PANAMA CANAL
When we arrived in Panama we stayed @ Shelter Bay Marina, located in Colon on the Atlantic side. Dick and Terry flew home from Colon. We will miss you. We met a lot of real nice people on the docks. Georgio & Irene from Argo have been through the canal several times. They showed us how to save money by not hireling an agent. The paperwork was fairly easy. We saved $ 600.00 doing the canal paperwork ourselves. Our crossing date is Jan 10, 2009. Ed Barlow one of our friends from CO. flew down to cross the canal with us. He was really great fun. We really enjoyed his company. Lea & Less joined us as line handlers. Thanks for all your help.
Crossing the canal from the Atlantic side takes two days. You are given a time to cross by the advisor; he then boards your boat and helps with instructions to stay safe. There were tires tied along side of our boat with black trash bags wrapped around them to protect our boat. We were tied up to a smaller boat. Cheryl was at the helm Carl, Ed, Lea and Less were the rope handlers. We had to provide all the food and drinks for the crew for both days. Cheryl had to pull the smaller boat into the locks and hold them both still while the line handlers tightened the ropes to keep the boats in the center of the locks. The lock doors are closed and the water enters the lock, lifting us to the next level. There were men on the sides of the locks that walked along side of the boat carrying the ropes to the next lock. There are three locks on each side of the lake. The Gatun Lake is about 35 miles long so we anchored for the night and the advisor left us and a new one showed up the next morning for the rest of the crossing. We had excellent crew no problems at all, real nice advisors. It surely was a chance of a lifetime to experience the Panama Canal. Beautiful jungle views from the lake. Monkeys wake you up in the morning. It was quite the experience. Thanks so much to all that helped out to make this a successful journey.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
San Blas Panama
San Blas Islands
The San Blas Islands are a countless number of small beautiful islands, located about 70 miles east of Panama on the Atlantic side. Some islands are habited by the Kuna people, and some uninhabited. The Comarca de San Blas or, Kuna Yale, appears little changed from the times before the Spanish Conquista, a result of the tenacity of the Kuna people. In 1938 the government of Panama granted the Kuna leaders almost autonomous rule in the officially recognized Comarca de San Blas. The traditional hierarchy of tribal leaders on national and village levels has provided the cohesion that makes the 55,000 Kuna one of the strongest nations among indigenous Americans. Most all Kuna people live on the offshore islands, and do all their farming and hunting on the main land also retrieve their drinking water from the streams. The dense jungle on the main land is over whelmed with mosquitoes therefore making it unsafe for living full time.
We sailed from Columbia right to the San Blas Islands just before Christmas. Dick and Terri were still with us. The Kuna are a matriarchal society – women are the traders and hold most financial power. Kuna women create and sell unique “molas” 3 to 5 layers of fabric panels with appliqué and embroidery. When a sailboat arrives at one of these small Kuna islands, the island’s women see you coming and prepare their merchandise then board their small dug-out canoes. They are there waiting as you set anchor. Then they approach your vessel hopping to sell their molas, wrap around skirts and their bead work. In order to visit an island you are required to visit the congreso hut to ask permission from the chiefs before entering. When we arrived there were two chiefs one real old laying in a hammock and one younger. The older one granted us permission and charged us $10.00 US to anchor in the anchorage. This island was named Mormake Tupu (shirt makers) they say that they make the best molas in the San Blas.
We hired a guide to take us onto the mainland to the rainforest jungle for a hike to the waterfalls. We have been to a number of rainforests before but never in the jungle. I saw my first Hollering monkeys. On the path we saw farmers carrying heavy crops on a pole over their shoulders.
Our guide invited us to Mormake Tupu Island for Christmas day. The Kuna people hold a big celebration in the Congreso hut. They all dress up in their tribal outfits and sing and dance. They pass around a calabash bowl filled with homemade wine. The chiefs pass out the wine to the people. They also roll their own cigarettes and put them in a large bowls. Everyone smokes and drinks for celebrations only. Carl wore his Santa suit and gave candy to the island kids. We ate Christmas dinner, chicken and rice for $15.00 US for 4 people. It was a great Christmas, one we won’t forget. Thank you, Dick & Terri for sharing this special event with us.
The San Blas Islands are a countless number of small beautiful islands, located about 70 miles east of Panama on the Atlantic side. Some islands are habited by the Kuna people, and some uninhabited. The Comarca de San Blas or, Kuna Yale, appears little changed from the times before the Spanish Conquista, a result of the tenacity of the Kuna people. In 1938 the government of Panama granted the Kuna leaders almost autonomous rule in the officially recognized Comarca de San Blas. The traditional hierarchy of tribal leaders on national and village levels has provided the cohesion that makes the 55,000 Kuna one of the strongest nations among indigenous Americans. Most all Kuna people live on the offshore islands, and do all their farming and hunting on the main land also retrieve their drinking water from the streams. The dense jungle on the main land is over whelmed with mosquitoes therefore making it unsafe for living full time.
We sailed from Columbia right to the San Blas Islands just before Christmas. Dick and Terri were still with us. The Kuna are a matriarchal society – women are the traders and hold most financial power. Kuna women create and sell unique “molas” 3 to 5 layers of fabric panels with appliqué and embroidery. When a sailboat arrives at one of these small Kuna islands, the island’s women see you coming and prepare their merchandise then board their small dug-out canoes. They are there waiting as you set anchor. Then they approach your vessel hopping to sell their molas, wrap around skirts and their bead work. In order to visit an island you are required to visit the congreso hut to ask permission from the chiefs before entering. When we arrived there were two chiefs one real old laying in a hammock and one younger. The older one granted us permission and charged us $10.00 US to anchor in the anchorage. This island was named Mormake Tupu (shirt makers) they say that they make the best molas in the San Blas.
We hired a guide to take us onto the mainland to the rainforest jungle for a hike to the waterfalls. We have been to a number of rainforests before but never in the jungle. I saw my first Hollering monkeys. On the path we saw farmers carrying heavy crops on a pole over their shoulders.
Our guide invited us to Mormake Tupu Island for Christmas day. The Kuna people hold a big celebration in the Congreso hut. They all dress up in their tribal outfits and sing and dance. They pass around a calabash bowl filled with homemade wine. The chiefs pass out the wine to the people. They also roll their own cigarettes and put them in a large bowls. Everyone smokes and drinks for celebrations only. Carl wore his Santa suit and gave candy to the island kids. We ate Christmas dinner, chicken and rice for $15.00 US for 4 people. It was a great Christmas, one we won’t forget. Thank you, Dick & Terri for sharing this special event with us.
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