That is correct - I caught five fish today before one pm. I got a sierra, a barred pargo, a small bass (thrown back), a black skipjack tuna, and another fish we have not yet identified, likely a snapper or something of that ilk. Since there are only three boats here now (counting us)we were able to give fish to both of them and have plenty left for ourselves.
We have settled into Espiritu Santo nicely, and of course I can't remember what I last wrote, so hopefully I won't repeat myself too much. It is wonderful here as usual, and even better than before, because we aren't having lightning storms every other night. Now we get to experience the good time of year here, before the rains start up again. Since we finally have a decent plan for the near future, and are here legally, it is quite relaxing. We got our laundry done, made water, and right now we seem to have a respite from boat projects. I hope I didn't jinx anything. But right now we are just subsistence fishing, swimming, exploring in the dinghy, and of course the general maintenance that is on-going. But since the humidity is way down, I only have to clean mold off the walls once a week instead of every two days. And it has stopped growing altogether in most places.
There is a kind of heron around her called a tiger heron. It's call sounds like a dog, except that dogs don't bark in a pattern. you hear them at sunset and early evening, but you see them during the day. They have black and yellow stripes on their faces.
We are still talking about our trip to the Darien and are planning to visit another river soon. The only issue is whether we go into Panama City first. We have some business, but most of it can be handled via the sailmail and the SSB radio (which is what I use to post this) even when we have no internet access. I guess that is our biggest decision right about now. There is a whole river system in the Darien jungle, and much of it is navigable for boats like ours, boats with a fairly deep draft. Our Darien trip was truly one of the most interesting, life changing, and inspiring experiences we have had since leaving our jobs and regular lives, and a lot of that is for reasons I have yet to be able to articulate, even to myself.
Tomorrow some local guys are supposed to bring us some fruit - probably green papaya and limes. I will be happy for both. Our last batch of limes went bad because I didn't get around to storing them properly. Last time I do that! We are almost out of fresh produce other than onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and some other root vegetables. That is always the first thing to go - the fresh veggies. I have tried all the different tricks, and I think I stretch things out pretty well, but these things only last so long, no matter how hard one tries. I did a pretty good job this time - everything was bought several days before Christmas, so it has been awhile. There are some peppers left, but they are getting pretty dried out.
Somehow I ended up with Aretha Franklin doing "The Weight", which I am listening to as I write this. We have a lot of music stored on the computer, and Mike has made all these random mixes, I guess you would call it. I never know what I am going to be hearing next, but it is fun and rarely do I hear anything I actively don't like. But back to "The Weight" - I had no idea she ever recorded it. It is awesome anyway - one of my all time favorite songs by one of my all time favorite artists. I don't know where half this stuff we have came from - cruisers are always trading those little computer sticks around with movies, TV shows, music, and whatnot. Anyway, listening to good music, writing this post, and just enjoying a bright sunny day - well, I almost (but not quite) feel guilty.
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." (Mother Teresa)
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Friday, January 10, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Adios Rio Sambu!
OK, so I will pick up where I left off, I hope. As I have said before, when I have no internet, I send these out by short wave radio, and I can't go back to read what I said the last time. So if I am repeating myself, I am sorry but there is nothing to be done. I have no short term memory and haven't for at least the last couple of years.
Anyway, we stayed in the Rio Sambu, with five other boats near the village of La Chunga. The people there are all Embera, and they are indigenous to Panama. After the first day, when we paid for music, dance, dinner, and an exhibition of how to work a sugar cane press, everyone went back to their normal lives, with the exception of us hanging around. The kids of the village spent much of each day visiting the kids on the big catamaran, and in the evening, the adults showed up. One day we found three kids in a kayak hanging around the boat, waiting to be invited on. So we did so, and they were interested in everything. Then Mike started taking them on rides in the dinghy, and letting them drive the outboard. Now most of these kids are really skilled in boat handling, and a lot of their wooden cayucos have little outboards. Then one of the adults from the big catamaran also started running kids about, and soon our quiet river anchorage was filled with the sounds of kids driving dinghies around like bats out of hell. It was really fun to watch, and Mike was having possibly a better time than the kids were. We found out later that Mike was a subject of great interest among the village women - it was speculated that they liked his beard. All I know is that several women women went somewhat out of their way to inquire of me as to whether Mike was my husband. The kids all remembered him, for sure.
One thing the Embera do is to paint themselves (mostly the women) with a dye that is sort of like henna, but dark blue instead of brown. Many of the women paint their entire body - arms, legs, and upper torso. Since tops are not generally worn, the chest designs are pretty interesting. So several of us gringos got ourselves painted up. There are pictures, and as soon as I have regular internet, I will post them. I even got my face done, which I am kind of regretting now, as it has to wear off, and the dye really seemed to take well on my skin. So my arms, legs, upper torso and my lower face are covered with designs. One funny thing - when we were getting this done (it is called jagua, pronounced ha-gwa) we were outside of the woman's house. None of the three of us were really comfortable with taking our tops off in front of God and everyone, including each other's husbands and one girl's father and uncle, so we got someone who spoke really good Spanish (I was nervous and could not figure out how to explain the situation even though I certainly have enough of the necessary words to do so) who happened to be a peace corps guy, to tell the local women that in the US, women are not supposed to go topless in the community. I asked him to explain that I thought we were sort of stupid, but it was the way we were raised and we couldn't really get past it. He said not to worry, they understood. So we got the revealing parts done in a house on stilts that I could have easily lived in if there were a bathroom. The houses are on stilts, with only partial walls, and you climb down a ladder to get down, and they only have outhouses. So if not for that, I could easily live in that thatched roof home with no running water. By the way, there is no electricity in this village either.
The village also has a wonderful swimming hole. While the actual village is not on the river itself, it is closer to a tributary or tidal estuary that is part of a running stream. There is a section that is deep enough for the kids to dive off rocks into it, and it is separated from a shallower part by a tiny waterfall. The water is clear and bracing (Mike would call it cold) and felt so good I did not want to get out. We did this right before getting our jagua done.
