To Panama City via Perlas Islands

We are headed toward the mainland later tonight.  The sail from Rio Sambu to here was fantastic. We had about 20kts of wind on a nice reach.

Today we met a nice French family with 4 little ones. They came around the horn and are headed to the Atlantic.  If all turns out we will help them throughout the canal in a month or so.


Time to get a little sleep before heading out.  Goodnight from a mosquito free boat.
Loyal

Driftwood

Rain . . . It has not really rained since I got here. We actually totally drained my hull, so we only had about an 8-day supply of fresh water.  Not that we were worried.  Actually, we gave 10 gallons to Windsong as they were having an issue with their water maker. This afternoon we filled the Port hull and half the starboard hull. So we are pretty set.

This morning we got a call from Grace saying a log was headed our way. Windsong said it had hit them in the night. Since we are pulling 30-foot logs off our bow regularly we figured I should take a look.  It turned out to be a 70-foot tree.  Courage, Mother and I were walking on it as it drifted past the boat.  We decided to tie it to the bank, as we did not want it returning tonight. We will set it free before we depart, but are not taking any chances of a midnight collision.

This after noon we visited the village for dinner. They killed a few chickens and cooked them in onions, a type of cilantro, and something red. It is a powder that does not have a smell or taste. They said it was just for color. What ever it was, it was great with rice.  For desert we had yellow plantans that we placed in the fire. They peal them and just set them in the ash - - So good. They also do it with the green ones, but the yellow are my favorite.

We will most likely depart tomorrow with the tide. A group of the local ladies are coming out to say goodbye and if the weather holds we will take them for a little tour of the river. They are really a nice group.  Rather shy when Courage and I try to talk with them.  It usually ends up with them covering their mouths and giggling.

Charles from the Peace Core will join us for the trip to Panama via some of the Perlas Islands. We plan to take advantage of his Spanish and see if we can learn a few things.

Storm: Mother and I visited the palm tree that has the Seeds and I will send a few back. When they dry they are very hard. Sound like rocks when you bang them together.

Since it rained the termites are out in force. The boat is covered in them.  I think they scared off the mosquitoes for today :-)

Sending big smiles.
Loyal

Notes from Crew Member Loyal

Once again we find our selves anchored outside of Rio Sambu waiting for the tide to come in. We want to confirm the channel is still where it is supposed to be.  Amazingly it is. This time it is a lot easier to do as our friend on Alba has a hand held depth sounder. We zip back and forth mapping the channel in just an hour.  That is when I remember I forgot to refuel.  We are down to less then an inch of the go juice.  Time to cancel the tractor pulls, concentrate on finding dry land.

Once the tide has come in 7 feet we figure it is safe to start heading in. There are 4 of us here. Alba, Windsong, Grace, and Lil Explorers. Drawing the least of the group we take the lead, with Alba second as she draws the most.  We are doing well when a panga approaches at full speed waiving their arms. There is a net across the channel just 30 feet ahead. We all stop and Cassidy and I head out in the dingy with the boat hook to lead the way around the net. At low tide the area was underwater so it should be okay, but we need to be sure.  No problem at all. A small detour and we are under ways again.  No sooner were we back on track than a second net is spotted. This one is about twice the size as the first. The end is in an area where we had spotted a sandbar earlier.  Back in the dingy and checking depth. It is not long before it is too shallow to continue. The current is drawing us along at 3kts so there is some frantic turning to get everyone back on course. We start backtracking the net to find the other end. At least on this side we have 7 feet of water giving Alba a whole foot to spare.  It must have been quite the sight with four boats ducking behind the panga looking for deeper water.

We made it up the river without any further incidents. The four of us are anchored off La Chunga Village getting ready for dinner when we hear some hollering from the beach. Turns out someone spotted us and wanted to come say hello.  A very nice young man, Charles, and just as nice young lady, Tally, had heard we had returned and came out to confirm.  We were invited to come into town the next day to a small celebration in our honor. Mind you we had only been here an hour or so.  We were also told the iPad had been recovered and returned in the morning. Great news.

Early this morning we all (17 of us) headed in to say hello. Excited children in traditional dress met us along the way. The boys in loin cloths with little spears, the girls with the local type of skirt, beads around their necks, and flowers in their hair.  As we approached the bridge we could hear the drums, flute, and rattle, welcoming us. It was quite the sight as we crossed the bridge to their welcome. All the men and women in traditional garb with flowers, the children racing all over the place--very nice indeed.

Later in the day we even go to dance with them. It is pretty much a two-step in a circle, to a nice drumbeat accompanied by the flute. I will post a recording when we get good Internet.

