Pictures, Finally

I finally got some pictures prepared for posting.  So here goes.  The internet here is dicey and kicks us off at the drop of  a hat, so we will see what happens.  There are a ton of pictures, and it takes a lot of time to sort through, then shrink them for posting, resaving, etc.  They are a mixture in no specific order, so here goes. 

First of all, I think this is a strange name for a beer.  But here it is.  This is in Panama

 

We Spent a week in January in the Darien jungle, visiting a village where the Embera people live.  It was a wonderful experience and Mike took some great pictures   This is an Embera baby.

 


                                                     And this little girl had no problem having her picture taken.

 

 

This is what can happen when you anchor where there is a currant, like in a river.  It took over an hour to clear an bigger one.  I was able to clear this with the boat hook.  We had to use the dinghy and the engine to clear the other one.                                               

                                       

 Here are the houses where people live in the village.  If a ladder was down, it meant the people were ok with company.  If the ladder is up, it means no visitors.

 

Here are some of the kids that came to visit on the boat. 

When we got to the village after walking up about a half a mile through the jungle, everyone was out to visit us.  The men usually wear shirts and tshirts, but the women wear the traditional dress all the time. 

I got myself all painted up just like the women there do.  I have it all over my front too, as well as bands on my legs and the bottom half of my face.  It took about three weeks for it all to go away.

OK, switching gears, here is me at the equator, as proved by the position shown. 

 And for anyone who wonders, this is what my kitchen (galley) looks like when the place is clean.

 
This is the jungle along the river we visited.  Except for regular paths, it was really dense and we did not try to hike in it.

This woman is making the dye used in the tattooing process.  These kids were on a boat that organized this trip, and it was fun to have kids with us.  It opened things up in a way that I don't think would have happened if it had been just adults.

Here is Mike with some of the men.  He was quite the center of interest among the women.  We suspect it was the beard.

Here is Mike taking the kids out in the dinghy.  He let the kids drive and they were tearing it up all up and down the river.  There was another man taking kids out, but the little girls refused to ride with anyone except Mike.

Here are out boats at rest in Bahia Caraquez.  MJ is off by herself, in the middle.

 

Here is Bahia Caraquez from atop a hill, looking down over the estuary as it empties into the ocean.

 

Now we are back in Panama.  We saw these guys in their Cayucos, which are the canoes made from a single piece of wood and carved out.  The dogs are along to help hunt iguanas.

Here is a California needle fish I caught.  They are really good to eat.

 

 

Here is a close up of the teeth.  We had to be careful handling it.

 

These are ibises, roosting in a tree. 

And where would we be without pelican trees?

Here is the living room (saloon) where we spend most of our time.  This is from the stern of the boat looking towards the bow.  I have the door to the vee berth closed because it was being used for storage and was messy.

 

 

So finally, here is some evidence of what I have been doing.  There are more, and I will try and get things up.  We are getting ready to head off for the US - we will be there for about six weeks, traversing the country.  I am looking forward to it, and hope I can sleep on the plane as it is an overnight flight.  The airport is about six hours north of here, and we are taking the bus.  So the next post will likely be from the good old US of A. 

 

 

"Common sense is not so common"  (Voltaire)

 

 

 



 

Bahia de Caraquez

Well, we made it.  And it is fabulous here.  I feel really comfortable.  The Spanish is easy to understand.  The weather seems similar to San Diego, except it is pretty humid.  We get a nice breeze in the afternoon that helps with the humidity, and for the first time in ages I am not hot.  We still need our fans, but it is very comfortable.  We are anchored, but should a mooring  ball become available, we may take it.  But maybe not, because this is a very quiet anchorage, without any wild wave action.  There is a current because we are actually in a river estuary, but that is not a problem.  We have not had too much time to explore the place yet, but we have met some local people and have already arranged for boat care while we are gone, as well as arrangements to have the floor (sole) of the cabin refinished.  The worker comes well recommended by other cruisers.  I feel very confident the boat will be fine while we are gone.  Mike is hesitant to leave the boat this long, but he will deal with it. 

The trip down here was hell for me and I am not really sure why.  Yes, it was poky, and yes, it was terribly frustrating to sail hard and not make any progress.  But we had no storms that caused problems, in fact we wanted some storming because the storms pushed us along nicely.  It was just not that bad.  We were out there for 11 days.  Not a long time, not long enough to be as upsetting as the trip was.  I really wanted to quit, which in turn made me feel more upset than ever.  The problem was I developed this horrible anxiety that would not go away.  My stomach was in knots, I couldn't eat (no real problem there, I need to lose weight anyway, ha ha ha), and all I wanted to do was sleep, which I did as much as possible.  Poor Mike had to do all the work.  He might as well have been a single hander for all the good I did.  I did stand my watches, and helped out when asked, but that is all.  I was on the verge of tears all the time, and I have no explanation for the anxiety.  I really don't understand why I felt like that.  Mike is scared I am going to refuse to go any further, but that isn't going to happen.  I just wish I could figure it out.  I am afraid I will get so nervous about possibly being nervous that it will turn into one of those self-fulfilling prophesies.  The anxious feeling is terrible - I feel like I want to throw up all the time but I am not nauseated or feeling sick.  I haven't felt this way in years.  Anyway, this is something I have to mull over and figure out how to overcome it.  Mike says he can single hand the boat and I can meet him in ports, but I don't want to do that.  I want to keep sailing, and I think it is important that I meet this challenge and overcome it. 

But so far I love Ecuador.  I thought I would like South America and so far I do.  We have TV on the boat and there is a local channel that is pretty much all news.  The talking heads are pretty easy to understand, so we are enjoying it.  We are learning a lot about South America in general from this channel, and also noted that while it is not exactly anti-US, they don't cut us any slack.  It is interesting to see things from this perspective.

What else is new?  To get in here, we had to cross a large sand bar at high tide, and needed to have a special pilot come out to meet us and direct us in.  The next day we saw the same area at low tide - completely free of any water.  It was hard to believe we actually came across it.  There is a big bridge over the river that is lit up at night with colored LED lights.  There are several other boats here with friends of ours on them, and several more boats that we know are on their way from Panama.  They have everything we need here within walking distance of the anchorage, and some of the beach front restaurants look like fun.  While we were walking around yesterday, we came across a guy selling empanadas.  We bought two of them, and I thought they were delicious.  They had chicken and I think sweet potatoes in them.  I expect to have more before all is said and done.  Today some of our new local friends brought us some shrimp that was so fresh one of them jumped out of the bowl.  I have had fresh live lobster, but never shrimp so fresh they were alive.  We boiled them up and what a delicious first meal of the day.  What a life.

"I have a simple philosophy:  Fill what's empty.  Empty what's full.  Scratch where it itches."  (Alice Roosevelt Longworth)