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Published: January 23rd 2008
THE SAN BLAS ISLANDS
A little bit better on this attemptWell this is a long and adventurous story with so it is going to take me sometime to tell I think. Our plan was to get a yacht from Cartagena to Panama which would stop on the way at the beautiful San Blas Islands. We had met many people who had come from Panama and also many that were also planning on doing what we were and along with that we had heard many mixed stories. So armed with this knowledge we were keen to make sure that we had a good captain and decent boat to not only get us to our destination but also to have some fun on the way. Our only problem was that due to the fact that I had to fly from Bogota soon we didn't have much time up our sleeve to be picky.....actually we basically had to take whatever boat was going. We had heard all sorts of stories about these trips and lets just say that the professionalism of many captains left a lot to be desired. They seemed to look at it as a means of transport and that their job was purely is to get from A to B without
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Club Nautico taking into consideration that people pay a lot of money and expect a little bit more. Also something that seemed to be neglected was that most people hadn't spent more than a few hours on a boat at any one time so were not really aware of what it was like to be out in the in the open ocean. Stories of not enough food, rude captains, plans that had been agreed on changing whilst out at sea and horror stories of seasickness had been told to us. So when we met our captain, Hernando, the first time we had a list of questions we wanted to ask and agree on before leaving. When we met Hernando Sharyn and I both had a good feeling about him......he was a Colombian probably in his 50's who had been doing this run for around 10 years. He knew the ladies in the hostel and from that aswell as our first meeting we were pretty happy with our luck that he would be leaving in a few days with him. We decided not to even look at the boat even though we had heard that it was pretty small compared to others but
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Club Nautico as Sharyn pointed out we didn't unfortunately have much choice and we decided that we would just go with our gut instinct. After handing over the money and agreeing on a plan we then had a few days up our sleeve to wait. We had been told that the other two on the boat were Australian girls which we were relieved to hear as the annoying American lady we had met in Taganga was also thinking about taking a boat at this time and the one thing we both dreaded was being on the same boat as her for five days. The day came to depart and we headed down to the marina about 30 minutes late and was met by Hernando who seemed a little upset that we were a little late. He was with another guy and we walked up towards where the boat was moored. We stopped at a nice looking yacht which was a lot bigger than I thought it might be and that is when Hernando dropped the bombshell. He said this is Pablo and he will be your captain.....to which I had to ask him what he was talking about. Apparantly due to the
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Our Cuban mate at the club who Sharyn befriended and then hide from him for the rest of the time we were there Australian girls deciding that they didn't want to go on Hernando's boat and wanting to go on this boat, Sharyn and I had been changed without even being asked. We were instantly upset as we had really wanted to go with Hernando and after Sharyn and I discussing that we wouldn't see the boat and just go with our gut feeling and now we were with a complete stranger who was pretty young but again we really didn't have a lot of choice. What really made me annoyed was that when they told us who was on the boat with us......the two Australian girls, two Argentines and an American women.......instantly we knew who it was as she had been travelling with two Argentines. Well I don't throw wobblies that often but right there on the marina I had a dummy spit......I think with good reason because I was thinking that I could possibly be driven to throw this women overboard and didn't think that I would make the whole five days in close quarters with her. I told Pablo and Hernando that in no uncertain terms and after a lot of convincing and what we later found out to be
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Sharyn having drinks on Hernando's boat a lot of bullshit on their behave and a lot of reasoning on Sharyn's behave we boarded the boat. Somewhere along the line I had obviously done something to have this come back on me I was thinking..........people don't get under my skin too much but this lady even though I did find her very interesting and good to talk to at times was one of those people that just grated on you. For starters she was a New Yorker, and a typical one at that, she had worked in the music industry for years in management so she was used to being pushy and getting her own way, she smoked like it was going out of fashion and with no concern for others, she was loud and opinunated, didn't really have much idea about the people around her, talked constantly about herself repeating her stories often - to this day I am sure she knows nothing about Sharyn or myself including who is who and now we had to deal with her on a 15m yacht for 5 days. On the other hand she had led a very interesting life and was great to talk to about many things