We then headed over to the sugar cane press where we had a chance to make our own juice. You would not believe how much juice comes out of the cane. Andrew from Windsong and I worked the press. There are two logs on top of each other held in place by two posts. Through the logs is a stick and you rotate the logs using a long pole. Pictures will do this justice.  The juice is really great with a little lemon. It is probably lemonade I have had.

Later in the day a few of the guys started heading down the road to do some work and I tagged along. It turns out 200 90lbs bags of cement were in need being carried to the village. It was like the good old days of carrying the concrete at Sonnenland.  For the next hour or so we trudged back and forth with those bags. I think I brought in 900lbs of the grey stuff.

By the time we were done with the first half I was ready to cool off.  A few of the kids and I headed to the river for a refreshing swim. They were a bit surprised to see me jump in fully dressed, but I figured I was covered in enough cement to start my own factory.

Logs are a bit of a problem this time. They are over 30 feet long and if they come down sideways we can get quite the logjam on the bow. This morning it got so big we finally pulled the anchor out. Luckily Courage notice before we were too far down stream. We now try to clear the bow before it gets to be too much.

Goodnight all,
Loyal

PS: It has been a great couple of days moving around, and I am sure I am forgetting a few things due to lack of blood.  I think the SS Mosquito has anchored nearby and is sending over as many visitors as she can muster.

Events According to Crew Member Cassidy

We spent the last week in La Paz and another indigenous village called Puerto Lara. Unlike La Chunga, Puerto Lara was a Wounaan tribe and wasn't nearly as nice. There were streetlights, a car road, and satellite dishes. Sad to say, that village has been corrupted. Oh, we met up with three other boats from the cruising community and they also came up Rio Sabana (Puerto Lara) with us.  Having some awesome adventures with our new buddy boats.

Last night we came back to La Chunga with the other three boats and ran into a bunch of issues. First, on the way to the mouth of the river, there is a 6-mile mud flat and only one way to get in. It is really difficult with the muddy water because we can’t see how deep it is until we are on top of it. Anyway we were following our last track with three other boats right on our tail and everything was going well until a fishing boat came by and said that we were headed right for a net and we had to go around the black flag that was half a mile into the shallow bank.

With a lot of effort we managed to get past that and get back onto the original track. A few minutes later we noticed another net about ten feet off to our side. We ended up following it until it got to shallow then all four boats had to turn around (very difficult). We followed it back the other way and were just able to pass (one by one) tightly around a small fishing boat. If we went anymore than 5 feet from him, then it would be too shallow to cross.

We made it up the river with only a few log problems, but nothing much. Each boat safely anchored out from the village dock. Last night we had to take the dinghy and pull a few logs off of our front. The current here is pretty severe and it was difficult to pull against it, but eventually we got it.

Then this morning, a mere hour ago, we started dragging. We had drug almost all the way around the first river bend before we noticed it. Apparently, we had built up so much debris and it added so much weight and friction that the anchor slipped. The thought is that we dropped the anchor on a rock bed, too (we only stick in mud). It was a challenge to get all the debris off the front, pull up the anchor, not run into the tree line, not get any of the debris into the propellers, not run aground, and get another anchor to prevent from drifting and more.

Eventually we didn't have to send out another anchor, but it was still a hectic morning. In an hour, all the boats are going into the village and there is going to be a welcoming celebration for the other boats. I'm really excited, we have been proclaimed as friends because we came on our own and came back with more tourists. My tattoos have faded and I'm hoping to get another one before I head back to the states.

Cassidy

Back to La Chunga - With 3 buddy boats this time

October 19

We had a full day journey from La Palma back to La Chunga.  We have 3 boats following us. We left with a strong current going out of the river and were doing 8-10 knots.  After getting out to the ocean, we set the anchor to wait for the incoming tide.  It became very hot while we waited so we jumped in for a swim.  All the kids went too.  We had a pretty strong current, so we'd jump in off the bow and catch a rope off the back swim step.  Even Vitality was doing it in her life jacket.  She was catching the rope and pulling in nicely!  The tide was steadily increasing the current and by the end of the swim I was only able to break even with the front of the boat, not able to swim ahead at all.

It was a good refresh, and then we were off for quite a journey.  We planned to follow our prior track coming in and were going to be in great shape.  First we came across a fishing net.  We sent the dinghy ahead to depth sound with the boat hook and set a new track.  As we found our way around the first one, we headed back to the channel to continue on.  Shortly thereafter, we came across another fishing net right on our starboard side.  We turned, warned the other boats, and set the dinghy off again.  We made it almost to the black flag indicating its end, but were coming on a sandbar and had to turn around.  So we headed to find the other end of the net.  It turned in toward shore and we followed it getting more and more shallow.  We draw 4 feet; some of the other boats draw 2 meters (closer to 7 feet).  The depths were nearing 8-10 feet.  We proceeded slowly with the dinghy with Loyal and Cassidy in front.  Turns out the net was tied to a panga (fishing boat).  We all rounded the panga with a very close distance since we were steadily losing depth as we went.  I got a video as the boats behind us were all rounding this little panga.  Must have made them wonder just a little why we all came so close.  They obviously don't draw what we do.  They wave you around the nets if they see you, but there's not always enough water where they suggest.  We could finally make our way to the mouth of the river over the final mud flats.  Once in the river it's plenty deep.  We have our prior course over the mud flats and one set by Eyoni (another boat we met in Panama City), but obviously the nets prohibited using them.  Many other boats like having a prior course and go almost exactly off of them.  We now have a crazy course that someone can follow weaving and bobbing through all the fishing gear out there.