Later we met some guys who were riding around in a hand carved cayuco, which is a canoe carved from a single log. They have them all over Central America, and each country has a slightly different version. The ones here are long and skinny, and look sort of like a needle slicing through the water. While many of them have outboards, the others paddle, using beautifully hand carved paddles. Mike wanted one, and these guys came over to negotiate the sale. After we completed that, they offered to accompany us about an hour up the river to another Embera community, called Puerto Indio. instead of simply following the river, they took us on shortcuts that bypassed much of the river and instead went up inlets and tributaries. This town was a lot bigger - there was actually a road leading to another village, two tiny grocery stores, one paved sidewalk, and electricity. The homes were a little sturdier, and some of them had satellite TV dishes sticking out. We met the mayor, and generally wandered all over the place, checking it out. They do not get visitors here - it is pretty much inaccessible except by boat. We saw the chute leading from a corral to the river, where the cattle are herded into the same cayucos I discussed before. You can only get maybe two cows in a large cayuco, and maybe four in a large panga. THe cattle are transported to a place called La Palma on the map, but is called Puerto Quimbo by the locals. I have no idea why that is. Puerto Quimbo is the largest town and the governmental center of this area of Panama called the Darien. We will likely go there before all is said and done.
So this experience has been simply amazing, and I feel like in a lot of ways it was a true cultural exchange, not just us gringos coming to gawk at how other people live. The local people came on some of our boats, saw how we lived, and saw how we take care of our kids, which is not that much different than how they care for theirs. These people are wonderfully friendly, and they are interested in absolutely everything. They would like to have more tourists come to their village, and are working to make that happen. They have a little hut with beds and maybe some mosquito netting - I have stayed in dicier places in Guatemala by far. We are the only group of boats to come, and they are not expecting any more. But I think the secret is out and cruisers are going to want to come. I hope everything works out well. We left this morning, and everyone wanted to know when we would be back. And it was not about how much money we spent there - which was not much - but rather they actually enjoyed our company.
So now we are on our way back to what seems to be our home anchorage, Isla Espiritu Santo. We will spend a bit of time there, then head into Panama City to handle some business and to re-provision. We are not yet out of beer, so there is no great rush to get back. Right now, as I am writing this, we are anchored towards the mouth of the river, awaiting a high tide early tomorrow morning so we don't run aground trying to get back out to sea. Mike wants the anchor up by six am, no problem. I hope we can sail some once we get out of the river, but the weather report indicates little to no wind, so we will have to motor it. Not the end of the world certainly, but I do prefer sailing!
So this is it for now - and the next post will likely be from Espiritu Santo. I love it here.
"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but is somewhat beauty and poetry." (Maria Montessori)
----------
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Anyway, we stayed in the Rio Sambu, with five other boats near the village of La Chunga. The people there are all Embera, and they are indigenous to Panama. After the first day, when we paid for music, dance, dinner, and an exhibition of how to work a sugar cane press, everyone went back to their normal lives, with the exception of us hanging around. The kids of the village spent much of each day visiting the kids on the big catamaran, and in the evening, the adults showed up. One day we found three kids in a kayak hanging around the boat, waiting to be invited on. So we did so, and they were interested in everything. Then Mike started taking them on rides in the dinghy, and letting them drive the outboard. Now most of these kids are really skilled in boat handling, and a lot of their wooden cayucos have little outboards. Then one of the adults from the big catamaran also started running kids about, and soon our quiet river anchorage was filled with the sounds of kids driving dinghies around like bats out of hell. It was really fun to watch, and Mike was having possibly a better time than the kids were. We found out later that Mike was a subject of great interest among the village women - it was speculated that they liked his beard. All I know is that several women women went somewhat out of their way to inquire of me as to whether Mike was my husband. The kids all remembered him, for sure.
One thing the Embera do is to paint themselves (mostly the women) with a dye that is sort of like henna, but dark blue instead of brown. Many of the women paint their entire body - arms, legs, and upper torso. Since tops are not generally worn, the chest designs are pretty interesting. So several of us gringos got ourselves painted up. There are pictures, and as soon as I have regular internet, I will post them. I even got my face done, which I am kind of regretting now, as it has to wear off, and the dye really seemed to take well on my skin. So my arms, legs, upper torso and my lower face are covered with designs. One funny thing - when we were getting this done (it is called jagua, pronounced ha-gwa) we were outside of the woman's house. None of the three of us were really comfortable with taking our tops off in front of God and everyone, including each other's husbands and one girl's father and uncle, so we got someone who spoke really good Spanish (I was nervous and could not figure out how to explain the situation even though I certainly have enough of the necessary words to do so) who happened to be a peace corps guy, to tell the local women that in the US, women are not supposed to go topless in the community. I asked him to explain that I thought we were sort of stupid, but it was the way we were raised and we couldn't really get past it. He said not to worry, they understood. So we got the revealing parts done in a house on stilts that I could have easily lived in if there were a bathroom. The houses are on stilts, with only partial walls, and you climb down a ladder to get down, and they only have outhouses. So if not for that, I could easily live in that thatched roof home with no running water. By the way, there is no electricity in this village either.
The village also has a wonderful swimming hole. While the actual village is not on the river itself, it is closer to a tributary or tidal estuary that is part of a running stream. There is a section that is deep enough for the kids to dive off rocks into it, and it is separated from a shallower part by a tiny waterfall. The water is clear and bracing (Mike would call it cold) and felt so good I did not want to get out. We did this right before getting our jagua done.
Later we met some guys who were riding around in a hand carved cayuco, which is a canoe carved from a single log. They have them all over Central America, and each country has a slightly different version. The ones here are long and skinny, and look sort of like a needle slicing through the water. While many of them have outboards, the others paddle, using beautifully hand carved paddles. Mike wanted one, and these guys came over to negotiate the sale. After we completed that, they offered to accompany us about an hour up the river to another Embera community, called Puerto Indio. instead of simply following the river, they took us on shortcuts that bypassed much of the river and instead went up inlets and tributaries. This town was a lot bigger - there was actually a road leading to another village, two tiny grocery stores, one paved sidewalk, and electricity. The homes were a little sturdier, and some of them had satellite TV dishes sticking out. We met the mayor, and generally wandered all over the place, checking it out. They do not get visitors here - it is pretty much inaccessible except by boat. We saw the chute leading from a corral to the river, where the cattle are herded into the same cayucos I discussed before. You can only get maybe two cows in a large cayuco, and maybe four in a large panga. THe cattle are transported to a place called La Palma on the map, but is called Puerto Quimbo by the locals. I have no idea why that is. Puerto Quimbo is the largest town and the governmental center of this area of Panama called the Darien. We will likely go there before all is said and done.