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Me, Hernando and Sharyn on Hernando's boat so I just had to work out how to turn her off when I had had enough. We were told then that we would leave by the end of the day after immigration had been sorted......but during the day I was convinced that there was no way we were leaving as for starters they were still working on the boat. This was all fine but we had been told to wait at the marina for the immigration officer so we couldn't do anything. Finally in the late afternoon we were told that we would be leaving in the morning and that Sharyn and I could stay on the boat that night. Then both the Captian and his first mate cousin, Tylson, just disappeared and left us in charge of the whole boat without any instructions and no lights........not a good sign I was thinking! Hernando was still at the marina so we ventured on down to his boat to check it out and have some wine with him......this was great but also just confirmed that we would so much prefer to go with him on this journey even though his boat was much smaller and not as flash. Finally Tylson
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An advertisment on the notice board at Club Nautico came back from where ever he was and turned the generator on for us to give us light and a fan and that was us for the night. The morning came and I headed off to the toilet and saw the American sitting there at the table waiting for Pablo to arrive. I quickly tried to look really dazed and like I had just got up and didn't see her.......I just wanted as much time in peace and quiet before it all started. It wasn't long before she recognised us and even though we acted really vague on the details and didn't admit that she was on our boat it also wasn't long before we were in close company and the complaining began. Slowly the others arrived and we got to met the Australian girls, Jess and Jules, who would end up being our saving grace on the boat. Then we started to realise all the things that all of us had been told were conflicting......we were told we could have the main cabin, so were the Argentines, the American assumed she would have a berth and rightly so but it seemed that she wasn't going to have a bed
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Our vessel Wind Surfer in a room to sleep in, us and the girls realised that there had been a complete cock up regarding Hernando's boat and they had been waiting for days to leave........so with all that we were a little apprehensive and concerned what was going to happen once we got out to sea. Already the American had rubbed Pablo our skipper and the Tylson up the wrong way when she approached them about the bed situation but in her typical New Yorker aggressive way. Ahhhhh the fun and games....I was just hanging to get out to sea and be on a boat for a few days. Finally at about 2pm we set sail and headed out north west from Cartagena and then the reality of what we were about to do sunk in for those who hadn't spent much on the boat as seasickness started. One of our plans was to feed some seasickness pills to the American because they can make you drowsy and that might actually shut her up for a while........out of kindness we did tell her that it was better to take them before feeling sick and then our plan worked......she was sleepy and pretty quiet and
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Cartagena from the water I was back in ocean heaven! It was going to take a couple of days to get to the islands and until then we were in the middle of the ocean in pretty decent swell but I was loving it. Luckily Sharyn and I didn't get seasick and neither did the girls, except Jules did manage to do a pretty decent spew overboard for some reason. The others though were not 100% which made their trip pretty uncomfortable and long. Along the way Pablo seemed to have decided that he was going to become the American's worst enemy after she had rubbed him up the wrong way and since he was the captain he was going to let her know. There were some things that Pablo said to the American that I thought she needed to hear but the majority of it was out of order or not relevant to their disagreements and I had never heard anyone speak to one of their customers this way. It was quite a funny situation in the fact that the American was seasick and didn't have a room downstairs, there was a bed but she wanted a room, so she spent the most
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Our first mate.....Tylson of the first two days lying on the seats on deck.....within arms reach of the helm. That meant that she was in close company with Pablo for a long time and there was random outbursts of abuse and I must admit that Pablo caused most of them and wound her up. Either way it was not only uncomfortable for the American who had no where else to go it was also uncomfortable for the rest of us who always felt like we were in the middle of it. Still I tried to get away from it all and find a peaceful spot at the bow of the boat so I could try and spot some wildlife, but all that was out there were countless coconuts who we would call Wilson thanks to Tom Hanks and his stupid movie he made. So whether it was the American's fault or not I think her attitude at the start set a precedent but we also felt bad that we had bad mouthed her which might have also encouraged Pablo to be such an arse. So finally on the morning of the third day we pulled into the San Blas Islands and we woke
