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Hi All,
Well I guess all our loyal readers (yes our parents and grandparents so what? He he) are eager to hear about the next adventure of our trip- our sailing trip from Cartagena, Colombia all the way to the coast of Panama. We had tentatively organized two places on a boat through a local hostel in Cartagena, days earlier. However when we started the process of confirming our trip, we found out that the captain had done some damage to his yacht on his last voyage and would not be sailing the next day. Panic stations were activated and we enlisted the help of the wonderful staff at our hostel Hostal Real to assist us in finding a new boat. We had to leave in the next couple of days as we had a flight to catch in Panama City in 5 days. Enter Bruno and Ingrid and the yacht Invicta. They were leaving the next day and already had three passengers- we would complete the crew. So we arranged to meet them near the yacht club to check out the vessel we would be sailing on. We approved (looked in working order, had lots of safety equipment, radios, gps etc, plenty of room for everyone to sleep) and we immediately got on with Bruno and Ingrid (they're a couple from the Canary Islands and Bruno has many years sailing experience) so we said- sign us up! We did a little last minute preparation- buying sun screen etc and the next day in the afternoon we met Ingrid at a nearby supermarket and followed her to the yacht club and a little dinghy which would carry us (and our silly amount of luggage) to the yacht. When we arrived we met our fellow passengers- Simon a fellow Aussie from Perth, Gili from Israel and Andrew from Switzerland. We settled in and were assigned our beds (ours in the front of the boat- not as fun as you might imagine!) and started to chat. We were waiting for our passports with exit stamps to be delivered to the yacht club but it was taking a while. We were patient though and soon enough Bruno sped off in the dinghy and returned with the passports- one small problem though- apparently the president of Colombia Manuel Uribe was in the harbour (entertaining on his yacht maybe? I'm not sure). Military helicopters were flying overhead and no one was allowed to move their boats or leave the bay until the President had left. Now THAT'S red tape! So unfortunately we weren't able to leave till 8 pm that night. After some dinner and no signs of sea sickness, we eventually headed into bed. And THAT'S when the sea sickness hit! When I (Hayley) was on the deck with the fresh air and could see the horizon, I felt fine, but when I headed into the cabin to get ready for bed, all that looking at still stuff while in a swaying sick, yes I had to run outside and puke in a bag- ewww! I learnt my lesson though and spent as little time in the cabin as possible while we were sailing after that. The next day was a day of nothing but sea for as far as you could see. None of us ate very much and we all read and played cards (I read an entire novel in the two days of sailing we did!) and helped a little with the sailing- pulling ropes, even steering (and yes we still got to Panama) Usually it doesn't take this long to get to the San Blas however we had the initial hold up with the Presidente and we were about to run into a few more delays. As we watched the sunset on our first day of sailing, the lightning began. It was quite a sight and Bruno and Ingrid began precautions such as pulling down the sails. It began to rain and basically for the rest of the night there was a lot of wind and rain. This made for a bumpy night in the bed in the front of the boat and worse- we only managed to go at about 1-2 knots the whole night as we zigzagged off course to avoid the storms, putting us even further behind schedule to get to the islands! However we didn't have nearly as bad a night as Bruno and Ingrid- when we woke up, Ingrid raised her head from where she'd fallen asleep on the deck and just said "No more storms!" Poor girl!! Another day followed of eating lots of fruit and staring fruitlessly at the horizon for signs of islands! That evening we were in luck however, though we could only see outlines, we came to rest in calm waters close to some of the islands and put down our anchor. Thank heavens for a non moving bed!
And after two days we got our sweet reward (ok so sailing the yacht through small storms was probably more difficult for Bruno and Ingrid than our dealing with sea sickness and boredom!) We woke in the morning to two beautiful islands, one close enough to swim too. We took the dinghy and set off to explore. A walk around the first island (part of a group called Coco Bandera) and it really was like an undiscovered paradise. Palms covered in coconuts lay in the middle of the isle and all around was the whitest sand I have ever seen. When the sun came out later that day the sea around was literally turquoise. And in the sea! Just walking in the sea we saw huge red and yellow star fish and big shells with bright pink inside them. And then I discovered the joy of snorkeling (no I'd never done this before) Swimming on the far side of the island we first swam with schools of thousands of tiny fish and then saw bigger fish- yellow, black and white and bright blue. And some beautiful coral as well! I could have done this forever- just watching the next thing to swim in front of my mask. But soon enough I left the water to find a woman from another island had set up a stall of brightly colored traditional weavings on the beach- of course we bought a few! After relaxing on the beach for awhile longer and trying to avoid the strong midday sun under the palm trees, Simon turned up looking for someone to snorkel with him around the reef surrounding the island (because he was afraid of sharks which turned out to just be big fish!) I (Hayley) volunteered and I ended up seeing some more amazing fish including some with bright, glow in the dark eyes! I also made a friend- when we stopped in amongst a school of fish one black and white one took a liking to me and swam right next to my belly for the next ten minutes- kinda creepy!
