From Panama City we got on a bus headed for Puerto Lindo, not direct of course...why would it be? We had a lovely time waiting for over an hour for the bus on the side of an extremely busy supermarket. People kept offering us rides left and right, but we were determined to get on this supposed bus to Puerto Lindo. Apparently there are buses every 5 minutes to Colon, another port city, but certainly not Puerto Lindo. We watched as bus after bus came and went. Panamanian buses are hilarious, by the way. They are actually quite amazing, all covered in graffiti, painted all over with bubble letters and crosses, looking more like works of art rather than public transport. But they don´t stop at the sides, but continue on to the windows and naturally, the windshield. How can the driver see? How?! There are approximately 5 square inches through which the driver can see where he´s going. Incredible! Also, the destinations are written on the front but because there painted on in neon colors and various shapes and sizes, we were constantly teased because we couldn´t see all the buses said Colon until they were right in front of our faces. After the waiting, an old man told us that indeed there will be a bus coming, what it needs to say on it in order for us to know it´s the right one, and joyfully welcomed us to Panama and said he was happy we were there. He was thrilled that two New York gals were in Panama and that if we needed anything he would help us. He did, and we said we´d do the same for him in NYC, whenever we run into him again, which will be never probably. Finally the bus came and we were one step closer to the sailboat.
We arrived that afternoon at Hostel Wundebar, a Bavarian run hostel that is primarily there for people that are making the trip to Colombia. The woman who´s in charge is a frantic German woman, running around constantly with her hair flying around, her dress trailing behind, barking at the dogs and her daughter, ¨Momentito, moment!¨ Too funny and now it´s one of the things we constantly say to each other. There we were pleased to meet Linda and Eline, two girls from Rotterdam traveling together for about 4 or 5 months from Mexico to Rio. We had met them before on the side of the road in Costa Rica, but didn´t actually talk or hang out because we were so zonked that day. That night our captain from the Tango sailboat came to give us some info and for us to give him all our money. That hurt!!! Especially since apparently only a few years ago this journey was about half the price. Tourism, damn.
Captain David is from France originally but has been living in Colombia for a few years now with his wife and 3 children, and has made the Panama-Colombia trip countless times in the past 3 years. He was a little difficult to understand given the French-Spanish-English fusion language of his own, but he was a very nice, chill and competent-sounding captain. We were told to be on the beach the next morning at 7:30 to begin on journey to the San Blas islands, an archipelago of more than 300 tiny islands in the southern Caribbean of Panama. The journey was to take 8 hours before we would arrive at the first island but because of wind conditions against us it took almost 12. Yeesh! Dramamine is lovely! First it knocks you out for a couple hours, you get nice and rested, then you wake up and aren´t nauseous. Amazing. Katya more than Soph was feeling quite ill, but either way being on a sail boat for the first time for such an extended period is shocking to anyone´s system. The Dutchies weren´t feeling too hot either, and the other two passengers weren´t all roses either. Ian, a smelly guy from England was certainly hurting, claimed that he sea legs would be back in the morning. Yutaka, a cyclist from Japan making the Alaska-Buenos Aires pilgrimage, looked so miserable we offered up our precious pills to make him feel like he wasn´t going to die.
Captain David had us at ¨Bon apetit.¨ It´s amazing that for us standing up is hard, but this guy can cook like a master chef while the sea is at its roughest. The small swivel stove with two burners combined with good pasta, cheese and sausage was about all we needed to be happy and feel normal. This aspect of the journey really made it for us. We had heard stories of captains being terrible cooks, or not cooking at all and making the passengers fend for themselves. One night on the island we were at a bon fire listening to horror stories of other boats hardly had enough food, or had to choose between wanting to go onto an island or eat. All this while David was cooking us up a feast of baked potatoes and spicy Italian sausage. We said sorry with our mouths full.
We awoke the first morning and popped our heads out to find an island. We turned our heads and there was another, and another. Tiny little things sprinkled in the sea, with spokes of palm trees being all you can see from a distance. And the color of the water...come on! Deep blue turns to light blue, to green, to completely clear as you get closer to shore. Tropical beaches were inspired by these islands. Some have a few homes, some just a hut or two, some just palm trees. We ate some toast and tea and started up the engine to go to a ship wreck (scary thought) off the shore of another island where there is amazing coral and fish perfect for snorkeling. It was the best snorkeling of the trip. It was basically like being on the set of little mermaid, if there was one (not the broadway show, dad, the cartoon). The water couldn´t have been a better temperature and the fish couldn´t be cooler. How these fish could be so detailed, so colorful, so vibrant. The patterns are so precise and mathematical it is truly a wonder! The colors on this ship wreck were such a fantastic mix of maroons, pale yellows, deep greens. We stayed under until our fingers were more than pruny, but looked like coral themselves. We decided to swim to the island across the way where you didn´t have to pay the Kuna Yala locals for the beach. The sand was bright white, stunning against the blue blue blue water and green green green palm trees.