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Leaving Cartagena and Colombia to find we were literally in paradise even though it was raining. It didn't take long for us Aussie girls to be in the water and it was beautiful to be swimming in the warm water while it was raining. We swam over to the island and played on the beach for a bit before starting to walk around it......it was pretty small so it took all of 30 minutes. The islands which seemed to be basically sand cayes with lots of coconut trees and palms on them and surrounded by soft white sand where the sort of islands that you might dream of when you think of tropical islands. Unfortunately like so many other places in this region there was quite a lot of rubbish which possibly drifted from the mainland, passing boats or possibly the local Indians.....whatever the cause it was again such a shame it was that way. Along the way we passed houses were the Kuna Indian people live and from information from the American were likely to stay out here for a few months and then return to the main islands closer to the mainland and then another family would come out there to look
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Loving being back on the ocean even with the big swell after the coconuts and to fish. These people were very friendly but shy and the women were dressed in their tradition dress. After a walk around the island we headed back to the boat for some lunch and some chill time and also to hassle Pablo into taking us fishing or doing something. Finally he had had enough so he told us we could take the tender ourselves and go for a fish or snorkel to keep ourselves occupied and possibly to give him some peace and quiet. So the four of us girls jumped in and headed off out the back to see what we could pull in for dinner..........we were very determined to catch something but after trolling around for 45 minutes we had caught nothing but a few bits of seaweed. The girls also went for a snorkel which was also pretty average as the swell was up and therefore the water was also pretty murky and not much could be seen. Since we had had no luck and because the boys were waiting for us so they could go for a surf we headed back in and swapped boats with the boys and started to have
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Jess, Sharyn, Jules and myself on the high seas a few drinks on the yacht. Perfect timing for us to watch a pod of dolphins playing nearby doing jumps and spins and putting on a real show. Once the boys return and we tell them that we had seen some dolphins jumping around they said that they then came and swam next to them while surfing. When we tell Tylson that we love dolphins he tells us he is a Delphin a al Noche, a dolphin of the night.......this makes us laugh until our sides hurt. Then once we start talking it turns out that he has also made some other really funny comments to some of us. Like when Sharyn asked him what he was cooking for dinner and he told her lentils and she responds by telling him she likes lentils.......he tells her that he is a lentil. Also when he asked Sharyn what she does for a living and she told him she was a teacher, he responds by saying that he likes to be a student. So it becomes more and more obvious that he is a flirt from hell and he is getting more and more blantant with his remarks but it provides us
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The beautiful San Blas islands with many chances for a good laugh. That night we made friends with the people on the pirate boat and we sent Jess off to met them in the water. In the process she lost one of the fins she was using which just happened to be our Captain Pablo's personal one.........another thing to bring a little tension to the boat. After speaking with the people from the pirate boat we realised that even though we had some issues like a grumpy captain, people who didn't want to clean up and a lot that of other things that we thought we might get but weren't.........but compared to these people we had it alright! Next morning I was up early and in for an early morning swim and actually spent most of that day in the water somewhere, and loved it. We all went over to another small island nearby and wandered around there taking photos and frolicking in the shallow water. There was some Kuna Indians there as well but they would only go over for the day and care for the coconuts and return to the other bigger island at night time. Sharyn, The Australian girls and I had
