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12th June 2012
Bit of information on The San Blas Islands. (Kuna Yala) from
‘The Panama Cruising Guide’ by Eric Bauhaus.
‘The Kuna Indians are a fascinating tribe and are the only
tribe in the Americas to have kept their culture and traditions. In 1925 they agreed to be part of the
Republic of Panama under the condition that the Panamanian government respect
their tribal laws, traditions and culture in the ‘Comarca de Kuna Yala’. By 1953 they had been granted full
administrative and juridical powers. They
still build their huts from slim poles lashed with creepers, thatched with
special palm leaves into a thick, waterproof roof. Inside there are hammocks for resting and
sleeping in and that is about it. They
start their day before sunrise with many of them sailing across to the mainland
to work on their farm plots in the rainforest or to hunt, collect firewood and sugarcane. Others head off to fish and to dive for crabs
& lobsters. By 1pm most of them are
back in the village and have time for resting, playing or pottering around in
the water. They respect their
environment, hence the clear and unpolluted waters around the islands and one
of the most untouched stretches of virgin rainforest on the mainland. Not surprisingly the Kuna people are healthy,
friendly and live to a ripe old age.’
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Kuna ladies paddling past.
The 340+ islands stretch along 100 miles of the coast and
all belong to the Kuna Indians, who own all the coconuts on them. Very few are inhabited but they are all well
tended. In the early morning of the 11th we
saw the local dug-out canoes, called ‘ulus’ quietly gliding by to coast round
the islands. If there is enough wind
they hoist a patchwork sail steering with their paddle, balancing the canoe
with their body weight, otherwise they paddle or, in the shallows, they stand
up and use a pole to punt along. They
are amazingly good seafarers both the women & men, and the children are out
in the ulus from toddler age. The canoes
really are dug-outs, roughly made in the rainforest then finished off in the
villages, and are beautifully functional, and the paddles are hand carved.
Delyon and grandson
By 8am
we were receiving visitors – Gonzales, a very old man, paddled out to collect
our $10 visitor fee and to have a glass of water, then Delyon, another old
chap, came out with his grandson to sell us tiny, sweet bananas. I had just made bread so they had some fresh
rolls and declared it as ‘good as Kuna bread’!
They then sailed over to the mainland and returned a few hours later
with mangoes and limes, and offered to get us eggs and bread from the village. As ulus with kids came alongside to shout ‘hola!’
at us we were doling out sweets and pencils which they shared out carefully.
Others came out to sell us fish, large crabs and lobsters fresh from the reefs.
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Delyon sets off with a sail made from sprigged cotton and a Cuban flag
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We took the dinghy to an island with mangroves on the shore,
to go snorkelling on the reef there.
Within seconds we were all getting bitten by ‘no-see-ums’ and we all
ended up swimming back to the boat, trying to keep submerged, while pushing the
dinghy along!
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Playon Chico
15th June
The Kuna Indians visiting us came from the island of Playon
Chico which we visited by taking a long trip in the dinghy. The inhabited islands are jam packed with
houses built in the traditional way, and the walls of poles lashed together let
a breeze through and the palm leaf thatch has a big overhang to keep the rain
out. A few larger buildings, like the hospital, are of breeze block. There is no electricity but this
island is close to the mainland and has a long footbridge to join it to the
school and airstrip. There are a few
airstrips on islands which were built by the Americans during WW2, and they are
really useful as there are no roads here.
We were lucky to meet Raquel, the local schoolteacher, who showed us
round the village, and took us to see the church and to visit the tiny
hospital. John had a chat with the doctor
there, who trained in Spain, and we had a tour of the 2 bed ward, pharmacy, 2
consulting rooms and space for the baby clinic.
Raquel is a popular teacher and lots of children came up to hug her or
hold her hand. The Americans also left a
love of basketball here, and the villages all have a basic basketball court
which seems to be in constant use. The
Kuna people do not like having their photos taken, so I was reluctant to ask, but this lady was kind enough to have her photo taken in her 'mola' shop.
Many Kuna women still wear their traditional dress every
day. The beautiful ‘molas’ they sew are
used as a bodice with a light material sewn on as the top and sleeves, then a
brightly coloured cotton for the skirt.
