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Jan 12

Cambombia

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Tutty Lee

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The Naguargandup Cays are a beautiful chain of mostly uninhabited islets scattered along a six mile long barrier reef, they are situated close to the mainland the water is well protected and calm. We had the opportunity of spending more then a week here in this little piece of paradise. We sailed to the small island of Morbedup, better known as Cambombia, meaning conch one of the food staples.As we were lowering the anchor an “ulu”, canoe to offer help and welcome us to the community.There are only two cousins with families who had huts at either end of the island. Approx. 10 adults and six children. A few of the children were away during the week on a bigger island to attend school. The island is about half a mile circumference, covered in coconut trees, with no electricity. The men rise early before Sun-up, leave in their ulu’s to go fishing, or collect lobsters and conch. Others days are spent travelling to the mainland where they have farm plots, that grow bananas, breadfruit, coconuts, yucca, pineapples. and or collect fire wood. The only income earned is by selling things to the visiting cruisers. The women offer their beautiful Molas, which are Panama’s most famous handicraft, and are appreciated in most countries. They are intricately made by sewing and cutting different layers of colourful cloth. Each Mola is unique, and they usually show abstracted forms of birds, animals, or marine life. Some take almost a month to complete.They also sell fruit, or offer seafood meals served on a large table beside the huts, Lobster, fish, or conch with rice and plantains and fresh baked bread less, then ten dollars.

The trading boats stop by loaded down with goods to sell. The oldest women on the island, which was Grandma, is always the first out on to the small dock to haggle with the men over prices, she bought eggs, limes, tomatoes, frozen chicken, and cooking oil. I couldn’t resist getting in on the action, whole bird, insides, head and all…..$2.

The islands here are being threatened by 2 major problems……Global Warming and Plastic.

The oceans are rising and washing away the shoreline of the low-lying islands, trees falling into the water.

The other problem, and one we can make a difference with, is to, stop using so much plastic. Some beaches have piles of various objects, 50% water bottles that have ended up in the water. With nobody recycling, it will remain an eyesore for a long time. Burning it is not an option. Imagine this in your own backyard, with nothing you can do about it.

Jan 05

Islands in Kuna Yala, Isla San Blas

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Tutty Lee

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Isla Pinos

This small island was going to be and is a most cruisers original landfall into the San Blas, but we changed our minds when we were still in Colombian waters.

The Anchorage on this island has a bar/restaurant that serves fresh seafood and cold Panama beer with a small beach, right out front, in a postcard setting. It also serves as a over night stopover for the boats delivering backpackers into Colombia. We had one of these boats show up with more than 20 passengers, who spent their time enjoying a lobster dinner then drinks on the beach, before,setting up hammocks and sleeping under the thatched roof.

Snug Harbour

Nargana

At the mouth of the Rio Diablo, close to the mainland are 2 communities united by a bridge, the islands of Nangana and Corazon de Jesus. The residents have decided to give up the traditional Kuna way of life. Most of the women don’t wear molas, and the chef has little authority. Still we were encouraged to go meet with him. This is one of the most “advanced” communities in all of Guna Yala, and has some real benefits. There is a bank, but wouldn’t work for us, a health center, library and best of all, the internet, it came in better if you stood directly under the antennae near the bridge. Pages took around 30 seconds to refresh. Good enough for email.

Walking through the town we noticed the flicker of televisions from the huts. Most of them were huge sets 40 inches or more.Rum and beer can be bought freely at any of the bars., in town there are several. We found a good deal at the pool hall., $12 US for a 1 litre bottle. In the evening, just before sundown, there was fresh bread from a small bakery.

We took a trip up the river but didn’t go the 3 hrs. to a lake and waterfalls where the Kuna go to get fresh water.

The Colombian trade boats are always in the port one leaves, another one arrives.

The men all ages in the evening play basketball, the teenagers play Volleyball ,the town has won several championship awards.