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A hut on the islands where the Kuna Indians spend their days many laughs as we posed for photos amongst the coconut trees and in the water playing around and keeping ourselves amused. If you could picture an island that you might see on a postcard and one that you might dream of going to, this island would be it. Fully of coconut trees, some hanging out over the water, white sandy beachs, crystal blue water, sun and not a lot of people around.........really it was paradise and all the grief over the last few days seemed far away. Once we had got back to the boat I was back in the water again and snorkelling around the small bay that we were in, not really hoping to see much which I didn't, but after being stuck on a boat for days it was nice to get the blood pumping through the body. I swam over to the other slightly bigger island with my camera held high above my head wrapped in a plastic bag and started to wander around the island taking more photos. I found the American with a local Kuna lady and she was choosing a bracelet made of beads which is what the local women wear here on
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Sharyn, Jules, Jess and Me on one of the San Blas Islands their arms and lower legs. To put it on the lady has to wrap it around you and tie it as she goes, so once its on that's that. I decided that I was going to get one and I was still in the process of choosing when the lady started unwrapping one and I guessed my decision was made. She was dressed in all her traditional dress and had amazing beaded jewellery up to her knees and elbows, but unfortunately it wasn't too easy to communicate with her. She wrapped my bracelet on and I asked if I could get a photo with her, which she very kindly obliged to, but when I had the photo taken she couldn't have looked more uninterested if she tried. Had to laugh as she is probably completely sick of stupid tourists like us. These people live a very basic life like many other indigenous people I had encountered, but they seemed to be very peaceful and happy with where they were at........really who wouldn't be when you lived in paradise. I am sure that they wonder what all the fuss is about in the western world and what the need is to
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Me looking incredibly uncomfortable.......never going to make a model have so many material things and to lead such busy lives. That afternoon we set sail again heading to our final destination on the yacht, another island of the San Blas group where the air strip is and where we would get off the boat and arrive in Panama. Again I was loving being back on the sea and wishing that I could continue on the boat, I was the only one thinking this as the rest of them had had enough and couldn't get off the boat fast enough. This island was no where as beautiful and had an air strip that was basically the whole of the island except a small hotel and immigration. We anchored for the night where we had once last massive blow up with Pablo and Tylson and again it all came down to communication or lack of it and what we had been told we would get before we left Colombia. We were basically going to get a little less time than we were told but what we really wanted was not to have to get up at 6am in the morning to get on a boat to the mainland. Pablo did tell
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Me, Sharyn, Jules and Jess sitting on a tree us that we had to leave early to get there in time to get a vehicle out of the jungle and into Panama City, but he told us this at 10pm at night when none of us were packed at all. We came to an agreement that we would leave the boat at 10.30am and head in then.......to this Pablo agreed but warned us not to expect him to put us up if we missed transport, at this we thought he was being a little over dramatic. The American also said her piece about her issues with Pablo and Tylson and had spoken to all of us to back her up in her arguement, which I stupidly did and got dragged into it but made a hasty retreat, but it got ugly and nasty and I headed to the bow of the boat and told them all to quit yelling and arguing as no one was going to agree on anything. The last night on the boat for me was enjoyable as everyone else went to sleep and I hung on the bow watching the stars and the moon in the sea breeze..........I was not really looking forward to being
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Jess and her chocolate star fish in a big bright lighted city this time the next day. So after arguing with Pablo the night before regarding the time to leave and him going and speaking with the boat driver and arranging a new time, everyone was ready in the morning and then bitching about why we were leaving earlier.......I really needed to get away from these people now. So I jumped in the water and spent the last hour in there where I didn't have to listen to the bitching and whinging and then finally it came time to leave. There were a few boats on the island that I thought might possibly be ours to the mainland but what turned out to be our transport was an oversized wooden tender that was open to sun and water. Of course as the poor guy is loading on the American's heavy bag full of her jewellery things something falls off and into the water never to be found again.......she goes off her rocker and this poor innocent man feels the strength of her wrath. All it was was a small piece of plastic to hold two plastic pipes together, you'd think that he'd dropped the whole bag