They have tiny glass beads wound round their calves and forearms in patterns
of yellow, black and red, and often have a gold ring through their nose and
they top it all off with a bright red and yellow scarf tied behind their
heads. It all looks very colourful and
comfortable too. We stopped to watch one lady sewing dresses on an immaculate
old hand-cranked black & gold singer sewing machine, and she found our
interest very funny! Many of the women
were sewing molas, sitting outside their homes, while they chatted and watched
over the children.
23rd June
We had a few days anchored in Coco Banderos, beautiful clear
water and lots of heavy rain, thunder and lightning. One night we had continuous lightning for 2
hours, several storms which gave the effect of strobe lights. We caught lots of
rainwater to replenish the tanks – it is a job we all like, a bit like pottering
with a stream on the beach, trying different ways to divert the water. A couple of larger open boats came out here
with fruit and veg for sale, and cartons of wine!!
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Then we sailed to Nargana Island which is off
the mouth of the river Diablo. Here they
have a noisy generator to power the island, so there are lights for a few hours
in the evening.
We managed to get petrol
for the dinghy from a hut with a row of one-gallon plastic water bottles of
petrol which was strained through a rag into the fuel tank, and we had a meal
ashore. A choice of fish or chicken with
rice (Harry had rice and tomato), and a beer made a welcome change from cooking.
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The fuel depot
We are anchored between the island and the river and there
is a constant flow of canoes going to and from the river with water
containers. Every combination of people
imaginable from whole families, groups of teenagers, solitary paddlers all
heading across.
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River Diablo
We took the dinghy up river
and had a magical paddle along looking for wildlife as there are tapirs and
armadillos in the forest. Of course we
didn’t see any of those but we did see a lot of ‘Jesus Christ’ Basilisk lizards
that run on water, lots of butterflies, parrots and swirls of eagles drifting
on the air currents, and on the way back some flying toucans with their
incongruously huge beaks.
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Basilisk lizard
3 miles
upriver we arrived at the watering spot with people bathing and doing their
washing, and a little further up we joined the water gatherers and filled the
bottles and buckets we had brought before diving in for a swim in our clothes
like everyone else.
Then the engine
wouldn’t start (water in the fuel) and we had to paddle the 3 miles back to the
boat! The next day I did some washing
and we took the soapy clothes up river to rinse them at the washing station -
joining ladies in full Kuna dress having their baths, kids swimming, babies
being washed and a man giving his dog a thorough shampooing, as well as lots of
others doing their laundry, all very sociable.
Canoe tied up by a farm spot on the river
27th June.
Porvenier.
We spent a few days anchored at Green Island with lots of
thunderstorms and great snorkelling, but once again a lot of dead coral as it
has been all round the Caribbean. After 16 days in the San Blas we really felt
we had to clear customs and immigration so arrived in Porvenir yesterday.
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Our hitch-hikers prepare to board
As we weighed anchor off Green Island an ‘ulu’
with a young man and 2 boys came alongside to see if we wanted any crabs. When they realised we were leaving they
hitched a lift, climbing aboard while we towed the ulu. I had made a big batch of chocolate brownies
the day before and Harry was not pleased when they ate the lot! We took them 3 miles and as a storm broke
they paddled away to their island.
Soon
after we had to stop for an hour as the visibility was down to 100 metres in
the rain, blurring the reefs. Also one
of the biggest hazards at sea here is the number of large logs washed down by
the rivers as they can be quite hard to spot.
We have finally checked in, in exchange for US $115 to
immigration and $193 for a Panamanian cruising permit. There is a small, basic hotel on the island,
an airstrip that is being extended so is closed at the moment, and lots of
backpackers arriving in little boats. We
have met several ‘backpacker’ sailing boats that take lots of cheerful people
from Portobello (east of Colon) to Columbia. As soon as they anchor there are hoards
of people leaping into the water for a swim.
Customs and immigration at Porvenir
There’s a tiny amount of things available in the village
shops, which are just huts with a few items around and the shopkeeper relaxing
in a hammock.