Once we all anchored off the dock to the village we got some nice rain and collected about 15 gallons of fresh clean stuff (the kids played in our prior fresh water collection).  A panga passed shortly after our arrival and some people were waving as they went.  Shortly after, 3 village kids arrived at the dock.  Courage picked them up and the kids went up to play on the trampolines.  
Not so long after that, the Peace Corp volunteer and 3 of his friends came out and we picked them up.  They hadn't eaten, so we made a little dinner and chatted.  It was nice.  They found Grandmother's iPad.  It was taken by an early teen who paddled out on a dug out and took it when no one was here.  We speculate whether he came out to steal or it was opportunistic, but think he came during the dance display when no one was here.  We are happy to have it back and glad they took it seriously and found it.  Feeling bad for the kid, but they will probably never do that again.  The Peace Corp guy used it as an example, telling them it will end their tourism immediately if word gets out that you cannot trust the community and things will be stolen.  The other boat that was here was missing their Internet stick.  We heard it showed up also, but they weren't sure where it was last time we were here.  Hopefully we can pick that up also.  I don't think theft is a big issue, but appears to be something they need to address.  They don't have electricity for the most part, the iPad was dead, no computers, so an Internet stick is useless.  Seems a bit odd, but Cassidy was showing off her iPad quite a bit to the kids and they were impressed.  She never lets go of it, so is unlikely to lose it!!

They plan to put on a nice welcome back for us tomorrow morning and thank us for bringing friends/tourists to their village so asked that we all come in together rather than stagger in.  In the afternoon we asked if we could have the "full show" that they do for their cruise ships (24 passengers).  They teach about dances, jagwa (painting/tattoos), canista (basket weaving), tagwa (carving of palm nuts), etc.  While I think that we experienced most of it, it'll be a great summary and I'm sure we'll learn more.

The concrete for the basketball court had not arrived on schedule when we were here last.  Well, it finally arrived.  It is staged along the path to the village and everyone helps carry it as they can.  They have another push tomorrow morning also to get the concrete to a better storage area in the village.  They may do the pour on Monday.  If we are here, maybe we can help them??  Maybe we'd hinder them, you never know!  See how it all works out.

We may take Charles, the Peace Corp guy here, with us when we leave.  He needs to get to Panama City to visit his brother who's coming.  He can go by hiking, bus, etc. or by boat via the Perlas Islands.  We shall see how schedules mesh, but it could be a fun journey across.

Definitely back in mosquito territory.  Netting is up, but still killed about 5 mosquitoes on the boat.  I made a new net for Integrity's bed today since he lost his last one, so the kids all have netting over their beds as well as the netting over the doors and windows.  They are double protected and doing well.  Our bed isn't as easy to net over, so we are just hoping for the best and planning on a few bites.  Valiant is also getting some molars and not enjoying that process so much, but we had a cold watermelon today, which he loved!

Off to bed before another fun day tomorrow.

Shannon

Up a River without much water - Up Rio Sabana

Made it up another river, not as much water in this one!!!  Met up with 3 other boats and we all came up to check out another traditional village.  There are 7 indigenous tribes.  We were at an Embera village, La Chunga, (you can YouTube dances, etc.) and now are at a Wounaan village.  This is less rustic - power lines, streetlights, streets, garbage on the ground, cell phones, etc.  Again, they were nice people with rugged housing, traditional dress, but not as natural and authentic.
  
The Wounaan and Embera villages are parallel communities in housing, clothing, etc.  The difference is in language and their dance style.  Some anthropologists put them together due to their similarities.  We noticed that their baskets and plates were more geometric shapes rather than nature.  The Embera village has birds, flowers, turtles, butterflies, leaves, etc. as their subject matter.

Four of us went in for a traditional dinner, said it was great, rice and chicken.  I stayed on the boat with the kids.  In the meanwhile the other 3 boats had issues dragging their anchors and were getting low on water so went down the river past us.  We are almost at low tide and almost out of water under our rudders.  Hoping for swing tide soon.

