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There are three ways to get from Columbia to Panama. One is to fly, the other is to take a boat through the San Blas Islands and the last and least appealing, is to walk the Darien Gap and never be heard of again. We opted for the more scenic and safe route and took a boat. With some dodgy stories circulating about the yachts that do the crossing we decided on a speed boat that left from the remote region of Spazurro on the edge of the Darien Gap. It is home to some beautiful coves and not yet overrun by tourists due to it being a little out of the way.
Dan and myself decided to head down a day early to appreciate this region with the rest of the group coming together the day after. The trip to this area has to be done in two parts which means taking some bumpy overcrowded mini buses with a tendancy to break the speed limit to the bustling (dodgy) port town of Turbo. After a night here we were able to take a speed boat to the cove of Capurghana where we decided to stay the night. Being another area with no cars the town has a couple of motorbikes and some sad, hot looking horses for means of transport. Our hostel was lovely but very basic, the drawing card being a balcony with hammoks overlooking the beach where local kids were splashing about in the shallows. That night, being a weekend the town was dotted with groups of local men sipping on rum, playing salsa and generally getting a bit rowdy on plastic chairs in the dusty streets. We decided to sit at a pop-up restaurant on the beach for some beers and eat a local dish of delicious meaty, avacadoey toppings on a hard flat bashed out bit of plantain. Sounds random but was super tastey. By the time we got home a storm was starting to brew over the carribean cost and it put on a pretty impressive light show for us while we lied on our hammoks listening to music and drinking beer. Little did I know that this lightning show would turn into three days of storms, continuing our Great South American "El Nino effect" tour!!
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