Wichubhuala island
We went shopping at the island of Wichubhuala next to Porvenir as we are getting quite low
on stores. We have only been able to buy eggs (of dubious age, so have had a
few black ones), weevil infested flour scooped out of a bin, one small packet
of macaroni, 2 litres of long-life milk, some washing powder, baked beans and a
tin of corned beef as well as tomatoes, one cucumber, a few potatoes,
courgettes (once!), carrots, mangoes, bananas, limes and onions. We ran out of cheese weeks ago, the freezer
is empty and the tin locker depleted. The Kuna bread is very good, long, white
rolls which are pointed at each end and baked in a wood-burning oven, but we
have only been able to buy it 6 times so I have been baking bread most days. On Wichubhuala a local lady let me photograph her with her stock of molas.
Next stop was at Banadup where soon after we anchored Wendy
& Dave on Elysium, (a Westsail 42) came over in their dinghy to invite us
for ‘sun downers’. They came over to see
us as our boat is a ‘double-ender’ like theirs, which is as good a reason as
any. We cancelled the first time due to
torrential rain, but shared a couple of evenings together. They are from Florida, a retired Science
teacher and school social worker and are spending the hurricane season down
here. We did a food swop, a tin of Marks
& Sparks chicken and some brown sugar for a pat of butter and some popcorn
- luxury to have butter again as we have not been able to get it or margarine.
It is much hotter and more humid here in
Panama than in the Caribbean islands, and the sea is like a warm bath but still
cooler than being on deck. Harry & I
like to swim round the boat while chatting about anything and everything,
occasionally stopping to hang off the anchor chain.
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It’s the 4th July and we have arrived in one of
the most popular anchorages in the San Blas, Holandes Cays, which are the group
of islands furthest from the mainland, about 7 miles off and close to the
reefs. There are 10 other boats here (8
from the USA & 2 Canadians) the most yachts we’ve seen since the Virgin
Islands. Soon we were invited to a ‘pot
luck’ gathering on the shore to celebrate 3 birthdays and, of course,
Independence Day, and with only 30 minutes notice we did the popcorn that Wendy
had given us. Good to socialise and we
met a couple who are also going through the canal, but once again no other kids
though 2 boats have dogs! In the evening
one boat fired an old red parachute flare – it didn’t go very high and then
came down onto another boat, bounced off and carried on burning in the
water. Much shouting and swearing was
heard! Parachute flares are designed to
go high, burn for about 40 seconds while slowly drifting down, and then to go
out before reaching the water, so it must have been very old.
6thJuly. Harry
asked for an underwater camera for his birthday and is really enjoying using it. Today we saw a large spotted eagle-ray
swimming past so we all got our snorkelling gear and jumped in. Had to swim hard against the current from the
seas pounding in over the reef, but did get some photos as it was feeding on
the bottom.
Over the weeks a lot of canoes have come alongside to sell
‘molas’ and we finally bought a couple from Master Mola Maker, Venancio
Restrepo, who had some truly beautiful one for sale. They are made in layers of material which are
cut away and folded under to make shapes and patterns. The one he is photographed with has
exceptionally fine stitching, took 6 months to make and costs $100. Alas we didn’t have enough cash left for that
but we like the ones we did buy.
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14th July, Isla Grande. It cost another $113 dollars to ‘clear out’
of the San Blas Islands at Porvenir and we left on the 11th having
really enjoyed our month there, we’ll miss going to sleep to the sound of the
waves crashing on the reefs. We will not
miss the ‘no-see-ums’ though, black and smaller than midges so they can get in
through the mosquito nets. Their bites
are itchy for days and often end in a hard blister, and we’ve all had loads of
them. We’ve also got used to keeping our
laptops and other electronics in the oven whenever there is a thunderstorm and
at night, as it acts as a Faraday cage if we get a near lightning strike. Several boats we have met have been struck
this season, one when we were anchored near them in Banadup. With storms almost every day ‘put my laptop
in the oven’ has become the norm!
Panamanian buses are very glamorously decorated
We were down to our last 20 dollars so needed to get to a
bank. We’ve headed west and are anchored
off Isla Grande, a small island close to the mainland where there is a
road! And a bus service! The island has a few little cafes, some
holiday homes and golden beaches and is very popular weekend place.