So this experience has been simply amazing, and I feel like in a lot of ways it was a true cultural exchange, not just us gringos coming to gawk at how other people live. The local people came on some of our boats, saw how we lived, and saw how we take care of our kids, which is not that much different than how they care for theirs. These people are wonderfully friendly, and they are interested in absolutely everything. They would like to have more tourists come to their village, and are working to make that happen. They have a little hut with beds and maybe some mosquito netting - I have stayed in dicier places in Guatemala by far. We are the only group of boats to come, and they are not expecting any more. But I think the secret is out and cruisers are going to want to come. I hope everything works out well. We left this morning, and everyone wanted to know when we would be back. And it was not about how much money we spent there - which was not much - but rather they actually enjoyed our company.
So now we are on our way back to what seems to be our home anchorage, Isla Espiritu Santo. We will spend a bit of time there, then head into Panama City to handle some business and to re-provision. We are not yet out of beer, so there is no great rush to get back. Right now, as I am writing this, we are anchored towards the mouth of the river, awaiting a high tide early tomorrow morning so we don't run aground trying to get back out to sea. Mike wants the anchor up by six am, no problem. I hope we can sail some once we get out of the river, but the weather report indicates little to no wind, so we will have to motor it. Not the end of the world certainly, but I do prefer sailing!
So this is it for now - and the next post will likely be from Espiritu Santo. I love it here.
"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but is somewhat beauty and poetry." (Maria Montessori)
----------
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Thursday, January 2, 2014
New Year in the Jungle
(January 2, 2014. Somewhere in the Darien jungle.)
On December 29, we left out little island heaven (Isla Esprirtu Santo) with about five other boats, and headed into the jungle. Our objective was to go eight miles up the Rio Sambu, which is right inside the southernmost bay of Panama, right near the Colombian border.
It is VERY remote here. There are no roads, no roads at all leading from Panama to Colombia. The jungle is so dense and swampy that there has never been a road built through here, not even local ones. The Pan-American Highway, that begins in Alaska, ends here in the jungle and anyone wanting to go from Panama to Colombia needs to take a boat or a plane. There is no way to drive there. That is why there is a brisk business in ferrying backpackers from Panama to South America (usually on the Caribbean side) as there is no other cheap way for them to get there. I was astonished to discover that all these people with crew were not paying the crew, rather, the crew were paying the boat owners for the ride, as well as buying their own food AND helping with the boat work as well. Sweet deal for the boat owner! People even do that all the way to the south Pacific.
So anyway, this other boat we have been hanging around with here, decided to take this river trip and recruited five more of us to join them. Getting here was hairy, to say the least. Not in a violent, storm tossed way, but there are long mud flats from the mouth of the river leading to the bay, and one has to cross them at exactly slack high tide, or one will run aground. The longest drafts (which is how far into the water your keel extends) belonged to us and one other boat. The lead boat is a large catamaran, and those boats will float in about ten inches of water, so they led the way, calling depths out to the rest of us via VHF radio as we carefully motored our vessels along. The water is muddy, so you can't see into it to see how deep you are. We brought up the rear, with the other deep draft vessel just in front of us. (A possible nail in the coffin for the Mickelson 50 I can't get out of my mind - that sucker draws seven feet at least, where we are only six.) The boat ahead of us did end up running aground, if only for a couple of minutes until she was able to work free and get into (slightly) deeper water. Because we were just behind them, we headed a bit to port and managed to avoid the really shallow spot. After that, we managed to get us all into the river, where the channels narrows and the river itself gets plenty deep.
Going down this river was like being in a jungle movie. In fact, the first night we were here we watched "The African Queen" and just hoped neither of us would have to pull the boat through the weeds like that. MJ is a lot bigger and heavier than the Queen! But it is early morning now, and all I can hear other than this computer keyboard and the fan in Mike's room is the sound of birds and bugs, all yelling their heads off. Yesterday at dusk a tree across from where we are anchored was filled up with toucans. We could tell what they were by the silhouette of their bills against early evening sky. There was another tree with roosting herons, cormorants, and another bird we were not sure of. There are supposed to be crocodiles here, and I have no doubt that there are, but we haven't seen any yet. The water is muddy with a strong current, and the other day we awoke to discover there were logs and tree trunks and branches and vines and palm fronds and all sorts of things wrapped around the bow of the boat, actually pushing us and disrupting our anchor from its resting spot. We had been shoved a back about 200 yards. It took us about an hour or an hour and a half to get the mess cleared. We were unable to just push it aside from the deck using the boat pole, and ended up in the dinghy, shoving and poking with our hands, leaning into the water to get a grip and shove everything aside back into the current. Luckily this water is full of natural organic matter, not horrid crap from the city or off of other boats. We had to use a rope and lasso some of the logs, and then use the dinghy engine to pull them out from under. There were logs underneath logs. I have never seen such a mess in my life. We figured out that because we had anchored in a slight bend in the river, we were collecting everything that drifted along. And since the river banks are entirely made from mud with trees that seem to fall in all the time, there is a lot of flotsam. So as soon as we had the mess cleaned up, we moved the boat to a different location. Although i kept waking up every time I heard anything brush along the hull, when it got light and I couldn't stand it any more, I got up and discovered we had made a good decision and there were no problems - just a few vine-ish things draped like ribbons along the anchor chain. It was beautiful to wake up to.