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Jules and her star fish the way she reacted. Anyway finally we are all loaded up, we say our good-byes and we are still trying to give friendly advice to Pablo on how to improve his trips but we are constantly met by him with his back up. Waving good bye with the American cursing all the way until the yacht is out of sight and we are heading to the mainland........one adventure over and little did we know that another was about to begin. We all had thought that we were going to land that was in sight of the boat, no we were going in the complete other direction to land that we could not see at the start. At this stage we started to think that maybe we might be pushing it to make the last bus that Pablo had loosely said left at midday. Along the way we saw many flying fish that were jumping to get out the way of our boat and I ended up pretty drenched as water came in over the side which actually was quiet refreshing and I am used to having to spend my time in soggy bathers. We were able to see some land
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Chasing Sharyn after she attempted to put sand down my bathers.......Benny Hill style! and was egging the driver on so that we could possibly make it in time, thinking that we just had to get to the land we could see. Once we arrived at one of the many islands where the Kuna Indians live we were asked to get off the boat as we would be changing boats to get to the main land. Now we were thinking that Pablo was definately right in telling us to leave early and that both of them would be laughing at us stupid gringos for thinking we knew better........we had about 8 minutes to make it to the mainland. We told the boat driver who just kept nodding and but not showing us a lot of concern and we waited while they slowly loaded more cargo onto the small boat and then waited for what felt like ages for a man to get on. There seemed to be no rush and we knew that they understood as we had spanish speakers with us so there was no chance of any misunderstanding. Finally after a small fire broke out behind the small building on the dock and caused a small commotion, we were off towards the
mainland and to what I thought might be a small village where we would hopefully get some form of transport out of there. As we hit the mainland there is no village in sight and it is complete jungle and its then that I realise that we are really in the middle of no where and this time its called the Darien Gap. The driver takes the large canoe up a small stream that runs out to sea and then we are transported from tropical island paradise into the jungle with lush green coverage and all of us are amazed at where we have been dropped off. The two guys that are on the boat with us are great and stop to show us all sorts of wildlife from lizards, alligators and birds and explain to us what the local people are doing as they pass us on canoes. This ride lasts nearly an hour I guess as we make our way up stream to where I think there is going to be a village. After seeing lots of wildlife, a cemetary and been given what feels like a guided tour we arrive at our stop and no village. All
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Sand down her bathers that is there is a shelter made from palm leaves and a few local people, am wondering where the hell they have come from, and a lot of mud. It has been raining a lot here and the track that is used by heavy trucks has been chewed up completely. Now we are really thinking that we should have come earlier and listened to Pablo as if we can't get transport there is absolutely no where to go as we are completely surrounded by jungle. The Australian girls are on a real tight time limit as they are flying from Costa Rica in a number of days and need to be in Panama City that night, so its either getting transport out or heading back to the island and getting a plane for them. To add to the mix Sharyn and I have a tiny bit of money between us, the Australians are the same and none of us have any water or food but luckily the American can help us out of there. At this little shelter is a lovely young guy who makes some phone calls for us and arranges some form of transport that will be there
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The Aussie girls......Jules Jess, Sharyn and Me in about 3 hours but he tells us that the road is bad and some of the other vehicles have had a lot of trouble that day making it out. Selfishly I am loving it as I have to be no where and I just letting the ball roll which ever way it will. After a couple of hours a 4x4 ute arrives, we are all piled in the back with all bags minus the American who we put in the front, and we are off. For the first half and hour we all think that it's a great adventure and as we hoon through the jungle we get amazing views of the jungle and the trees. The driver is driving like a bat out of hell and at times he needs to simply to make it up the hill and through the terrible roads that we pass. As he does this we hold on tight and get bounced around like popcorn popping and I believe that it's only down to luck that no one falls out. We are on roads that my dad would be proud to take the 4x4 up and roads that I can't believe we are
