Blogs from Kuna Yala, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Bonjour, Nous vous avons délaissé quelque temps. Nous étions en octobre retournés dans les Sanblas au Panama. Nous en avons profités pour visiter une rivière avec un ami Kuna, la rivière Sidra avec de belles petites chutes ainsi qu'un cimetière Kuna sur la route. Nous avons remontés la rivière à pied dans la forêt tropical pendant 4 heures. Par la suite nous l'avons redescendu en se faisant glisser dans les petites chutes et en marchant dans le peu profond de la rivière. Pour y parvenir nous avions été transportés par une chaloupe qui se nomme une lancha au Panama. C'était une belle journée pas trop chaude et magnifique, nous avons picniqué sur place devant les chutes. Bonne journée... read more

10 July 2012 began with a couple of unexpected challenges. First there was the heated argument over the phone with the hostel owner about the last minute hidden insurance and tax charges. These were not mentioned in the “balance to pay” email we received and so were a complete surprise when we were settling the bill. It ended with the arrogant owner admitting “this happens a lot and other people pay” then he declared that he had Leigh’s credit card number and so he could easily deduct the disputed amount. An unfortunate end to a lovely stay! The next challenge proved to be changing our Colombian dollars into US dollars in order to pay the balance of our yacht fare. Leigh walked for an hour in the heat and visited four banks to discover each had ... read more

Limited transportation choices from Panama City to Cartagena, Colombia has most travelers choosing between flying one hour(US $400) or sailing five days (US $500). Sailing is the more economical and romantic choice for sailboats include food, lodging, three days of island hopping and swimming amongst the 365 San Blas Islands, and two days of open sea sailing. There are lots of sailboats to choose from. We went a little higher end and paid $550 for a large 41 foot catamaran. Luckily or trip included only three other passengers so our trip departed with plenty of room for our five day passage to Cartagena. From Panama City it was a three hour drive to the coast through thick mountainous jungle. The road was rough, up, down and around which our driver could care less about slowing down. ... read more

After meeting so many people at the hostel, one of the guys who stayed with us asked if I would be interested in going to San Blas for Easter. That was a tough decision… heck yes, I would. His four-wheel drive truck was perfect for a rocky mountain road to get to Carti from where we would take a boat to one of the 365 islands of Kuna people. On Thursday night I took a late bus from David to Santiago. (I just learned that there are 5 Santiagos in the world). In the morning we were supposed to pick up another friend from a gas station on the way to Panama City. Somehow, the other friend had a problem with a bus, we had a problem waking up, and since only one person from the ... read more

We're having a great time here in the San Blas. Lots of nice anchorages. There's a large reef about a mile out from us which makes for very protected waters. But you can hear and see the surf breaking against it at all times. We've hiked around a couple islands. Two days ago, we went to a palapa which had happy hour from 6 - 7 pm. Cans of beer are $.75 and rum and coke $1.25, no other choices. Prices double after happy hour. This was on a 2-3 acre island. They even had internet for $3 per hour. We bought a 15 lb fish from a Kuna right out of his canoe. He started at $20, but we got it for $12. Yesterday another canoe came by offering a lobster and a crab (huge ... read more