The sign list what’s for sale at the store…..beside it…We Cut Hair

Dec 29

Puerto Escoses

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Tutty Lee

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In 1698 William Patterson, a cofounder of the bank of England, organized and financed an expedition to found a settlement in the bay of Puerto Escoses. The 1300 Scots who built Fort Andrew, of which today only ruins remain, ender up having a terrible time, faced with starvation and disease. In the end the project became a fiasco and after less than two years in the Darien, region those that remained alive returned to Scotland. Just after they left, a fleet with reinforcements arrived from Scotland and made a second attempt to survive. They suffered the same problems as the predecessors and Fort Andrew was given up for good in 1702. Of the nearly 3000 people involved, over 2000 died. Fort Andrew is hardly recognizable. This is the only attempt the Scots ever made to colonize in America.

Sooner or later it had to happen, Today was that day a bit stressful I guess I should have studied the chart more. I felt pretty confident we have 3 navigation programs 2 guide books, we should be able to get around the islands with out running aground. Nope as we headed between point of land and a small island where at least 30 men in Cayucos were fishing. we started to see bottom. When I checked the depth it said 10ft. I slowed down and continued on 9,8,7,6 checked chart plotted said we are in the right place. Mistress needs 5ft 7in shallow on both sides hard to turn around. Left or right. I chose left we came to a stop, the keel in a sand bar. A little while later an older guy in a dug out canoe came paddling over to us. I’m sure the first thing he said is “ Its shallow here.” He spoke no English but a little Spanish I spoke no Kuna so Spanish it would be. We decided to put out a stern anchor line and winch ourselves free. We put our spare anchor line out the back of the boat, then into the dinghy. The plan was to row out to deep water then drop the anchor. Once it was set we would get to work. We did all this, which took about an hour then started winding the line became taut, so it must be doing something. Another small boat approached 2 young guys curious as to what was going on, some how they thought we had the anchor stuck not really paying attention to them they jumped in the water and pulled the anchor out of the bottom. They then took the anchor of tied the line on there boat and attempted to pull us off, with Mistress in reverse and them pulling we started having some success. Then suddenly everything stopped, the rope was around the prop. Now I think felt really bad, we were sick to our stomachs. They dove back in the water and started unwinding the rope some needed to be cut out. Another motorboat approached, we were becoming the local attraction. After 1 1/2 hours of diving, cutting, and pulling fibers out of the shaft we finally had it clean again. By now it was in the afternoon, the tide was going down we were settling more into the sand, constantly boats of all sizes went by us to have a look, or offer words of encouragement in Kuna. We tried digging the sand around the keel til sundown. High tide was scheduled for around noon the next day. As it got darker the boat heeled more and more, listing 25 degrees on its side, bobbing gently it was like a funhouse inside, no level surface that we could sleep upon. At daybreak we put out the anchor again, and kept the line taught hoping the rising tide would pull us free. Every 15min we gave it a flew more turns. Around 11:30am we started moving slowly, the shell on the bottom which I had been staring at was now behind us. Suddenly we floated free pulling on the anchor we moved to deep water but it seemed it was stuck a fishing boat came along the side of us with 4 men whom had earlier asked us for 500 to pull the boat off. We tried again to pull the anchor it would not budge. we were drifting to shallow water again. One of the men wanted to dive down and lift it by hand. Too dangerous I told them to cut the line, they could have the anchor. I just wanted to get going. We headed toward an anchorage not far away to put the last days events behind us. As they say……. “Its all part of the adventure.”

Dec 15

Obaldia, ….Arrival to Panama, Oct.30/2017

Posted on December 15, 2017 by Tutty Lee

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After an enjoyable night passage, we are in the border town of Obaldia. The town situated at the southern end of the country, is an easy access point for drugs and guerrillas, so has a high military presence, there is an armed guard post on the main dock.