There is a village here, and we have been visiting it. You can either take the dinghy up to a dock like structure, tie it off, and then walk for about a mile or so (I think, I am not good at gauging distances and height and things like that, but Mike said he thought the walk was about a mile) to reach the village itself. The route to the village begins with a raised wooden boardwalk that crosses over a swamp. The vegetation cannot be imagined - you have to see it for yourself. Verdant does not begin to do it justice. There were bird of paradise plants at least ten feet tall, with flowers bigger than my head. The boardwalk is suspended and it a little rickety, so the only problem was I had to watch my feet as I went along to avoid missing boards and generally trying not to trip. I am clumsy under the best of circumstances, so this sort of thing is an extra challenge for me. After the boardwalk ends, there is a flat, neatly trimmed path that runs the rest of the way. I would say the boardwalk makes up about 3/4 of the entire distance. The walk is a wonderful one - as I said, it is flat and well kept, so you can look around. In fact, it is so well kept that I could have gone barefoot, rather than in flip flops, as long as I kept a careful watch for leaf cutter ants and step around them. The bird sightings could not have been better, and the birds are not as skittish as birds usually are.
The village is set in a clearing that reminds me of a football field, sort of, without the lines. They have a large thatched structure with no walls lined with benches that acts as a community center. The houses are wall-less structures up on stilts, and everyone cooks over fires. There is no power. There are chickens running all over the place, as well as some skinny dogs and a few pigs, but the pigs did not come into the living space. The women wear wrap around skirts in bright colors, and the men wear these loin cloth things. Everyone wears beads, some with long strands they double over their chests like bandoliers. They also paint themselves up with this dark blue dye, which is not permanent. I have planning to have it done before I leave, and I will take a picture of it. (By the way, I do have pictures of all this stuff, and when I am in some semblance of normal internet range, I will post them.
Well, this is almost too long for the radio, so I have to get going. I will continue with the jungle adventure as its unfolds.
"Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of experience." (Sir Francis Bacon)
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
On December 29, we left out little island heaven (Isla Esprirtu Santo) with about five other boats, and headed into the jungle. Our objective was to go eight miles up the Rio Sambu, which is right inside the southernmost bay of Panama, right near the Colombian border.
It is VERY remote here. There are no roads, no roads at all leading from Panama to Colombia. The jungle is so dense and swampy that there has never been a road built through here, not even local ones. The Pan-American Highway, that begins in Alaska, ends here in the jungle and anyone wanting to go from Panama to Colombia needs to take a boat or a plane. There is no way to drive there. That is why there is a brisk business in ferrying backpackers from Panama to South America (usually on the Caribbean side) as there is no other cheap way for them to get there. I was astonished to discover that all these people with crew were not paying the crew, rather, the crew were paying the boat owners for the ride, as well as buying their own food AND helping with the boat work as well. Sweet deal for the boat owner! People even do that all the way to the south Pacific.
So anyway, this other boat we have been hanging around with here, decided to take this river trip and recruited five more of us to join them. Getting here was hairy, to say the least. Not in a violent, storm tossed way, but there are long mud flats from the mouth of the river leading to the bay, and one has to cross them at exactly slack high tide, or one will run aground. The longest drafts (which is how far into the water your keel extends) belonged to us and one other boat. The lead boat is a large catamaran, and those boats will float in about ten inches of water, so they led the way, calling depths out to the rest of us via VHF radio as we carefully motored our vessels along. The water is muddy, so you can't see into it to see how deep you are. We brought up the rear, with the other deep draft vessel just in front of us. (A possible nail in the coffin for the Mickelson 50 I can't get out of my mind - that sucker draws seven feet at least, where we are only six.) The boat ahead of us did end up running aground, if only for a couple of minutes until she was able to work free and get into (slightly) deeper water. Because we were just behind them, we headed a bit to port and managed to avoid the really shallow spot. After that, we managed to get us all into the river, where the channels narrows and the river itself gets plenty deep.
Going down this river was like being in a jungle movie. In fact, the first night we were here we watched "The African Queen" and just hoped neither of us would have to pull the boat through the weeds like that. MJ is a lot bigger and heavier than the Queen! But it is early morning now, and all I can hear other than this computer keyboard and the fan in Mike's room is the sound of birds and bugs, all yelling their heads off. Yesterday at dusk a tree across from where we are anchored was filled up with toucans. We could tell what they were by the silhouette of their bills against early evening sky. There was another tree with roosting herons, cormorants, and another bird we were not sure of. There are supposed to be crocodiles here, and I have no doubt that there are, but we haven't seen any yet. The water is muddy with a strong current, and the other day we awoke to discover there were logs and tree trunks and branches and vines and palm fronds and all sorts of things wrapped around the bow of the boat, actually pushing us and disrupting our anchor from its resting spot. We had been shoved a back about 200 yards. It took us about an hour or an hour and a half to get the mess cleared. We were unable to just push it aside from the deck using the boat pole, and ended up in the dinghy, shoving and poking with our hands, leaning into the water to get a grip and shove everything aside back into the current. Luckily this water is full of natural organic matter, not horrid crap from the city or off of other boats. We had to use a rope and lasso some of the logs, and then use the dinghy engine to pull them out from under. There were logs underneath logs. I have never seen such a mess in my life. We figured out that because we had anchored in a slight bend in the river, we were collecting everything that drifted along. And since the river banks are entirely made from mud with trees that seem to fall in all the time, there is a lot of flotsam. So as soon as we had the mess cleaned up, we moved the boat to a different location. Although i kept waking up every time I heard anything brush along the hull, when it got light and I couldn't stand it any more, I got up and discovered we had made a good decision and there were no problems - just a few vine-ish things draped like ribbons along the anchor chain. It was beautiful to wake up to.
There is a village here, and we have been visiting it. You can either take the dinghy up to a dock like structure, tie it off, and then walk for about a mile or so (I think, I am not good at gauging distances and height and things like that, but Mike said he thought the walk was about a mile) to reach the village itself. The route to the village begins with a raised wooden boardwalk that crosses over a swamp. The vegetation cannot be imagined - you have to see it for yourself. Verdant does not begin to do it justice. There were bird of paradise plants at least ten feet tall, with flowers bigger than my head. The boardwalk is suspended and it a little rickety, so the only problem was I had to watch my feet as I went along to avoid missing boards and generally trying not to trip. I am clumsy under the best of circumstances, so this sort of thing is an extra challenge for me. After the boardwalk ends, there is a flat, neatly trimmed path that runs the rest of the way. I would say the boardwalk makes up about 3/4 of the entire distance. The walk is a wonderful one - as I said, it is flat and well kept, so you can look around. In fact, it is so well kept that I could have gone barefoot, rather than in flip flops, as long as I kept a careful watch for leaf cutter ants and step around them. The bird sightings could not have been better, and the birds are not as skittish as birds usually are.