Meanwhile back on the island, I (Ryan) was approached by two men paddling a canoe, one of whom was holding something in his hand and waving it at me. As the canoe pulled closer to shore, I excitedly realized what was on offer - freshly caught seafood! I peeked inside the small boat and saw a feast of live crayfish wriggling and snapping about in the bottom of the boat, with one of the men periodically splashing seawater onto the collective catch to keep his commodities from expiring in the strong midday sun. Shortly after greeting the vendors, I began haggling for what I thought was a good price for the produce (I had been briefed earlier on the going rates for fresh lobster on the boat) and ended up with the following deal - one enormous king crab, 6 medium/large lobsters and 6 or 7 smaller ones for a total of twenty dollars - not a bad deal at all! Later with everyone back on the boat, we had an excellent lunch, consisting of a few of the aforementioned lobsters quickly heated in a pan with some lime. The bulk of our meal however, was prepared by Ingrid, and consisted of a delicious lobster and vegetable soup, fresh salads, potatoes and homemade sauces and dressings (which included a great recipe from the Canary Islands that utilized the very exotic spice of saffron). All in all we were very well stuffed after our almuerzo and proceeded to nap on the boat, read and later jump back in to the warm Caribbean waters. Later that night, Gili, Simon, Andrew, and the two of us took the dinghy out to the closest island (Bruno and Ingrid stayed on the boat, as Bruno had been unwell that day), where we built a bonfire, cooked the rest of our crayfish, drank rum mixed with homemade lemonade or coke and reflected on our first day in paradise. One of us (*cough* Simon *cough*) indulged in a little too much rum, and provided some late night entertainment by swimming back to the boat, towing the dinghy over his shoulder. Later, after been told to be quiet, he grabbed his box of rum, jumped back into the water, and swam back to the island. Once there however, he became a little traumatized, firstly by convincing himself that there were ghosts on the island, and secondly by recalling that we had seen some small sharks right next to the boat when I had been fishing earlier in the day. Bellowing back to the yacht for help, he eventually got his nerve up and swam back to the boat, and very promptly collapsed in his bed - bloody Australians!
The next day, we pulled anchor and sailed about 20 miles or 4 hours to the administrative island of Porvenir. Here we needed to take care of our entry stamps for Panama which Bruno & Ingrid kindly handled for us while we stayed on the boat and jumped in and swam in the nice cool water. Currently adjacent to Porvenir is a gut-wrenching sight - a multi-million dollar yacht, stranded for months and leaning on a 45 degree angle on a shallow reef - a sad reminder of how easy it can be to lose everything thanks to a simple navigational error. On Bruno & Ingrid's return, we made our way to another group of islands about one hour away, this time inhabited by some of the native Kuna people. Here, we did more of the same - snorkeling, swimming, exploring the islands, drinking from coconuts until a great dinner of pasta with tuna and tomato prepared by Bruno. The next day we prepared to say goodbye to our idyllic surroundings, packed all our gear and went for one last swim before a speedboat came to collect us and take us to the mainland. We said our goodbyes to Bruno & Ingrid who had given us the best possible experience we could have hoped for on this trip, a great responsible and safe couple of hosts, but laid back and fun at the same time. The speedboat collected four of us at 11:30 am (Simon decided to stay on for a couple of days after discovering the local girls) and it took a very hot hour in full sun before we got to the mainland. There we found a jeep waiting for us to shuttle us to Panama City. After a very scenic and rally driving style journey of about 3 hours, we soon arrived at our destination (stopping briefly to get a few ice cold cokes - it's amazing what you crave when you're in paradise!) There we found waiting for us a very cheap studio style apartment in the old part of town, Casco Viejo, where we spent the better part of that night.
The next day was our only full day in Panama City, so we went out early to take care of laundry, explore the area, etc. But most importantly of course, we needed to make our way to the city's biggest attraction, the Panama Canal. Early in the morning, while wandering around Casco Viejo's Plaza Frances (which contains monuments honoring the thousands of French citizens who died in vain in their attempt at building the canal), we met a man who was a descendant of a canal worker and who had himself worked at the canal when he was younger. He spoke perfect English with a very discernable American accent (an education in English was one of the benefits provided to children of canal workers) and gave us a bit of information about the area, including pointing out where he lived during the American invasion of Panama in 1989 when he very sadly lost his home and his wife. During our chat he gave us some important information - the last big ship for the day was to pass through the canal in about an hour or so. So he quickly hailed us a taxi, we tipped him a few dollars and we were on our way. We soon arrived at the Miraflores Locks (the main set of locks on the Pacific side of the canal), bought our tickets and hurried up to the viewing deck just in time to see the spectacle begin. Before us we saw the almost comical sight of a tiny catamaran waiting in the locks as an enormous Panamanian cargo ship Andromeda Leader bore down on it - they were to go through at the same time. Interesting facts were announced to us over a loudspeaker, such as the fee for a catamaran to go through the locks was $500, whereas for the cargo ship (which is charged based on the number of shipping containers it carries) there was a more hefty sum of around $350,000 to be paid. (For more interesting info on the canal, follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal)
During the show, with everyone pointing their camera's at the behemoth of a ship, we were somewhat surprised to see the ship's crew waving and taking photos of us! I guess the canal is a bit of a spectacle for them too! After watching a movie and visiting a museum about the canal and it's history, we left and made a run for a taxi, as during our time at the canal, it had started bucketing down (thanks to regular weather like this, the functionality of the canal (whose lock system expends thousands of liters of freshwater with each passing ship) is made possible). It continued to rain heavily for the most of the rest of the day, so we decided to head for the much heralded Albrook Mall. Filled with American shops and fast food chains (just one legacy of America's hundred year influence in Panama) and possibly one of the biggest malls either of us has seen or been to. There we had a nutritiously void dinner at Burger King and saw the enjoyable movie remake The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Oh the wonders of capitalism!
That's all for another blog folks, hope you all enjoyed it. Next, Guatemala!
Love Ryan and Hayley
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