Checking into the country here was not easy, the love paper work, everything is written out by hand. Our first stop was to the guard, after looking over our papers, we were sent to immigration our directions were to walk to the palm tree turn left go over a wooden bridge, you should see it. simple !!! After getting totally lost, we ask a man who directed us to the right place. When we got there, we were told to sit, we were the only ones in the office, the agent would be back soon.

About ten minutes later a guy comes in carrying his lunch. He sat down at his desk, hid behind his computer and watched a TV on a table in the next room. about 30 min went by before he asked to see our passports. he the looked at every page and read every stamp. He then started filling out forms probably 4 papers for each of us, then gave us a e page form to fill out. Parents names, children’s names, ages, where are they all had to be written down. The best was shade of skin colour. luckily there was a place to get copies made just four doors away. They needed 3 copies of all documents. When we were finished we walked aback over to the guard post. the soldier looked over our papers then told us we now needed to report to the Port Authority funny it was 1 small street away from where we just came from. Upon arriving there we found it empty extended lunch hour. Again after waiting for awhile the port captain showed up filled he necessary forms all written out by hand, stamped and singed. We paid our fees and Mistress was welcomed to the country. Back to see the guard it was now mid afternoon and starting to rain, but he didn’t hesitate, “oh my god”….. more copies. Every new formed copied twice. When we finally in the rain, he inspected all our forms and documents before calling for an agent to inspect our boat. No answer, nobody wants to get wet… Manana, tomorrow, we will be inspected first thin in the morning. A whole day went by but we still must complete one last thing to be admitted to Panama. we stood talking to the guard who is learning English, impressed with my Spanish. We gave him correct pronunciation of words he was having trouble with.

We returned to Mistress, to wait for morning.

Dec 08

Leg 1, To San Blas

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Tutty Lee

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We left Santa Marta at first light , having woke up at 6am. The winds were forecast to be light , so we knew it would be a motor-sail to Puerto Velero, 57 nm. SW along the coast.

Our friends Ineke and Mike were stationed at the end of the pier to wave us farewell.

Santa Marta has been a nice stop, we are going to miss it. From here we have travelled all through Colombia, on their inexpensive transportation system.

Our last days have been busy, provisioning, and getting ready to travel. Our fridge was not getting cold, but under Mikes instructions and use of his hoses, we added more Freon, which solved the problem. With everything stowed away, our forward Vee berth packed with bags of water, and other odds and ends, we left the marina.

It felt great to be back on the water again, after staying 2 days 0ver our one year visa the wind and the waves felt so relaxing.

About 5 miles out we had the Armada Nacional Coast Guard come along side, and we were asked to stop, they wanted to inspect our vessel. Two officers along with their dog boarded Mistress than sat in the cockpit checking our documents. In the lumpy conditions, they cut the visit short, wished us a good trip, then returned to the inflatable. Soon after we discovered that our fridge was not working, again the temp soaring to almost 80. All our frozen and vacuum pack meats were spoiling. where we are headed to, the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama have very few stores. We are planning to stay one month, so the meat in the fridge was important.

The Magdalena river which travels from the south of the country and empties into the ocean at Barranquilla is fast flowing and littered with debris. Everything from household refuse,to vegetation to whole tree trunks come floating out just west of the city. We had to keep a good look out, and zig zag around the piles, some the size of a small Island. If we ran into one of these it would have stopped us dead in our tracks in the swells they were quite hard to see. It was a beautiful sunset, but our hopes of making it to the anchorage by dark ended watching the sun sink on the horizon.

We rounded Punta Hermosa in the dark, moonless night then followed the lighted channel to the anchorage other than a fisherman checking his net, we were the only boat there it was 8 30 pm, after our 12hr journey, we would tackle the fridge problem in the morning.

Turns out it was an easy fix, we changed the electrical control module, which luckily we had, but it meant we would have to stop in Cartagena to buy more meat.

