Getting from South to Central America sounds like a trivial affair, after all they are so close on the map and if it wasnt for the Panama canal they would be connected, easy peasy. However due to a little thing called the Darian Gap, a swamp like jungle infested with only slightly more rebels and drug runners than mosquitos what should be a little jump is a large problem. However seeing the silver lining in all things the Marvix decided to turn this obstruction into an opportunity with a luxury cruise on a 14 m beauty of a sailboat from Cartagena Colombia to Porvenir Panama. The trip would involve 2 days of straight high sea sailing and then 3 days of lounging around in the beautiful archapeligo of the San Blas islands inhabited by the Kanoa Indians.
After some serious sleuthing the Mavrix tracked down a character of a Captain called Frederico, a half Brazilian, half Frenchman with a dirty sense of humour and a beautiful boat with a complicated name that apparently means ¨Dirty sexual attitude¨in Portuguese. With time, date and price approved we set sail with the sun dipping down over the beautiful city of Cartagena. In total there were 11 of us on board, Frederico the Captain, 2 crew, 3 Irish, 2 ozzies, a Canadian and the Mavrix, a good mix for a good trip.
The first day and a half would be spent at high sea with no land in site and everyone fighting off sea sickness with all their might... one of the Irish didnt manage and the fish were given some extra sustinance but everyone else controlled the level of green they turned and stayed strong.
On day three we finally spotted Land Ahoy and began sailing through the beautiful fairy tale San Blas islands. These tiny gems are home to the Kanoa Indians a traditional group of indigineous people who govern themselves and make money by harvesting the many coconut trees everpresent across the islands. Coconuts are so closely linked to their wealth that they are exchangable at the local markets just like currency. By the way if you´ve ever eaten a Nestle Bounty chocolate then you´ve had coconut from the San Blas islands, thats all they use.
While the islands vary in size and population some of the prettiest are the smallest, those typical message in a bottle, I´ve been marrooned by pirates islands with just a single coconut tree and a white sand beach. These are the islands that we would spend the next three days on snorkeling with stingrays and turtles by day and the phosphoresent fairy lights of the plankton by night, enjoying the sun, eating coconuts and lobsters, bonfires on the beach, watching sunsets, swimming and generally just sucking the juice out of life. It was a great time and a great experience, how often do you get to chill on a yacht while a canoe paddles up to you with lobsters and crab, then jump into the water and swim to a beach where you know you wont be disturbed by a single soul. We were very lucky to be there and very sad to leave.
On our last day we headed onto Porvenir, an island with 2000 inhabitants, it felt like 1999 of these inhabitants were kids because as soon as Vix started handing out balloons swarms of kids mobbed the Mavrix and soon our bag of 100 balloons was gone. As we walked through the tiny village were saw their smiles and laughs bouncing around just like the many balloons we had handed out. Aggg Cute Man! Alas the following day we had to catch the plane to Panama city since we needed to get to Costa Rica super fast... but that is another story.
Tuesday 16 September 2008
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