Friday September 14, 2007
It was so nice to be back in the clear San Blas waters yet again. We spent much of our few weeks here swimming and visiting Kuna villages in between fishing and studying spanish. When we had parted with Travis and Joanne in Cartagena they gave us several bags of t-shirts, ball caps, kitchen and fishing supplies etc. that they had collected over the last couple of years in hopes of trading with the Kunas. Since they never got the chance they passed it on to us to try our luck. I've had a great time trading and bargaining with the Kunas. It has been a great opportunity to get to know them better while practicing my spanish. They run a hard bargain, but so far we have traded for plenty of lobster and fish and even a few molas!
Sergio has been a nice addition to our little family. Our spanish is definately improving and he is a good cook as well. He has a recipe for this awesome chilean omelette that we are stealing for sure! He also makes a mean fish stew and has introduced us to some exotic new fruits. Jeremy is also happy to have a new chess opponent. They play several games over coffee every morning- Sergio has even beat him once or twice!
Friday October 12, 2007
Well, it is time to reprovision once again. This means making the 10 hour crossing back to Colon. We stock up, say farewell to Sergio and wish him good luck on his way to the U.S.. Then I get a real treat- we are going back to the Rio Chagres with the sloths, monkeys and crocodiles! When we arrive there are many more boats here than before, about seven. As we pass them on our way up the river we see that one of them is our friends Sonny and Kay on Valentina! We haven't seen them since we were in Bocas Del Toro months ago! They came over once we were anchored and we all dinghied down one of the smaller river branches to a beautiful waterfall with a deep pool at the bottom. The water is incredibly cool and refreshing and we end up swimming and diving from the top of the fall all afternoon! That evening we went to another boat called Queen Mary and watched the sun set while we listened to Brenda play a key board and sing while her husband Gene played base guitar and Sonny was on the harmonica! It was a great time!
Our second day in Chagres we went back to the falls, of course. Then in the evening everyone in the area (eight boats) gathered near the top of the river in our dinghies and tied them all together in a circle. Then we all drank wine and passed around appetizers as we floated for hours down the river watching the animals emerge as the sun went down. The conversation was great as everyone has come here from a different route and has had different experiences and stories to tell. It was a truely unique experience and we werehappy to be in the company of such fun and interesting (not to mention creative!) people! As we passed Max on the river Jeremy took the opportunity to jump on deck with the camera, climb up onto the boom and capture the perfect moment! The photo turned out great, accept for the fact that Jeremy is not in the picture... Well, the days pass by quickly here in Rio Chagres. We have had a fantastic time waking up with the monkeys and birds calling from the trees in the mornings. Of course we head to the falls every afternoon in the heat of the day before "floating" in the evenings. So far I have only seen crocodile eyes glowing red around the boat when I shine the flash light out on the water at night, but two other boats have seen some big ones up close- a 12 and a 15 footer! Needless to say, we do not swim in the river!!
It really has been all fun and games, until yesterday. Jeremy and I took a long walk up to one of the marinas to buy a used battery charger. We parked the dinghy at a little dock at the begining of the jungle trail that we have hiked many times before without any problems as very few people are on this river. Well, the walk ended up being a lot longer than we had anticipated, and when we finally arrived back at the little dock, exhausted, our 6 horse Johnson outboard was gone! It was a big blow, but we were lucky to be surrounded by nice people who gave us a tow back to Max after searching the surrounding jungle a bit to make sure it wasn't stashed somewhere. We were too spent to "float" that evening, but the party came by our boat and offered us some fresh fish and snacks insisting that we shouldn't have to cook after the day we had! The next day Sonny on Valentina even insisted on giving it another go with searching the area again. We went out, hacking at the vines with our machetes. No luck, but we were lucky enough to have a family of howler monkeys in the trees all around us and some on the ground cheering us on with their loud howls! It is also lucky that we were prepared enough to have a back up outboard, so even though it really sucks, it is not the end of the world, right?
Well, from here we may head back to the San Blas for a couple more weeks to be sure that hurricane season is pretty much finished before we put ourselves back in the middle of the Carribean again. I should have the opportunity to check in again in a few weeks, most likely from the Columbian island of Providencia.
Hope all is well with all of our friends and family! We miss and love you lots!
- Jeremy, Crystal and Max