The village is set in a clearing that reminds me of a football field, sort of, without the lines. They have a large thatched structure with no walls lined with benches that acts as a community center. The houses are wall-less structures up on stilts, and everyone cooks over fires. There is no power. There are chickens running all over the place, as well as some skinny dogs and a few pigs, but the pigs did not come into the living space. The women wear wrap around skirts in bright colors, and the men wear these loin cloth things. Everyone wears beads, some with long strands they double over their chests like bandoliers. They also paint themselves up with this dark blue dye, which is not permanent. I have planning to have it done before I leave, and I will take a picture of it. (By the way, I do have pictures of all this stuff, and when I am in some semblance of normal internet range, I will post them.
Well, this is almost too long for the radio, so I have to get going. I will continue with the jungle adventure as its unfolds.
"Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of experience." (Sir Francis Bacon)
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Espritu Santo Christmas
I hope everyone had a really wonderful holiday this year. I still prefer white Christmases, even after all these many years in my beloved California and now in the tropics. I have spent the last four Christmases as follows; 2010-Ensenada, Mexico 2011-La Cruz, Mexico 2012-Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, and 2013-Isla Espiritu Santo, Panama. Who knows where I will be next year?
We had what is called a "pavi-pollo." I have no idea what it really is - the locals told me it was a cross between a chicken and a turkey. It looked like either the world's biggest chicken or the world's smallest turkey. It did taste like a turkey-ish chicken, and came out beautifully if I do say so myself. The gravy was world class. By the way, "pavo" is Spanish for turkey while "pollo" is of course Spanish for chicken. Our friends came for dinner and it was really really nice to have them as guests. They have been in Ecuador for several months, so it is great to reconnect and catch up.
There were about ten boats here for awhile, and we were invited for little soirees on two of them. One of them is a large catamaran with ten people on it - and that includes six kids under eight years old. They are all siblings, too. They have an older sister who is like a junior mother to them, and it is wonderful to see everyone getting along so well. The kids are fearless in the water, and really know how to handle themselves on the boat. The parents are home schooling them, and there is a grandmother and uncle aboard as well. We have met a bunch of boats with kids on them, and the kids all seem really well adjusted, smart, and friendly. I have been impressed. It seems like a good life for a kid.
I have been really reflective lately, because it is the end of the year and I always use this as a time to think about stuff that happened during the last year, what went right, what went wrong, what I want to change, what I want to stay the same. All and all, things have gone well this year and it has been a good year, boat repairs notwithstanding. Mike and I were talking about how there are some things that used to send us into tizzies, and now we do them without any drama or even thinking about it. Things like anchoring are now second nature. If the boat gets turned around when there is no wind, we can easily fix it. Reefing the sails is nothing to us. I am at the helm all the time, no problem.
I miss everyone especially at this time of year. Maybe someday I will be able to time it so I can spend a Christmas with family somewhere. Too bad everyone is spread out geographically. That makes it hard to plan so as to see everyone, without spending the gnp of a small country to fly around the US. However, where there is a will there is a way, however cliched that may be, so if I want to do it bad enough I will come up with something. However, visitors are always welcome!
Ever since I saw it, I have been trying to get that Mickelson 50 footer out of my mind, to no avail. I want that boat. Even Mike wants it. We are trying to talk ourselves out of even considering getting a bigger boat. But it was really something, a fabulous boat in every way that we could tell, and we want it. I love this boat, and I feel guilty towards Magda Jean for even considering this. The only good thing is that we could not do anything about it for at least a year, and so that prevents any precipitous actions, at least I hope so. It gives us time to think about what we really want to do. After all, we have just gotten MJ right where we want her, and I hate to think of starting all over again - but I do have a year to ruminate about this, so get ready, the whining and fussing and obsessing will not stop any time soon.
Although I am not using it now, I am really enjoying playing with my new Galaxy computer - it is a notebook, and all you have to do is touch the screen or swish your finger over it to get it to do things. However, it has a small keyboard, and for lots of hardcore typing, this traditional laptop works better. At least until I get used to using the new one.
Well, I had better get going and start getting things together for supper later on. We are having soup made from the mystery bird (I would love to see one running around the barnyard) with dumplings. The soup also came out wonderful, and that has not always been the case with making soup out of the spent turkey carcass. It seems like a lot of cooking things came together this year - a million ways to cook fish, never failing bread, new vegetables, and now the soup. Now all I have to do is not get fat.
"Happy happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!" (Charles Dickens)
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We had what is called a "pavi-pollo." I have no idea what it really is - the locals told me it was a cross between a chicken and a turkey. It looked like either the world's biggest chicken or the world's smallest turkey. It did taste like a turkey-ish chicken, and came out beautifully if I do say so myself. The gravy was world class. By the way, "pavo" is Spanish for turkey while "pollo" is of course Spanish for chicken. Our friends came for dinner and it was really really nice to have them as guests. They have been in Ecuador for several months, so it is great to reconnect and catch up.
There were about ten boats here for awhile, and we were invited for little soirees on two of them. One of them is a large catamaran with ten people on it - and that includes six kids under eight years old. They are all siblings, too. They have an older sister who is like a junior mother to them, and it is wonderful to see everyone getting along so well. The kids are fearless in the water, and really know how to handle themselves on the boat. The parents are home schooling them, and there is a grandmother and uncle aboard as well. We have met a bunch of boats with kids on them, and the kids all seem really well adjusted, smart, and friendly. I have been impressed. It seems like a good life for a kid.
I have been really reflective lately, because it is the end of the year and I always use this as a time to think about stuff that happened during the last year, what went right, what went wrong, what I want to change, what I want to stay the same. All and all, things have gone well this year and it has been a good year, boat repairs notwithstanding. Mike and I were talking about how there are some things that used to send us into tizzies, and now we do them without any drama or even thinking about it. Things like anchoring are now second nature. If the boat gets turned around when there is no wind, we can easily fix it. Reefing the sails is nothing to us. I am at the helm all the time, no problem.