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Some local Kuna Indians coming to sell some seafood to us making it up and we decide that it's best not to look forward and just to start asking someone or thing to get us there safely. So after a while this all becomes a little tiring, Sharyn has a massive headache, the Argentine girl has a bad leg and that is getting hammered, the Aussie girls are getting smashed against the side of the ute and I have a wheel from someone's bag getting rammed into my back everytime we hit a bump and all of us are getting slammed on the arse every 3-5 seconds. So it is actually of some relief when we get bogged on the way up a steep hill that has been churned completely by the big trucks, so we can actually get out of the back for a while. The driver reverses and tries to go faster, no luck, then we are asked to stand up in the back and jump on the count of three in the hope of getting the tires to stick. Sharyn's nearly dying with a wicked headache and I'm not far behind, but we try many times to do this and the poor motor is about to blow a
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The boats moored near us and one of the islands behind gasget and it smells, but the driver is still smiling. We then realise that there is absolutely no tread left on the tyres and there is buckley's chance of getting out of here without a tow or some other kind of intervention, probably heavenly. The Aussie girls who come from farms and myself having a little knowledge of 4wdriving start looking for something to put under the tyres that they might grip on, while the driver stands around with not a lot of input. We give that a go but there is no hope and the reality of the fact that we are in the middle of no where with no other vehicles in sight hits us.........so close yet so far from our destination. After about half and hour a vehicle comes along and it seems is not too happy about helping us but hooks up the tow rope and after a couple of goes and all of us cheering along and some of the girls on the back for looks the vehicle is pulled free and we are off again with fingers crossed that firstly we are nearly there and secondly that we don't get stuck again. After what
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Looking out from one of the islands and some locals heading out to fish seemed an eternity we finally made it out of the jungle and off the terrible road and to our second vehicle, yes we were not there yet, which was to take us to the bright lights of Panama City. Ahhhhhhh smooth bitumen road we all thought as the sun started to set and we all finally relaxed and felt exhausted after being thrown around for the past few hours. Along the way we were told by the driver to wind up and close the windows which were already heavily tinted as we passed police, we were sure what the reasoning for this way but we decided it was because he was not supposed to be taking paying passengers. Then in the distance we started to see the bright lights of Panama City and as the traffic increased we could see our final destination in sight.........as well as a hot shower, food and a beer. Driving in over a bridge towards the city it actually looked quite big and very western and you could see straight away that the American's have put a lot of money into this city. Once we descended into the metropolis it was even more obvious that
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The huts that the Kuna Indians live in while on the islands there was a lot of American money there, as it felt like we were actually in America as it was full of American shops etc. Coming from the San Blas Islands and then into the jungle of the Darien to here was a jump from one end of the stick to the other and we all sat there with wide eyes and were like kids in a lollie shop. Funny how when you haven't had the luxuries of home for a while how exciting it is to see places like Basken Robins and large supermarkets. After a while of driving around to find the hostel we had chosen we arrived to find it was full. Then with everyone being tired and worn out it was decision time as to what everyone wanted to do. People wanting to stay here and there, people wanting to go to the bus station and the poor driver standing there waiting for us to make a decision. I was over it and since we knew what we wanted to do it was painful to wait for everyone else, Sharyn again with her wisdom telling me to chill out, all I wanted was to stop, shower
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Sharyn doing her best surfer pose and eat as my stomach was grumbling. Decisions made........Argentines off to the bus station, Aussie girls to bank and then off to Costa Rica (hopefully) and Sharyn and myself were lucky enough to have the pleasure of the American's company still when she decided to come and stay at the same hostel........we wondered how that happened!!!!!!!! What got me through being in her company was that she was actually quite interesting in small doses and the fact that we organised our days there to avoid her, in the nicest possible way. So that was the end of a great adventure on the high seas of the Caribbean and one that I was so glad that I took. Everyone else on the boat had taken the trip as a means of getting to Central America, me I took it to be on the ocean again and to see the San Blas Islands, no one except Sharyn understood why I would do that. So here we were in Panama City and zapped back into the hussle and bussle of being in another large Latin American city.
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