We are thinking of leaving with the tides tomorrow afternoon and taking the other boats to La Chunga to visit.  That river is easier to settle in and the village is more native.  I was thinking of asking if we could buy the materials for a plate/basket and they could show us how to weave one.  It may be too complicated for us.  If we could get started, maybe we could finish it on the boat?  Innocence gave the girls shells as a gift last time we were there; I was thinking we should collect more.  Not so many seashells where they are and they seem to really like natural objects.

Cassidy had a big following of kids.  They loved the iPod.  She showed them pictures of themselves on it.  As we passed the school the kids were yelling out the window "Cass-i-dy” (sort of a chant, funny and cute).  Got a great video of her entertaining the kids on the boat with her iPod hooked up to the TV looking at distorted pictures of themselves and laughing.

Stopped at a small town called La Palma today and got a few food supplies.  Tried to resupply our popcorn, but no luck.  Only had microwave popcorn or animal feed dried corn.  Guess we have to wait for Panama City for that.  They have free Internet throughout La Palma, but by the time we re-anchored closer to town this morning and walked through town it was time to ride the tide up the river.  Tried to post a single picture to Facebook from our last week with no avail.  Made a 15 minute video and shared it with our buddy boats with a little cultural introduction and navigating the river knowledge for them with our night in La Palma. -- Unable to share that at this time also.  I narrowed down our 1300 pictures to the top 167 in a folder to upload.  Hard to cut it less, but maybe if you weren't there they may begin to look redundant.  Overall they were really a great people and we had a great visit.  I know Loyal gave you some details and soon I hope to write a blog with events and impressions.

Good night.  Will buzz La Palma tomorrow if we go to the other river.  Need to go out to sea, then across a mud flat to get back up.  If so, will try again to load some pictures.

Shannon

Wounaan Village Visit

Today we are up a wonderful little river to visit a Wounaan village.  They charge you $5 to visit the village for 3 days. That is per adult. Children are free.  Once you have paid your fee you are free to wander the village as you please. There is a central hut where they will put on a market if you are interested. The baskets here have fewer animals, and more geometric shapes. Also, the woodcarvings are much better, and the ... I can’t remember what it is called, but it is a seed from a palm tree, almost as hard as rock. They carve cute little animals into it and paint them with unbelievable detail.

They have a restaurant (a hut that has a table) where you can get a meal. When we asked if we could have dinner tonight they said no, there was not enough time to make dinner.  Tomorrow would be better. We told them we would not be here tomorrow evening; they asked if rice with chicken would be okay. We said yes, and another boat (Grace) that came up the river with us said they would like to come too.

We headed back to the boat to put out a second anchor, as the channel is not wide and we did not want to swing into the side at night. While we were putting out the second anchor, another boat called Alba (3 of them came up the river) decided the holding was not good enough and headed down stream where the channel was deeper, wider, and offered better holding.  We smiled and waived as they passed, and thought to ourselves “amateurs". That is when we notice we too we dragging. Up came the anchor, and we too were in search of some place with a little more water.
We found a nice place with close to 20 feet of water. Dropped anchor, set it, and hurried off for dinner.  On our way up stream we passed Windsong as they went in search of deeper water.  We arrived at the dock along with the people from Grace, and were met by the village "tourist director" who told us Grace would be on dry ground in a few hours. Naturally they shot back to their boat to head for deeper water too. By this time it was getting hard to get a reading over 15 feet anywhere.  In the time from when we anchored till we got to the dock the water had fallen 5 feet and was moving fast. One guess put it at 6 knots.

Dinner was great, rice with chicken. The chicken was in a fantastic sauce made of tomatoes, celery, and other veggies.  Not sure what, but it was good. The pots were left on the table and we were told to help our selves if we wanted more. It was so good we pretty much finished it off.  During dinner we got to watch a nice lightning storm come in over the mountains.  Made for a great dinner and at $4 per person, quite affordable.

After dinner we got out our flashlights and headed home. Courage was driving and I handled the light. We were speeding along at about 10kts plus the 5 or so from the river so we made good time. The light would usually reflect back off the logs so we only hit a few small ones.  When we got back to the boat the water was down to 7 feet, and the sides were closing in. We sat there watching the Fathometer as it slowly ticked off the inches. When it hit 4 feet we knew we were aground.

When the tide started coming in, I took the boat hook and pushed us off the riverbank so we could turn around and sit properly. As I write this I can tell we are once again afloat and things are as they should be. Next time perhaps we will try to 25 feet of water...

I am happy to report that even though we are only 50 feet from the jungle, there have been no sightings of mosquitoes. Strange, perhaps they had their fill already?

Goodnight all,
Loyal

Lost in Translation

So, Courage was trying to say thank you for a great tour of the mountains to his guide. The guide just gave him this strange look. He said it again, and it was easy to see the guide did not know what to make of it. There was a young man nearby who spoke Spanish and offered to help with translating. It turned out what Courage was saying was Thank you for the old women. You gotta love it when things get lost in translation.