I miss everyone especially at this time of year. Maybe someday I will be able to time it so I can spend a Christmas with family somewhere. Too bad everyone is spread out geographically. That makes it hard to plan so as to see everyone, without spending the gnp of a small country to fly around the US. However, where there is a will there is a way, however cliched that may be, so if I want to do it bad enough I will come up with something. However, visitors are always welcome!
Ever since I saw it, I have been trying to get that Mickelson 50 footer out of my mind, to no avail. I want that boat. Even Mike wants it. We are trying to talk ourselves out of even considering getting a bigger boat. But it was really something, a fabulous boat in every way that we could tell, and we want it. I love this boat, and I feel guilty towards Magda Jean for even considering this. The only good thing is that we could not do anything about it for at least a year, and so that prevents any precipitous actions, at least I hope so. It gives us time to think about what we really want to do. After all, we have just gotten MJ right where we want her, and I hate to think of starting all over again - but I do have a year to ruminate about this, so get ready, the whining and fussing and obsessing will not stop any time soon.
Although I am not using it now, I am really enjoying playing with my new Galaxy computer - it is a notebook, and all you have to do is touch the screen or swish your finger over it to get it to do things. However, it has a small keyboard, and for lots of hardcore typing, this traditional laptop works better. At least until I get used to using the new one.
Well, I had better get going and start getting things together for supper later on. We are having soup made from the mystery bird (I would love to see one running around the barnyard) with dumplings. The soup also came out wonderful, and that has not always been the case with making soup out of the spent turkey carcass. It seems like a lot of cooking things came together this year - a million ways to cook fish, never failing bread, new vegetables, and now the soup. Now all I have to do is not get fat.
"Happy happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!" (Charles Dickens)
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Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Flip Floppers
So okay, we are not in Costa Rica. Nor are we on the way. We are back in Panama City. As usual, we didn't even come close to following our carefully laid plans. There were (as usual) a number of really really good reasons for changing plans. They are as follows:
1. I already described our immigration problems, with a horribly out of date zarpe (zahr pay) the document that tells the place you arrive where you last left. It is a requirement and they won't let you in without it. Ours was six months old, and said we were going to Ecuador. We were told horror stories about people being refused entry because of dated or otherwise deficient paperwork, and we had no desire to have problems like that. We heard that Costa Rica was one of the most difficult. We were told that the age of the zarpe could be a problem even in Ecuador. So we were in the position of having checked out of the country but never actually leaving. We decided the only thing to do was to return to Panama City, turn ourselves in (so to speak) and pay whatever penalty for being in the country for six months without doing anything about it. So yesterday we took care of that. It turned out to be no problem at all. We had a big story all planned (with much input from other cruisers) but there were very few questions. It turns out that our cruising permit (which allows the boat to be in the country) was still valid, so they just updated our info and charged us nothing. Then we headed off to immigration (to make it okay for us to be in the country) and that was even easier. We only had to pay $210, which is less than we paid originally. We didn't even get scolded, and when asked, I just said we had left for Ecuador but never made it due to boat problems. So now all is well and I feel like a complete nitwit for allowing this to happen. Never again!
2. Our alternator (the device that allows the engine to charge the batteries that give us light and water pressure and stuff like that) stopped working, and we need a new one. Of course Mike wants a bigger and better one, and he also wants the old one rebuilt so we have a spare. The engine is fine without it, and between the solar and the wind power, as well as the Honda generator (if all else fails) we can make all the power we need until the new one can be located. It is not a problem, but needs to be solved and Panama City is a great place to solve problems like this.
3. We have been like babies with our days and nights mixed up in the sense that we have been here in the bad season rather than the good season, which is just starting. Additionally, the good season for sailing to Ecuador will begin this spring. We love the islands here, and after dodging lightning all summer, it would be wonderful to enjoy them without the fear. After all, there have been at least five boats that I know of for sure that were hit this summer. Every time there was a huge crack of thunder that shook the boat in a horribly concussive manner, I felt like a cat that had just used up another life. We vowed never to spend another lightning season in this area, so if we stay here and enjoy the dry season, we will be on track for Ecuador in March.
4. The islands here are wonderful and we have barely begun to explore them. There is an area south towards Colombia with rivers to explore - so we do not want to leave yet.
There you have it. These are our plans as of today.
Things are pretty good here. We bought two new computers - these little Galaxy things that are really amazing. They were our Christmas presents to ourselves. There are a number of boats spending Christmas at one of our favorite anchorages, and we plan to join them. I was thinking about where I have had the last Christmases - one in Cabo San Lucas, one in Puerto Vallarta, and one in Guatemala. We are just starting to realize we have been at this for three years! While there have certainly been the proverbial ups and downs, I would not trade this life for anything. I do miss my family, especially my son, but there are plans in the works to visit in May and June, and in the future I want to plan for more visits home. So that will end things for today - it is time for the SSB radio net. Feliz Navidad!
"When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching -- they are your family." (Jim Butcher)
1. I already described our immigration problems, with a horribly out of date zarpe (zahr pay) the document that tells the place you arrive where you last left. It is a requirement and they won't let you in without it. Ours was six months old, and said we were going to Ecuador. We were told horror stories about people being refused entry because of dated or otherwise deficient paperwork, and we had no desire to have problems like that. We heard that Costa Rica was one of the most difficult. We were told that the age of the zarpe could be a problem even in Ecuador. So we were in the position of having checked out of the country but never actually leaving. We decided the only thing to do was to return to Panama City, turn ourselves in (so to speak) and pay whatever penalty for being in the country for six months without doing anything about it. So yesterday we took care of that. It turned out to be no problem at all. We had a big story all planned (with much input from other cruisers) but there were very few questions. It turns out that our cruising permit (which allows the boat to be in the country) was still valid, so they just updated our info and charged us nothing. Then we headed off to immigration (to make it okay for us to be in the country) and that was even easier. We only had to pay $210, which is less than we paid originally. We didn't even get scolded, and when asked, I just said we had left for Ecuador but never made it due to boat problems. So now all is well and I feel like a complete nitwit for allowing this to happen. Never again!