The Black Christ on the reefs, protecting Isla Grande
Very early on Friday morning a Panamanian
Navy boat towed a yacht, Luka, into the bay and it anchored near us. Soon after I took John over to the mainland
to catch the bus to Portobello (we’d missed it the previous day) and we met
Fritz, an Austrian with a magnificent moustache, on the jetty. The skipper on Luka was a friend of his, but sadly
he had just died of a heart attack while trying to fix the broken rudder, and
Fritz wanted to talk to the crew member he had lent to the boat. So I went over and collected the crewman
(their dinghy engine was broken) and brought him back.
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Luka and the Navy
Fritz then offered John a lift to Portobello
and it turned out that Fritz was the person to start the ‘backpacker’ boats in
2008. He had a big catamaran called ‘Fritz
the Cat’ and took up to 20 backpackers and 6 motorcycles to Columbia and back
about 30 times a year. Apparently one of
the great motorcycle rides is from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego and with no roads
from Panama to Columbia the boat service is popular, and as Fritz is a chef he
also boasts the best food on the boats.
Fritz had recently employed a Dutch skipper, done 2 trips with him and
then trusted him on his own. The skipper
has just sunk the boat. One of the
engines had started smoking so he turned it off without checking it, then a
couple of hours later there was water sloshing around in that hull – still no
investigation. Soon the hull was so low
in the water that they sent out a ‘mayday’ and were rescued. To cap it all the skipper then demanded his
wages plus $5000 or he would tell the insurance company that Fritz had
scuppered his own boat!!
It turned out that the cash machine in Portobello had been
stolen so Fritz took John to Colon, and a bank.
John returned with some goodies from the supermarket – washing-up
liquid, teabags, tinned tomatoes & mushrooms, cheese and ham, what luxuries,
and plenty of cash.
The saint, soldiers and brass band
Today, the 16th July, is the Patron Saint’s day
of the ‘Virgen de la Carmen in Taboga’ and one of the places where there is a
floating procession is right here. The
small island church has been decorated, the noisy flotilla with the saint’s
flower wreathed statue has passed by with a brilliant brass band - all in white with white instruments. The fiesta is still going on, with
dancing and men with ‘chickens’ on their heads.
A large, chicken-feather head-dress on the man in the middle of the photo
19-23rd July.
We moved a short way along the coast to anchor off Isla Linton, a very
popular anchorage though a lot of the boats look abandoned. The giveaway is not just the thick weed on
the hull, or the bedraggled appearance, but the flocks of swallows coming
chattering in to roost each evening on the rails.
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After yacht Felicia has the night covered in swallows, the pelicans come in to preen during the day.
From the boat we have been watching a pet
camel wandering along the mainland shore accompanied by a pony and a dog, and
the spider-monkey colony on the island, all of them rescued from the pet
trade.
Elysium has been here since we
last saw them and Wendy & Dave have introduced us to a lovely community of
Americans living ashore. Sarah does
laundry (hurray! Haven’t seen a washing
machine for 2 months) and makes great pizzas as well as having a pet Amazon
parrot, and I joined the ladies group for an afternoon of ‘Mexican Train
dominoes’ which was great fun.
We also
went to a ‘pot luck’ gathering on Sunday and met more people, and the wonderful
Dooger, a three-toed sloth, rescued as a baby when his mother was killed. Many of the Americans we met had originally
sailed here, and now live ashore. Still
no internet, though the local restaurant has an intermittent connection.
Harry was positive that Dooger would make an excellent boat pet!
24rd July and we sailed round here to Portobello
yesterday, passing Drake’s Island at the entrance to the bay, and anchoring off
the ruins of Fort San Fernando. Quick
history lesson now! Portobello was
discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502, when he arrived with his exhausted
crews on his 4th voyage and named the place ‘Puerto Bello’. It’s a deep, sheltered bay, well protected
and open to the west. In 1587 it became
the main harbour for the transhipment of gold & silver from south and
central America to Seville in Spain. According
to a Thomas Gage, an English Jesuit, the warehouses would get so full of
treasure that ingots would be lying in the street unguarded. This attracted many pirates and privateers,
including Francis Drake, who is reputed to be buried near Drake’s Island, and
Henry Morgan who at one time launched an assault on Portobello and then
demanded a ransom of 100,000 pesos in order not to destroy the population.