We are now anchored off Las Palmas. There is not much here, but it is a good jumping of spot for our next adventure. Tomorrow when the tide is low we will navigate the river with the dingy to lay a GPS track we can follow once the tide is high. After that we will go about 5 miles upriver to visit another village.

Right now there is a bit of a storm off over the mountains with lots of finger lightning (finger lightning is lightning where you see the bolt of light, camera lightning is when you only see the flash, no actual bolt).

Coming in we were moving at about 8kts on an incoming tide. It will be interesting to see how we do against the tide.

Time for me to hit the hay. We have an early tide tomorrow.

Goodnight from a mosquito free zone.

Loyal

Rio Sambu & Embera Indian Village

Another Day on Rio Sambu (The Winding River)

Another great day here in Rio Sambu!  The sun is shining and our batteries are charging.  I have a machete ready and we are off to learn how to sharpen it using a file.  Along the way we meet several women on their way to say goodbye to us.  Our plan is to leave with the high tide. By the time we make it to the village we are a pretty big group. The fellow who was going to sharpen the machete is busy making his rounds in the village, so we walk with him - - sort of a moving class on knife sharpening.  It is a pretty simple procedure and in 20 minutes we have visited most of the village, and have a sharp knife.

We are looking for the chief now. Sadly Mother's iPad turned up missing yesterday.  After several hours searching the boat we thought we would ask the chief to keep an eye open for anyone who suddenly has an iPad.  We did not want to make a federal case of it, but they took it very seriously.  We have the word of the whole village they will find it if one of them took it.  If they do not find it there, they will file a complaint with the big chief up the river.  It is nice to see they are trying to do something about it, and not just say those things happen.  We will see.

Back at the boat about 15 children and 7 women and several men, including the chief, have come to see us off.  It is a very nice farewell with several nice gifts.  Cassidy even got a very nice vase and the boys got toy boats. We made popcorn for the children, and Cassidy gifted a few of her blouses.  We brought the boat close to the dock and dropped anchor just 20 feet away.  Courage started ferrying our guests to the shore.  It took 4 loads to get them all in.

And we were on our way.  Navigating the river is pretty easy as it is wide ad usually over 20 feet deep.  About the only things we had to watch for were trees and the occasional gator.  Once we made it to the mouth of the river Cassidy and I jumped in the dingy to clear a channel across the mud flats.  We had a 15-foot pole and kept about 500 feet in front of the boat.  Most of the way we were at about 8 feet with a mud bottom. Suddenly the mud turned to rock and we dropped to 7 feet. Cassidy radioed the information back to Courage.  Seeing as we would still have 2.5 feet under the rudder we figured it would be okay as long as it did not get any shallower.  With the tide racing out we did not want to get stuck.  Another 100 feet and the bottom was mud at 8 feet. We were back on track.

Right now we are anchored off a little island waiting for an incoming tide tomorrow when we will start making our way toward Rio Dulce.

I just came in after taking a look to see if we were dragging. Behind us I can see the light from a very small cruise ship.  It is making its way slowly in this direction.  Courage has assured me it will not be close to us until tomorrow afternoon.  Using my special binoculars I can just make out the name SS MOSQUITO on her bow.

Good night all,
Loyal

Dancing in the Rain

Today was the day of the great hike.  Courage, Shannon, and Cassidy, got up at 5am this morning and headed to see the mountains. While only about an hours hike away, they had to go through mud and rivers. From everything I hear it was a wonderful hike. We will have to wait to see the pictures and read about it when it gets posted.

Here at the boat, Mother and I had the children.  We were planning to head to the local pool when it started to rain. We have school when it rains, so out came the books and learning began. That was a lot of fun.  Math is progressing nicely, and writing is..... Well math is progressing nicely.

In the afternoon we headed to the village to see a demonstration of local dances, and some of their art. The dances were preformed by 5 of the local women (topless naturally). They had the local paint on their bodies in interesting shapes. One lady was leading the group with a drum as the others followed.  Videos will be sent when we have Internet.

There were baskets, plates, and carved seeds, presented by the women. Pretty much once the dances were over the place became a little market. We bought 28 eggs (all they had), 20 lbs of locally grown, and hand shucked) rice (again all they had), a bunch (about 25 lbs) of bananas, a bunch of plantanos, and even a couple of their beautiful crafts.

What we forgot was that it is a 1.5-mile walk back to the river. Courage and Shannon were carrying babies, Cassidy the eggs, and a nice gentleman from the village carried the bananas. They left me with a bag of rice balanced on my head and a bunch of plantanos in my hand.  Needles to say we were quite the group.

