We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time! The plan was to sail through the San Blas Islands for 3 days then on to Colombia through the open sea for 2 more days. The islands are inhabited by the Kuna, an independent, indigenous population living only on these islands. Every Island was owned by a family and some of the smaller ones had just one house on them. Our captain was a crazy-looking old guy from Spain. Our ship was a 50ft older boat and we had 6 other travelling companions, from France, London and the US. [View Full Entry]

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Hola todos, Hier eindelijk een berichtje uit Panama (city). Het heeft ff geduurd voordat ik wat kon schrijven maar dat komt omdat ik de afgelopen dagen in de middle of nowhere heb gezeten, volledig afgesloten van alle luxe bij een uiterst primitieve stam de Kuna Yala. Hier straks meer over. Panama city. 8 september ben ik hier aangekomen, en ik werd meteen opgehaald door Rafael een taxichauffeur, die ik van te voren geregeld had via mn hostel. Hij stond me op te wachten bij de uitgang van de aankomsthal ...en hij stond te praten met een vrouw met een flinke siliconen [View Full Entry]

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We left the Bahamas in late May and headed to Jamaica. We spent a week in Jamaica waiting for good weather for the anticipated crossing to Panama. We eventually got acceptable weather (not really enough wind but at least no BAD weather) and made the 4 day sail to Panama. We arrived in Panama on June 1 in plenty of time for hurricane season. June 1st is technically the beginning of hurricane season but normally no named storms are seen until July. We spent a few days in Shelter Bay Marina which is near Colon and also near an old US [View Full Entry]

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Well... actually I'm pretty sure I was lost in THE paradise : ) Imagine more then 365 tropical fantasy islands - uninhabited islands covered by coconut trees and ringed by white sand beaches with the turquise caribbean water...what more could you possibly want???? I could spend each day on a different island...imagine just jumping from one island to another for a whole year!!!! P A R A D I S E ! The San Blas Islands is a group of islands which are located just off the Caribbean coast of Panama. These unique islands are one of Panama's most interesting attractions, [View Full Entry]

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July 7th 2009 - 10am: Boarding... time to leave Columbia/South America... if I have not been leaving to the Caribbean, I definitely would have decided to stay :) But I am prepared for some nice relaxing days in the Caribbean Sea and so nothing could prevent me from enjoying a nice trip. Just on the open sea for the first two days, surrounded by the about 20m high waves of the blue caribbean waters without seeing any land in this time. Seasickness? Better not think about this, just relax and enjoy... and avoid reading or writing diary - just chillout... On [View Full Entry]

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I'm officially two months behind schedule. It's a good thing there are no due dates in this project. Although I'm now home and safe and happily going about my normal student life, it is still important to me to finish off this blog and explain the rest of my trip. I want to complete this little project and round out this record. Staying in real time for a moment longer: today my first travel column was published in my university newspaper. I'll be writing a biweekly column this year called "It's a wild world..." about culture and diversity and travel and [View Full Entry]

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Our hostel told us about a boat sailing to Panama a few days past when we had wanted to leave. But, they said it would be a bigger boat, more comfortable, so we thought we would take a look. It had an Austrian Captain. I was wondering what that would be like. I didn't have to wait long to find out. We were not on the dingy more than 30 seconds before his engine died, swiftly eliciting the F bomb. Once he restarted, we made it about 15 more seconds before hitting a mooring line, after which he went off and [View Full Entry]

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Nasza przeprawe z Panamy do Kolumbii rozpoczelismy od godzinnego lotu malym samolotem wypelnionym po brzegi miejscowa ludnoscia Kuna Yala. Nim wyladowalismy w Mulatupu, samolot mial 5 miedzyladowan na pobliskich wyspach. Mielismy nieszczescie siedziec zaraz za kabina pilota, ktory szalal niczym kierowca PKSa po dwoch flaszkach. Gdy wreszcie oglosil miejscowosc, do ktorej sie udawalismy, nie bardzo chcialo nam sie wysiadac. Spodziewalismy sie miasta i jakiejkolwiek oznaki cywilizacji. Co zastalismy, widac na zdjeciach... Ku naszemu szczesciu, na lotnisku zainteresowal sie nami niejaki Afrani [View Full Entry]

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With the South American leg of my trip finished I headed to Panama for a change of scenery and to begin the Central America portion which will eventually lead me back home via Cancun in Mexico. Touch down in Panama City was uneventful and I took a taxi to the hostel, Mamallena ($11/night). Panama city is definitely not a city I would spend much time in. The area the hostel was in was not memorable, fairly run down and was just generally shitty. I took a day to look around the old colonial town which is in the process of being [View Full Entry]

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After our adventures in Tayrona, we made the trip from Taganga all the way back to Cartagena, our last substantial bus journey of this 7 month trip. We had already spent 2 days in Cartagena between Medellin and Ciudad Perdida, and would spend one more day walking around the historic and romantic streets of Cartagena waiting for our final big adventure - sailing across the Caribbean from Colombia to Panama via the San Blas Archipelago. Since we had already taken our photos and explored a satisfactory amount of the city on our first pass, we had nothing on the agenda for [View Full Entry]

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