the
cruisers the next night for pizza.
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| The resort we anchored in front of |
3 boats decided it was time to go. We had spent enough pesos and time in one
place so we left for the beautiful islands on the Caribbean coast of
Colombia. Rosario was fantastic. We
anchored right in front of a very tropic looking restaurant with a pool,
sliding board and other fun things to do.
The water was crystal
clear so we could finally swim again and snorkel. Darrel on Alibi is a scrub diver instructor,
so we took advantage of his knowledge and skills. We went snorkeling with him and learn more
about coral and fish then we ever thought we would know. He really made the coral come alive and he
loves teaching. On the down side of
that, Harry ended up with an ear infection which took me 10 days of treating to
finally get rid of it, we hope. Then I
caught a devil of a cold which also lasted 10 days. He couldn’t hear and I couldn’t talk so we
were a fun couple for a few days. I
guess he had the best side of the deal.
What was interesting about this island, which was quite large, was the
number of beautiful little hotels, ecolodges and villas all around the island,
being kept in good shape but totally vacant.
What a shame. Such a gorgeous
location and perfect weather. It’s their
dry season but no one there. You would
think with the stinking weather North Am has had all winter; people would come there on vacation. They need better advertising.
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| Ecolodge in perfect condition, quite large and totally deserted |
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| Another view of it. Sleeps 25 people |
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| Another resort in perfect condition and totally deserted |
So for the next few days we island hopped from Colombia to
Panama. We saw beautiful islands,
crystal clear waters, palm trees galore and calm seas. The last place we stopped in Colombia was
Sapzorro, a charming in village in the mountains on the mainland. The town was so colorful with brightly
painted houses, very neat and tidy walk ways.
They have no cars or roads and their only mode of transport are boats
even though they are on the mainland. We
would have loved to make conversation with the locals and learn about them but
none of us spoke enough Spanish to make that happen.
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| A piece of drift wood where a dolphin has been carved out of it. |
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| Another deserted resort in Sapzurro in perfect condition |
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| Macaw in the wild |
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| Our first Kuna village from far away as we entered Panama. All thatched huts |
So onward to Panama we sailed. Then we started our new adventure with the
San Blas islands and the Kuna Indians.
The Kuna call these islands the Kuna Yala because they don’t approve of
San Blas, the name given to them by the Spanish pirates many years ago. These are an archipelago of 350+ islands
going from east to west along the Caribbean side of Panama. Some inhabited, but most are not. The Kuna Indians who have lived here for
10,000 years, live very traditionally with a chief, who is their spiritual
leader. They are not allowed to marry
outside their tribe, they have what’s called congresos every night (everyone in
the village meets in a town center) to get spiritual guidance and also to talk
about issues of the village. They speak
both Kuna and Spanish. The women and
children wear molas (beautiful handmade blouses) and very colorful wraps on
their legs.
We are not allowed to take
pictures of them or their villages but they are just so friendly and are very
willing to help you with anything. Some
of the larger villages now have solar panels outside their huts and cell towers
so they have cell phones. We were told
they will come to our boats in dugout canoes and ask for us to charge their
phones in exchange for fresh fruit do to the lack of electricity on the islands
but so far that hasn’t happened. We have
stopped at 4 Kuna villages so far. The
islands that are inhabited are just very crowded with thatched roof huts so the
beauty of the islands is gone but the uninhabited islands are gorgeous.
P
We hired a Kuna guide, named Frederico, to take us up the
Rio Diabo. We took Bruce’s dinghy (on
Celtic Rover) and had a great 3 hours trip up the river. We saw a lot of birds but no wildlife except
a 3-4 ft caiman that swim by so fast we couldn’t get his picture. Frederico told us the monkeys eat the mangos and then throw the big seeds in them at the Kunas and then laugh and run away. I really would love to see that. The Kuna all go up this river to get their
fresh water and do their laundry. I had
forgotten to take mine along. O yes, I
forgot to mention. This is the first
time in 12 years of cruising that I have ended up doing my laundry by
hand. I have been very spoiled. We have always found a laundry mat or a
person who does the laundry. But now I
am on my mine. Harry is a big help and
we are saving money. I now wear a
bathing suit every day and no longer permit Harry to wear a clean shirt each
day. Just one more experience to our
trip.
Amazingly they do have fresh fruit and vegetables for us to
buy and right now we have internet. That
is few and far between though.
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| Coco Bandero Islands, so far the prettiest islands in the San Blas |
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| Ok, so I don't do boat projects all day!!! |
So we will take our time and continue sailing these gorgeous
islands for at least another month before we head north.