2. Our alternator (the device that allows the engine to charge the batteries that give us light and water pressure and stuff like that) stopped working, and we need a new one. Of course Mike wants a bigger and better one, and he also wants the old one rebuilt so we have a spare. The engine is fine without it, and between the solar and the wind power, as well as the Honda generator (if all else fails) we can make all the power we need until the new one can be located. It is not a problem, but needs to be solved and Panama City is a great place to solve problems like this.
3. We have been like babies with our days and nights mixed up in the sense that we have been here in the bad season rather than the good season, which is just starting. Additionally, the good season for sailing to Ecuador will begin this spring. We love the islands here, and after dodging lightning all summer, it would be wonderful to enjoy them without the fear. After all, there have been at least five boats that I know of for sure that were hit this summer. Every time there was a huge crack of thunder that shook the boat in a horribly concussive manner, I felt like a cat that had just used up another life. We vowed never to spend another lightning season in this area, so if we stay here and enjoy the dry season, we will be on track for Ecuador in March.
4. The islands here are wonderful and we have barely begun to explore them. There is an area south towards Colombia with rivers to explore - so we do not want to leave yet.
There you have it. These are our plans as of today.
Things are pretty good here. We bought two new computers - these little Galaxy things that are really amazing. They were our Christmas presents to ourselves. There are a number of boats spending Christmas at one of our favorite anchorages, and we plan to join them. I was thinking about where I have had the last Christmases - one in Cabo San Lucas, one in Puerto Vallarta, and one in Guatemala. We are just starting to realize we have been at this for three years! While there have certainly been the proverbial ups and downs, I would not trade this life for anything. I do miss my family, especially my son, but there are plans in the works to visit in May and June, and in the future I want to plan for more visits home. So that will end things for today - it is time for the SSB radio net. Feliz Navidad!
"When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching -- they are your family." (Jim Butcher)
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Costa Rica Bound
Tomorrow we leave Isla Espiritu Santo and begin our voyage towards Costa Rica. I am not sure how long it will take us - to be honest, I have not even checked the mileage. We know our general route, and that will do for now. Tonight we will likely get on the chart plotter and play around wit our course, and then I will have a better idea of how far it is. OK, I just asked Mike and he said it is about 460 miles from here to the part of Costa Rica we are going to. So if we averaged four knots per hour, it will take us 115 hours, or four and three quarter days. Of course it is likely to take at least two days longer because we will not average 4 knots an hour. The winds have been very light for several weeks now, and that is not likely to change. There are some squalls and small areas of tropical disturbances that will move us faster than four knots, but those will be short lived, usually less than three to four hours. So I am guessing about six days at sea. I am looking forward to it. I have missed my night watches, seeing the sun come up and listening to Mike snore from the cabin. I always feel really, really good when I have the helm and Mike is sleeping peacefully. It has taken us a long time to get to the point where he can really relax and sleep while we are underway, and not have to constantly worry if things are going ok on deck.
We have caught a ton of fish on this stay here at Espiritu Santo and have eaten fish almost every other day, as well as pickling four jars of it for later on. Mike loves it and told his mom it tastes like wine herring snacks. He says I make it even better than that. It is great to snack on, like sardines or smoked oysters. I especially love smoked oysters, and if there is an open can of them, I will eat them all, without a care for anyone else in the room. I like them that much. Actually, my favorite seafood of all time is clams. Steamed clams in garlic butter and white wine. With hot crusty bread to sop up the left over sauce. With a cold beer.
Right now there is laundry drying, bedding airing, and Mike is cleaning the side of the hull. I finished the breakfast dishes, cleaned up the kitchen, and did some preparation for leaving tomorrow, mostly battening things down. I have never really had a problem with anything coming loose and flying around causing problems, but no matter how I try, there is always something that will end up on the floor. Nothing that matters or makes a problem, but I am looking forward to the day when I finally get it right.
Tomorrow we are heading out, but we will be stopping overnight about 16 miles from here to meet another boat. This is actually a better jumping off point to begin the Costa Rica voyage than where we are. When leaving the bay, you have to go way south and then shoot around a point, and head west before you can begin the northwest direction to Costa Rica. The point we have to go around in the infamous Punta Mala that gave us difficulties when we first came down to Panama from El Salvador. That was the first and only time that high seas and winds caused us to turn back and try again another day. This time we are coming the other way around, and we have been told that if we reach the entrance to the Bay of Panama about 35 miles off of Punta Mala on an outgoing tide, the tide and currents will give you a real boost going around the point. So that is what we are shooting for, and the other anchorage is a straight shot to that area. Plus, one of the other controllers on the Panama Pacific Net (the SSB radio net I help with) whom we have never met in person (only on the radio) invited us to come over there and meet them before we leave. So we are going to do that, and I am looking forward to it. I am really enjoying the net, especially now that people are actually starting to move around and check in with us. I was told it was a good way to get to know people and to help out the cruising community. And I was told correctly.
So anyway, that is about it for now. We are going to do some more fishing today, as soon as the tide comes in, and hopefully we can catch enough for us and to give some to our new friends tomorrow. Last night I cooked a fish whole (except for the head, the frying pan would not hold it head and all) for the first time, and it came out great. I stuffed the fish with onions, and lightly floured it with seasoned flour, then fried it. It came right off the bone, no problems. Oh - we found out that some friends from El Salvador will be in the same area of Costa Rica that we will be in at the same time, so we are looking forward to seeing them as w That happens a lot out here - you meet someone in Mexico and then three years later run into them in Panama or someplace else. You usually remember the boat name and say "Hey! You're Sunny Days! We met you in Mexico!" It is a lot of fun. When we were in Guatemala, we ran into some people we had met almost two years before in Mazatlan.
The next post I write will be written underway!
"I was equal to the gods., except for the mortal part." (Euripides)
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We have caught a ton of fish on this stay here at Espiritu Santo and have eaten fish almost every other day, as well as pickling four jars of it for later on. Mike loves it and told his mom it tastes like wine herring snacks. He says I make it even better than that. It is great to snack on, like sardines or smoked oysters. I especially love smoked oysters, and if there is an open can of them, I will eat them all, without a care for anyone else in the room. I like them that much. Actually, my favorite seafood of all time is clams. Steamed clams in garlic butter and white wine. With hot crusty bread to sop up the left over sauce. With a cold beer.