After we settled in for dinner we heard a commotion outside and discovered a few of the local ‘Cassidy Fan Club’ had brought us sugar cane. They had wanted to bring fish, but after a day without a single bite, they settled on sugar cane.

Tomorrow the local chief is planning to come out to say goodbye and wish us safe travels as we head back toward the open ocean and other adventures.  He is a nice fellow with a big smile. Missing a few of his front teeth, but at 75 that is to be expected.

I did stop off at the local mosquito shop and notice they had a new high flow pump designed for use on sleeping white people. There was an extra large one they only rent that said it had been tested on Bigfoot and was a great success.

Wishing you all the best,

A rather pale, Loyal

Another Day on the River

Another wonderful day here in paradise!  We had some of the village fishermen out to show us a few tricks of the trade, met a nice couple paddling their way up the river, and removed some stitches from the chief.

The tide is high in the morning so were able to motor up a little river 2.5km.  That is most of the way to the village. Otherwise we walk through the jungle on a raised boardwalk. The ground is somewhat soft mud, so we are glad for the boardwalk. It is about 8 years old and made of wood. A few planks are missing, some have been replaced with bamboo, and some are not very rotten. The others you need to make sure you step on two at a time and stick near the edge, or they may give out.

This evening as I was cleaning the dingy, a couple with a child paddled by and asked if they could take a break. We invited them aboard and as it was dinnertime asked if they wanted to join us. They did.  We also happened to have another guest who spoke English and could translate.  It turns out the couple was waiting for the tide to change for the trip up river. They still had 2.5 hours to go and were very happy for the rest while waiting for the tide to turn. The conversation was lively with a lot of questions from our guests. One of the ones I liked was when they asked what river we lived on. They figured it must be a pretty big one, and the only big one they could think of was the Panama Canal.  In the end we were invited to their village where they wanted to present us with a chicken, a living one naturally. That is an adventure for another day. Tomorrow the local village is putting on a traditional dance with all the war paint and costumes associated with their culture.  It promises to be quite the event.

Mother has introduced sprouts to the local Peace Corps guy. I think he may miss some of the fresh veggies from back home. She even started him off with a few mung beans and alfalfa seeds.  He plans to try to get them to produce seeds and be able to continue having a supply.

The mosquitoes are doing pretty well.  Between Valiant and I the blood supply has never been better. I am pretty sure they have a tracking beacon on me and their GPS comes preprogrammed with my whereabouts.

With a great big smile,

Loyal

Up the Crooked River - Rio Sambu

We had a very interesting day up the river.  There is an Embera tribe up here, one of the 7 indigenous tribes here in Panama.  We walked through their village yesterday, got to go up into the chief's house, bought a couple of hand woven baskets, then walked back to our boat along a very long board walk over a swamp.  About 30 people from the village came out to visit the boat.  We served chips and salsa and lemonade, not such a big hit. We took them back at lunch/nap time and Courage and Loyal revisited the village.  They got a different tour and saw where they grow their bananas, papayas, and oranges.  Then they returned with another 30 (some repeats) from the village.  We served popcorn and water and they seemed to love it!!

Their houses are made of wood plank floors, raised up one story off the ground, thatch roofs, many don't have any walls, some do.  They worried about the kids; our kids would walk to the end of the floor and look over the edge.  It is a full story fall from there (5-7 feet).  They don't have beds; they just sleep on the floor.  The kitchen has pots/pans, but the stove is a 5x5 square of sand on the floor where they can make a fire to cook.  They were pounding the husks off the rice with a gavel type tool, and then had it lying out on mats to dry.  There is a long trail to the village, which is very well maintained grass with trees along each side.  There were banana plantations along the side of the trail and I did see an orange tree in town.  Chickens are running around and they are on the river to catch fish.  I didn't see any food in the houses, so not sure where they keep it or how that works.  Maybe the chief's house is a daytime only house and not set up for full living??  I really don't know.

There are mosquitoes and chiggers here.  We keep our netting on our door and windows and seem to be doing well so far.  Today we are going to the last house in the settlement for some traditional foods.  Tomorrow I think Courage and I will go to a long hike to a great overlook over the river, valleys and village. 

From what we hear, we will likely have many people out to the boat again today also.  Made some banana bread last night to bring with us as a gift for the people that host us.  Looking forward to another interesting day.  Of course getting some interesting pictures that we hope to post in the near future.

Shannon

Looking Down the Hatch

Peek-a-Boo, I see you!

Seca Islands - Second group in Panama

From the Parida Islands, we headed out to the Seca Islands.   On Isla Cavada we had a large anchorage, which was very calm.  One other boat was there, but they left the next day.  The snorkeling was beautiful; the water was so clear and shallow throughout the entire bay!  







Courage found a lure while snorkeling.  We were trolling with it from our dinghy and caught a Garr fish.  We now call it a 'Teggy fish', after Integrity.  We played with it for a little bit, and then let it go.  We got all of the children doing some swimming/snorkeling.  It was so great here.