The sun was stroooooooooooong! We nearly blew through a bottle of SPF 50 and still got a little burned. But we were good and came away muy bronzeadas! After the shipwreck we had lunch and headed to another island (not sure if they have names but each was more beautiful than the last). Here we went shell hunting for a couple of hours, sifting through sand on the ocean bed like archaelogists. The other girls went snorkeling on a nearby reef and saw a family of squid. We just hung out and watched the sun go down, thinking about absolutely nothing. Well, everything and nothing. How wonderful things are, how stunning the setting was. We joked with Linda and Eline about how it´s funny to travel with a friend and be in places that seem like they´d be so romantic. On the other hand, the boat is not the most glamourous place to be with a lover. Let´s see why...
Don´t picture a yacht, whatever you do. This was not a yacht. It was way smaller. Picture a sailboat with room to hang out on the top deck, but only if the boat isn´t moving. If it is moving, especially without the motor and just the sails, you are tipped over at about a 50 degree angle. When sitting on the opposite side of the boat you are nearly face to face with the sea. Yaa, scary. Everything is wet. Although this may seem obvious, and it is, it is also extremely uncomfortable. You are always salty, sweatly, sunscreeny, sticky. Yum. If you go into the cabin, you are almost instantly nauseous. It is also kind of dark and stuffy in there, so breathing is a bit tricky. Don´t even get us started on going to the bathroom. HA! Good luck! What an adventure that turned out to be. You just need to tell your body that going to the bathroom is not an option (until you´re swimming, of course). You just hope that if you do need to go that you get more in the toilet than all over the floor or yourself. Ok, picture painted? Basically the only place you really want to be on the back section of the deck where there is a seating area, not huge, but enough for everyone to sit and not fall off. Sleeping was in a whole other category because you get thrown around as the boat goes over a wave and gets slammed down on the other side. We were unlucky and got the bed in the front where these issues are only magnified. The first night Kat slept on the bench outside and Sophie horizontally across the double bed, feet pinned against the wall to stay stationary. Two in the bed and we would have woken up legs tangled with concussions.
Speaking of which, don´t ¨rest your eyes¨ at night on the side deck of the boat. Especially if you´ve been a sleep walker. I, Sophie, fell off the boat one night. Thankfully it was when we were anchored on the second night next to an island where there wasn´t a strong current, which was the case everywhere else we anchored. Phew. I came to as I was treading water (yes, in my sleep like a pro, thank you level 6 Discovery day camp), not sure why I was in the sea but not about to start questioning at that moment. I saw a rope to I first attempted to climb up that, realizing that I probably couldn´t do that in gym class, let alone from the water onto a swaying boat. I knew I could swim to the island so I considered this, but instead called out softly to Kat who had apparently heard me fall off from below deck and was on her was upstairs with the Dutch girls to investigate the suspicious noise from above.
¨Sophie?¨
¨Kat, where are you?¨
¨Ï´m on the boat...where are you?¨
¨Ï´m in the water!¨
¨What? Why?¨
¨I don´t know!!¨
Safe and sound, I was now more conscious and realized I was trying to climb up the rope of the anchor in front rather than just swim around the back and climb up the ladder like a normal person, although I guess a normal person wouldn´t have had that happen to them in the first place. Linda and Eline, after knowing that I was okay, thought it was the funniest thing ever! Apparently I´m on their blog, too! Kat was concerned but also not surprised because for some reason things random like this always happen to me. I was just happy to not have been carried off by the sea, proud of my swimming skills and more than eager to laugh it off as ¨that thing that happened to me on the boat¨. Good stories are good stories, even if they´re about you.
The next morning we did a bit more swimming at that island, then went of to another for more snorkeling. We left San Blas that afternoon to embark on what was to be a 48 hour trip on open water where we would end up in Cartagena, Colombia. The first night and day weren´t too bad and actually went by pretty quickly. We got a lot of reading done, finished 4 books between the two of us on this sailing trip. I wrote Kat a birthday card and we both did some journaling. That night we were warned that sitting outside that night wasn´t possible because there were going to be rough seas, strong wind, and waves splashing onto the deck. Great. Stuck in the cabin with no escape. Attempting to both get into our double bed was hilarious and ended with us giving up because it was next to impossible to get to a spot before the rhythm of the boat would pick us up and throw us down across the cabin. We ended up sort of sleeping in the main cabin area with everyone else, hoping that in the morning the boat would still be in tact from the crazy winds and waves that were truly testing our patience, stomachs and overall comfort. But of course, Captain David is hardly fazed, cooking us dinner during all the chaos and rolling cigarettes with the greatest of ease while we giggle and groan from our roller coaster of a ride. At least on roller coasters you had a seat belt, bar of sorts. Here, it´s just your body and your ability to brace yourself. We definitely left with bruises and bumps all over from every corner, wall or handle from the Tango.
But to our surprise, we woke up alive, on the smoothly sailing boat which was also in tact. It was Kat´s birthday, and we were just happy that we could sit up without being pushing back down by gravity. We went up onto the deck with the lovely surprise of land in sight. What we thought would take a whole other day was only going to be a couple of more hours to the port in Cartagena. The high winds from the previous night picked up the boat and put it closer to our destination. Oh happy day! I gave Kat the card I wrote her and the emails from Mom and Jeff, and we were on dry land soon after. Eline kissed the ground when we arrived. Although we make the trip sound strenuous, terrible, long, it was really a great experience and we had a TON of fun. Truly unique, something that will be hard to forget and even more impossible to recreate.
Oh Sophie...you would fall off the boat! love it
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