My sister comes to vist!

Kristie flew down to meet me in Panama City! It was so great to see someone from my past life! We talked the whole 3 hour taxi ride to the boat non stop. My throat was sore from telling her all the stories I have not been able to upload here and I promise I will do as much as I can now while I have a brief interlude! 

We rowed out to the sailboat in the pouring down rain loaded to within 1 inch of the transom with 6 golf cart batteries and her little day pack. She packed light! said this was her "Adventure Race". But she did fit in a new waterproof camera for me and some gifts from my mom! It's a tight fit on a small boat, but since it was really rocking and rolling, she took dramamine and went right to sleep in her berth.

Hot cocoa in the morning and a bright beautiful day! I blew up the kayak, but ended up rowing her to the fort in the dinghy. She got to see the leaf cutter ants and their crazy 7 lane traffic trails! The photos still didn't come out but here is my best attempt!

We went to Portobello in the afternoon. It was pizza night at Captain Jack's and the monkey was biting and the place was hopping. I think it gave her a headache. 

The next day, we went to Portobello again and toured the small quiet village, now that the black christ festival is over. There is still quite a bit of trash around and a few vendors are still selling their wares. She tried a coconut candy and a smoothy with what I call a passion fruit cause I don't know the real name. It has a bunch of black seeds in little gel cells and it's delicious whatever it is!

We took the bus to Pirate's Cove and went snorkeling and got a shower and walked back past this fort here.

Monday, we headed for Panama City! We took one of the brilliantly painted buses to Sabanitas and was picked up once more by our taxi driver Roger. We toured the old architecture and had a margarita (of course, i know) at the Tequila Bar. Tourists! what can I say! but we also tried a chicheme corn based drink and I bought my niece and nephew a mola mask. It seems weird to be doing touristy things after living in Panama for two months! It's expensive too! We got a cheap motel and spent the night before flying out the next morning. It was the first time in two months that I have had a long hot shower! I felt a bit guilty, well not too guilty.

Black Christ festival

October 21, 2010

Sunny morning in portobelo. The music never stopped last night. The
fireworks are going off already. Today is the black Christ festival.
People have dressed up in purple velvet robes and walked or crawled to
get to the church of the black Christ. There are like 20,000 people in
this normally sleepy port town of Christopher Columbus and air Francis
drake fame.

I cleaned out all the cubbies in the sailboat and threw out and gave
away anything that hadn't been used that was not survival gear.

Then headed to captain jacks. The town is simply crawling with people.
Iran literally crawling on their hands and knees following statues.
There's self flagellation involved but I didn't see anything
serious. We ate cocnut de leche candies and I met a local who
ordered me a sandwich with pepperoni and mozzerella. It was delicious.
I wandered into the church and made my way up to the black Christ
statue and back out among the throngs in tact. A kid gave us candle
for the parade. Now I have retreated to the little oasis of americana
at the hostel to await the parade of the black Christ.

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Photos from October 1, 2010

A Kuna canoe on Isla Elephante!

My kayak on deck the sailboat in the Lemmons!

Lunch on board!

Checking in with the authorities at Porvenir!

The little airstrip at Porvenir. That's the tower. Meet your passengers on the grass.

Augustino, our shopping guide to Wichubwala and his seasick son, Augustolino.

Beautiful welcome signs

Buying eggs and other little items.

Looking for bread in the village of wichubwala.

Augustolino in the dingy, right at home, no life jacket, dad left in the canoe.

and back to the sailboat!

Favorite Photos So Far

This is Agustolino! His father set him in the dinghy as we followed him in his wooden canoe to the other island to buy bread!

Buying eggs and a few other goodies in Wichubwala!

Some of the Kuna canoes have junk rigs!

Another rainy sunset in paradise!

And another beautiful little island in Kuna Yala

One month at sea!

One month at sea!
September 26, 2010
I haven't slept on shore for a month now. How do I like it? I love it.
Even though I got a tiny bit sick coming back from Cartagena. I'm home
sick for friends and family. And I'm pretty cut off from outside
communication. I'm currently back in the lemmons right where I started
a month ago. And hope to get wifi some day soon.
I love the swimming, the snorkling, the spearfishing, swimming with
sharks and rays and dolphins is absolutely amazing. Lobster hunting. I
got my first just a few days ago but im real good at spotting them.
They taste delicious in ramen noodles with cheese! We caught a dorado
that was really tasty. And I'm still losing weight.
I have my own dinghy of sorts now. An inflatable kayak. Got it from a
boat in cartegena for $100. It's good transportation but I need an
achor to go out exploring yet.
Sailing lessons are coming along slowly. I still don't think I want to
singlehand the boat yet. Yesterday we had a good wind and heeled the
boat over so there was water over the lee side again. I like that. At
times I wish I had more time to practice on my own. But there's so
much else to do I am not bored at all. I can't seem to keep up with
all my reading. Something interesting is always distracting me.
The kuna boats are one of my favorite distractions. The one I call red
hat lives alone on BBQ island. He paddled by and asked a favor. Could
we charge his cell phone. When he came back for it he misjudged the
landing and went in head first! He smiled and laughed but I'm sure he
was embarassed too! The canoes are very tippy hand carved and his was
especially narrow.
I bought some molas from a lady and three kids yesterday. She handed
up cloth after cloth. Then asked to come aboard. She was yelling at
the kids the whole time. I gave them water and an apple and two
oranges. When she was leaving, she asked for 3 onions. The cloths had
animal designs and bright patterns but not especially new looking. She
has been peddling these same molas for a while I would guess. I did
get a carry bag, a mask, and three small patches.
Another boat stopped by with a man woman and little girl. He collects
$10 a month from each boat for anchoring and gives a reciept. The
little girl asked for a magazine to take to school. She's learning to
read. How I wish I had brought kids books or school supplies. Gave
her my souvenir brochure from the fort at Cartagena. It was all I
could think of. And even though I really woul have liked to keep it, I
guess this is part of my training. There's no room on the boat for
such keepsakes and no way to mail things out real easy either.
Well I better get back to work. If I can call it that! Hasta luego!
Jellyfish

Sent from my iPod