Mar 14

Ciudad Perdida ( The Lost City)

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Tutty Lee

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Ciudad Perdida (Spanish for “Lost City”) is the archaeological site of an ancient city in Colombia‘s Sierra Nevada. It is believed to have been founded about 800 CE, some 650 years earlier than Machu Picchu. This location is also known as Teyuna and Buritaca.

History

Ciudad Perdida was discovered in 1972, when a group of local treasure looters found a series of stone steps rising up the mountainside and followed them to an abandoned city which they named “Green Hell” or “Wide Set”. When gold figurines and ceramic urns from this city began to appear in the local black market, archaeologists headed by the director of the Instituto Colombiano de Antropologia reached the site in 1976 and completed reconstruction between 1976-1982.

Members of local tribes—the Arhuaco, the Koguis and the Wiwas—have stated that they visited the site regularly before it was widely discovered, but had kept quiet about it. They call the city Teyuna and believe it was the heart of a network of villages inhabited by their forebears, the Tairona. Ciudad Perdida was probably the region’s political and manufacturing center on the Buritaca River and may have housed 2,000 to 8,000 people. It was apparently abandoned during the Spanish conquest.

Ciudad Perdida consists of a series of 169 terraces carved into the mountainside, a net of tiled roads and several small circular plazas. The entrance can only be accessed by a climb up some 1,200 stone steps through dense jungle.

The area is now completely safe but was at one time affected by the Colombian armed conflict between the Colombian National Army, right-wing paramilitary groups and left-wing guerrilla groups like National Liberation Army (ELN) and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). On September 15, 2003, ELN kidnapped eight foreign tourists visiting Ciudad Perdida, demanding a government investigation into human rights abuses in exchange for their hostages. ELN released the last of the hostages three months later. The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the paramilitary right-wing groups in that country, continued attacking aborigines and non-aborigines in the zone for a while. For some time the zone has been free of incidents.

In 2005, tourist hikes became operational again and there have been no problems since then. The Colombian army actively patrols the area, which is now deemed to be very safe for visitors and there have not been any more kidnappings. For a six day return hike to the lost city, the cost is approximately US$300. The hike is about 44 km of walking in total, and requires a good level of fitness. The hike includes a number of river crossings and steep climbs and descents. It is a moderately difficult hike.

Since 2009, non-profit organization Global Heritage Fund (GHF) has been working in Ciudad Perdida to preserve and protect the historic site against climate, vegetation, neglect, looting, and unsustainable tourism. GHF’s stated goals include the development and implementation of a regional Management Plan, documentation and conservation of the archaeological features at Ciudad Perdida and the engagement of the local indigenous communities as major stakeholders in the preservation and sustainable development of the site.

* excerpt from (Wikipedia)

This hike was probably the hardest thing I ever did , but it sure is a once in a lifetime achievement. We had read all the literature about the site, and had been looking forward to completing this trek since we arrived in Colombia. Joined by Diane and Lloyd we showed the other members of our group, who were a lot younger, that if you’re determined, success will follow. The conditions on the trail were extreme, there had been quite a bit of rain lately in the mountains, which left the trail covered in 6 inches of muck. Travelling downhill would have been easier if we had a pair of ski’s.

Day 2, we got up at 5:30 am, putting back on our wet clothes from the day before to walk for almost, 12 1/2 hours, arriving at camp 2 in the dark, to a standing ovation.

The Wiwa and the Kogi, the indigenous group who call this area home do not want to be photographed so out of respect for their beliefs, I have no photo’s. I met one of them on the trail, and he said to me, “ A little hardship in life will be rewarded with a once in a lifetime experience”

We would like to thank them inviting us to their land, and showing us some of the history of the Sierra Nevadas. This land truly is sacred and we will remember our time spent here. Our party of four, 3 over the age of 60, asthma, arthritis, hip replacement, and a wonky knee did not hold us back. In the upcoming days as our toenails fall off, yah, I think we are going to …..remember.