       Then while I was making dinner, I was throwing some peels overboard and saw a bright green lizard in our orange kayak.  How did that happen?  We were anchored quite a ways out.  Turns out he swam.  Vitality scared him a little bit and he swam off, but stayed close to the boat.  We tried to throw him a rope so he could come up, but he didn’t take it.  Eventually he headed to shore.  Cassidy took the kayak out after him and caught him with the net.  We kept him in a box and gave him scraps for the night since he was likely cold, then next morning we took him to shore and released him (after photos, him getting away, kids catching him again, more photos, then we let him go).  .  .  . It was a fun experience, impressive swimming.

      As we were returning to the boat in our kayak from a snorkel, I looked up and saw a breaching whale.  We piled into the dinghy and were off!!  We saw another breach or two; it was amazing!  Then the finale!!  We were maybe 100 feet from them when the baby breached, then the momma did a full body breach!!!  Right in front of us!  We were closer than we had planned on being, but WOW, what an amazing sight!  So great, and we had all the kids with us.  Unfortunately my water camera had a 'chip read error'.  Classic!!  So it’s etched in our minds forever, but no footage.

          Next day we went out to see nearby whales and there was a large pod.  They were trying to get out of this bay, which was surrounded by reefs and islands.  They did a circle around us; we just drifted with our motor off.  They swam directly in front of our bow, and then one or two surfaced.  No breaching, but it was a great view.  This we got on video, but it’s on Courage’s video camera and my program can watch it, but not incorporate it into a movie collection for me.  Oh technology and compatibility.

           The island also had a fun beach, which was a peninsula.  At high tide it was just water across, but at low tide we could land on a kayak and walk across to a nice beach on the other side of the island with rocks to climb, huge tide pools, a bright green bay and a large rock wall that was weeping water.  The guys had a great time pretending that it was a shower and playing in the water.   We climbed the rocks, explored the tide pools and had our snack here before the tide was coming in and we had to go or we couldn’t get out without swimming.

          We checked out another island that had no name on charts or maps.  There were a couple of fishing boats that came by to anchor for the day and rest, and then they probably go fishing during the night.  We did some nice swimming here; there was a rocky outcropping with some coral and tons of colorful fish!  We brought the paddleboard out and the entire family went snorkeling.  Courage found an octopus that some of us could see.  Everyone had a nice time.  The kids could come and go from the board at their will and rest whenever they wanted to.  On a nice swim back to the boat from snorkeling there was a large fishing net underwater.  There were buoys hanging up a rope so it looked like a very strange kelp growth or something.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Another view of our Private Island for the day.

Strong Current at Anchor

Valiant Checking out the Dorado

Parida Islands - first group in Panama

Gamez Island, Parida Archipelago, Panama

We left Golfito, Costa Rica at the end of July.  I had very little time to prepare once Courage decided that we should leave that evening for Panama.  We thought we’d be out for maybe 2 weeks before getting back to mainland and another store.  We ran to the local fruit and vegetable stand (pretty nice large store, but only fruit and vegetables).  We bought $106 of food.  I went by a

Panaderia (bakery) on my way walking back to the boat, so bought some bread, rolls, and cookies as a bonus, and we were off.  No cans, boxes, or other supplements.  Fortunately we did have a reserve on the boat.

We left during a thunderstorm in the evening.  Beautiful evening, but couldn’t see a thing!  By morning we arrived at a gorgeous set of islands, the Parida Islands.  We were aiming for a little harbor that looked very protected, but as we rounded the corner and saw the little fishing village on a dark sand short beach and also saw the most gorgeous large white sandy beach lined with palm trees and green waters.  We aimed right on Gamez Island and didn’t regret it.

  

We were anchored so close that the kids could swim to the beach. The water was so clear, we had fresh coconuts, and we could walk across the island to the other side.  Cassidy kayaked around the island in about an hour.  

We bought some lobsters from a local guy that came by on his kayak; not so much that we wanted lobsters, but thought we’d support his efforts.  









During a couple of days, we had tourist boats coming by for a few hours each day.  It was fun to meet the people.  One group was studying tourism.  They loved watching the kids swim since some of them couldn’t swim even as adults.  We made a campfire and shared marshmallows with them to roast and brought our paddleboard out for them to try.   They were trying to take a picture with Vitality (it seems that everyone in Central America likes pictures with the blond kids), but she was too shy and scared, so we traded out Innocence who loves the attention.  It seems they just wanted a blond kid.  We spent a few days at this island, ideal pictures and a wonderful time!!

We headed out to a nearby island, Bolaros, which was also quite nice.  Courage found a large bamboo pole and was able to shake and twist free a fresh coconut from out of the tree.   We sat under the shade of our umbrella and I took some ideal pictures again.  