Right now there is laundry drying, bedding airing, and Mike is cleaning the side of the hull. I finished the breakfast dishes, cleaned up the kitchen, and did some preparation for leaving tomorrow, mostly battening things down. I have never really had a problem with anything coming loose and flying around causing problems, but no matter how I try, there is always something that will end up on the floor. Nothing that matters or makes a problem, but I am looking forward to the day when I finally get it right.
Tomorrow we are heading out, but we will be stopping overnight about 16 miles from here to meet another boat. This is actually a better jumping off point to begin the Costa Rica voyage than where we are. When leaving the bay, you have to go way south and then shoot around a point, and head west before you can begin the northwest direction to Costa Rica. The point we have to go around in the infamous Punta Mala that gave us difficulties when we first came down to Panama from El Salvador. That was the first and only time that high seas and winds caused us to turn back and try again another day. This time we are coming the other way around, and we have been told that if we reach the entrance to the Bay of Panama about 35 miles off of Punta Mala on an outgoing tide, the tide and currents will give you a real boost going around the point. So that is what we are shooting for, and the other anchorage is a straight shot to that area. Plus, one of the other controllers on the Panama Pacific Net (the SSB radio net I help with) whom we have never met in person (only on the radio) invited us to come over there and meet them before we leave. So we are going to do that, and I am looking forward to it. I am really enjoying the net, especially now that people are actually starting to move around and check in with us. I was told it was a good way to get to know people and to help out the cruising community. And I was told correctly.
So anyway, that is about it for now. We are going to do some more fishing today, as soon as the tide comes in, and hopefully we can catch enough for us and to give some to our new friends tomorrow. Last night I cooked a fish whole (except for the head, the frying pan would not hold it head and all) for the first time, and it came out great. I stuffed the fish with onions, and lightly floured it with seasoned flour, then fried it. It came right off the bone, no problems. Oh - we found out that some friends from El Salvador will be in the same area of Costa Rica that we will be in at the same time, so we are looking forward to seeing them as w That happens a lot out here - you meet someone in Mexico and then three years later run into them in Panama or someplace else. You usually remember the boat name and say "Hey! You're Sunny Days! We met you in Mexico!" It is a lot of fun. When we were in Guatemala, we ran into some people we had met almost two years before in Mazatlan.
The next post I write will be written underway!
"I was equal to the gods., except for the mortal part." (Euripides)
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Monday, December 2, 2013
Really, Really Hot
It is, even though the temperature in the cabin is only 90 degrees with 59% humidity. That shouldn't be so bad, but for some reason it is feels oppressive. There is absolutely no hint of a breeze, so the air is completely still and the water is as smooth as a bathtub. I think it is time for a swim.
We finally ran out of rain water so it is time to make water. The rainy season is officially over, so no use expecting more. It was fun while it lasted.
The alternator (the new one Mike put in) is still not charging properly, but Mike has a new idea. He was sort of discouraged, but I have yet to see anything he can't make work, assuming he has the necessary tools and all. He discovered something about doing something with the inverter, but has not yet tried it.
We saw another boat here yesterday and for the first time I am really jealous. It was a 50 foot Mickelson (or however that name is spelled) and is just amazing. I want it. There is a stern cabin with a huge bed, and so much more. It had an all wood interior like ours, with a big open deck despite the staysail - it is a cutter-rigged sloop. TO top it off, the people on the boat were awesome and we were sorry they could only stay a day, they have a schedule to keep. It is great to meet people you really like and feel like you click with, so I am going to try and maintain contact. We gave them all the fish we caught yesterday afternoon - and then went out and caught two more, so they stopped feeling bad about us giving them all our fish. We are picking most of it, as it makes great snacks while underway. There is one large filet left that I will fix for dinner. Two or three days ago we caught several more, gave some to another boat, and then Mike fixed it with garlic and lime and it was so good I thought I might die. Both of us are getting really good at fixing fish in a variety of ways.
We are slowly but surely getting ready to leave for Costa Rica - hopefully in about four days, if all goes as planned. Both of us are looking forward to getting underway being at sea for several days, all that goes with that, even the night watches.
I am feeling absolutely slothful, so I am going to end this for now, and jump into the water.
"Plough deep, while Sluggards sleep; and you shall have Corn to sell and to keep." (Benjamin Franklin)
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We finally ran out of rain water so it is time to make water. The rainy season is officially over, so no use expecting more. It was fun while it lasted.
The alternator (the new one Mike put in) is still not charging properly, but Mike has a new idea. He was sort of discouraged, but I have yet to see anything he can't make work, assuming he has the necessary tools and all. He discovered something about doing something with the inverter, but has not yet tried it.
We saw another boat here yesterday and for the first time I am really jealous. It was a 50 foot Mickelson (or however that name is spelled) and is just amazing. I want it. There is a stern cabin with a huge bed, and so much more. It had an all wood interior like ours, with a big open deck despite the staysail - it is a cutter-rigged sloop. TO top it off, the people on the boat were awesome and we were sorry they could only stay a day, they have a schedule to keep. It is great to meet people you really like and feel like you click with, so I am going to try and maintain contact. We gave them all the fish we caught yesterday afternoon - and then went out and caught two more, so they stopped feeling bad about us giving them all our fish. We are picking most of it, as it makes great snacks while underway. There is one large filet left that I will fix for dinner. Two or three days ago we caught several more, gave some to another boat, and then Mike fixed it with garlic and lime and it was so good I thought I might die. Both of us are getting really good at fixing fish in a variety of ways.
We are slowly but surely getting ready to leave for Costa Rica - hopefully in about four days, if all goes as planned. Both of us are looking forward to getting underway being at sea for several days, all that goes with that, even the night watches.
I am feeling absolutely slothful, so I am going to end this for now, and jump into the water.
"Plough deep, while Sluggards sleep; and you shall have Corn to sell and to keep." (Benjamin Franklin)
----------
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