The kids had gathered 4 beautiful crabs with purple pinchers, orange legs and black bodies.  A tourist group came through.  One guy was from Santa Barbara and studied crabs, so showed us how to tell if they are male or female based on their abdomens.

In the afternoon we went for a cool-off swim.  I don’t know if I can explain this, but we had a good laugh at my expense.  We were body surfing waves and I jumped forward as the wave was breaking behind me in order to catch it with some momentum.  There was a large undertow and the wave basically stopped in its tracks as it approached me.  I on the other hand got the momentum I was looking for and plunged forward doing an immediate belly flop right onto the sand.  I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get up before the next wave broke over me.  Cassidy had a good view as my witness.

Shannon
 

In the Middle of Nowhere - Bayarena Island

This is the tiny island at low tide.  Great snorkeling!

About Kids Play

I love watching the kids play on the beaches.  They are so smart and creative in their play.  We never seem to bring out water/sand toys to the shore, there's no need.  Unfortunately there's tons of washed up plastic bottles, shoes, toys, Styrofoam, etc. for them to play with.

The other day the boys were playing rolling wheels down the beach and chasing them into the surf rescuing them while the girls had found a large Styrofoam block and made a table.  They found a bowl that they were filling with a mud cake with a ball on top as a whipped cream topping.  They had found 2 spoons to eat with, as well as a thermos and cups for drinks.  They had an actual tea party going on.  It was fun to watch.

Later that same Styrofoam table came out into the surf as a raft for them to climb on, flip over, and float on.  They found a second floating Styrofoam piece, so could do it two at a time.

Then they found 3 figurines, a small plastic pig, cow, and dog.  They made Styrofoam rafts for them and launched them across a lake.  They have used shells as shovels, sticks as pens for all kinds of beach art and tic-tac-toe, coconuts as rafts, etc.  When we have fires, they light up the ends and use the charcoal to write on rocks or other things.  I can't even tell you how many wheels and balls we've come across.  We have 3 new balls onboard this week alone I think; a soccer ball that floated into the bay 2 days ago, a basketball that we found on the beach a week ago, and a beach ball that we found yesterday.  There have been other ones that weren't as nice, didn't hold air, and were too small or too hard, that we didn't keep.  These are the good ones.  Most evenings we end up on the trampolines after dinner tossing balls back and forth and around, so it's nice to double our ball population.  So far, we've rescued all of the overboard balls, but now we've got spares.

The other day I made a treasure hunt for Cassidy for her birthday.  I put a clue on a coconut, made a necklace of shells, coral, bones, small buoys and a plastic key we've found.  One was in a plastic bottle tied to a rock and thrown underwater (which sadly broke free and washed up on the beach by the time she'd arrived, so she didn't have to dive for it.)  As I placed one clue I slipped on the rocks and bloodied by elbow.  Next beach, just before I jumped out of the dinghy to drop off the clue on shore, Courage says "shark!!"  You could make out the shadow of a shark swimming just by the shore in front of us.  I told him I thought he was kidding when he said it because the last thing I wanted to do was jump into the water with blood and a shark.  He pointed out that it was probably not the last thing I wanted to do since I was going to do it anyway.  The shark was only 3-4 feet long and looked like a reef-shark, which would be harmless.

 

Cassidy had 10 clues and 3 pieces of map spread out along a 2-mile stretch of coast that she kayaked along to find a buried treasure birthday present.  I wrote "happy birthday" on the shore with sticks and shells.  It was fun, both a physical and mental challenge for her (and me).  These are the things you'll remember.

So much for all the recycling, upcycling, repurposing, etc.  Call it what you will, you can be creative and have as much fun and family bonding time without being a consumer.  You don't need to spend lots of money to impress people, or have all the matching tablecloths, napkins, plates and cups to have a great birthday party.  You don't need tons of toys; you can play with what you have around you.  You don't need tons of teaching materials, you can learn from the world around you.  You can make letters on the sand, you can count hermit crabs, you can sort them by the shape or color of their shells to learn patterns, you can sink/float all kinds of things, you can build dams and learn about water flow as well as strength of sand vs. rocks as building materials, etc. We have brought onboard new shoes (not matching), balls, shells, a carved wood turtle and a couple of other things from shore.  I also have a reed of bamboo that I hope to use to make sides to my new shelves since it's not too pretty, I'm out of wood, and I don't want things to fall off the sides.  It's in the cockpit, maybe my next project to get done . . .

There is so much that you can do with the things around you to have fun.   I love watching the kids, much to learn from them in that respect.  They destroy things quickly, but they can also make anything fun and interesting and fit into their dialogues and spend hours and hours contentedly creating, exploring, and learning about the world around you!

Shannon