Pitufa.at

Yesterday we got chatting with Kunas from the village Malatupu who come to Puerto Escoces to fish and harvest fruit and veggies from the gardens they have here. At the moment 3 men and 2 boys stay in one of the huts that are built on the reef. Instead of asking for presents and trying to sell us overpriced veggies (like the Kuna in Puerto Perme) they insisted on giving us a crab, some fish and plantains for free and invited us to have dinner with them the next day.

In the afternoon we packed some T-Shirts, fishing gear, a cake and cold beers and set out to visit our “amigos”. We were amazed to find several giant langostas (spiny lobsters) boiling over an open fire. Fortunately one of them speaks good Spanish so we asked him lots of questions about the Kuna lifestyle and found out that most of them aren’t as strictly traditional as expected, even though we’re still in the most remote, least visited and therefore most traditional part of Kuna Yala. They have an outboard engine, eat spicy food, etc. Felipe worked 3 years in a hotel in Panama City, but came back to his village where he’s his own boss. He saved some money, works hard in his gardens and dreams about opening an eco-lodge in Puerto Escoces. Apparently drug trafficking is still an issue, sometimes boats drop their powdery packages and for the Kuna who happens to pick it up it’s like winning in the lottery

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Ein nobles Abendessen

Gestern sind wir mit ein paar Kunas vom Dorf Malatupu ins Reden gekommen, die nach Puerto Escoces kommen, um zu fischen und in ihren Gaerten Fruechte und Gemuese zu ernten. Im Moment bleiben 3 Maenner und 2 Jungs in einer der Huetten auf dem Riff. Anstatt uns nach Geschenken zu fragen und zu versuchen uns ueberteuertes Gemuese anzudrehen (wie die Kunas in Puerto Perme), bestanden sie darauf uns eine Krabbe, ein paar Fische und Platanen zu schenken und luden uns dann noch zum Abendessen am naechsten Tag ein.

Heute Nachmittag packten wir deshalb ein paar T-Shirts, Angelzeug, einen Kuchen und ein paar kalte Biere ein und besuchten unsere “amigos”. Zu unserer Ueberraschung kochten bereits mehrere riesige Langusten in einem Topf ueber dem offenen Feuer. Gluecklicherweise spricht einer von ihnen gutes Spanisch und somit loecherten wir ihn mit Fragen zum Leben der Kuna. Es stellte sich heraus, dass die meisten nicht so streng traditionell leben wie erwartet, obwohl wir hier immer noch im abgelegensten, am wenigsten besuchten uns somit traditionellsten Teil der Kuna Yala sind. Sie haben Aussenborder, wuerzen das Essen, etc. Felipe hat 3 Jahre in einem Hotel in Panama City gearbeitet, ist aber in sein Dorf zurueckgekommen, wo er sein eigener Chef sein kann. Er hat Geld gespart, arbeitet hart in seinen Gaerten und traeumt davon in Puerto Escoces eine Eco-Lodge zu errichten. Anscheinend sind an der Kueste immer noch genuegend Drogenboote unterwegs, manchmal verliert eins ein pudriges Paket, fuer den Kuna, der es findet ist das wie ein Gewinn in der Lotterie

We’re still in the quiet bay of Puerto Escoces, there’s not much to do here, no hiking trails and the water is too murky for snorkeling after the heavy rains. Yesterday we took the dinghy around the bay in the hope of catching a glimpse of a crocodile (according to the fishermen there are many around here), but couldn’t spot one. We saw some hornbills and other birds though and after we got back to Pitufa some dolphins swam by.

We’re getting into our remote-bay-routine: get up early (the last three days a thunderstorm woke us up at 5), bake bread, wash clothes (using the abundant rainwater from the thunderstorm before), repair/sow/mend things and cook an elaborate dinner. Christian has been afflicted with some unidentified pain in the right shoulder and can’t do much but read, fortunately we carry half a library with us.

We’ve been planning to move on to the next anchorage for the last 3 days. It’s only a few miles further on, but there’s some tricky navigation between reefs involved and that requires perfect conditions: sunny skies with the light behind the lookout on the bow (around noon). This morning it was sunny, we got the boat ready, Leeloo had to take her anti-seasickness drops, but by 10 o’clock a thunderstorm built up with an apocalyptic looking cloud formation and at noon it was pouring down again.

Our spot got quite uncomfortably rolly, because the swell changed direction, so we anchored 100m further north, to get some protection. Usually Christian handles the anchor while I manoever the boat, but as we both should be able to do all jobs on the boat we switched roles for today’s anchoring manoever to practice a bit. It turned out we indeed needed to practice, anchoring this way took 3 times as long and involved lots of swearing.

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Wir sind immer noch in der ruhigen Bucht Puerto Escoes, es gibt hier nicht viel zu tun, keine Wanderwege und das Wasser ist nach dem vielen Regen zu trueb zum Schnorcheln. Gestern sind wir mit dem Dinghi um die Bucht gefahren, in der Hoffnung einen Blick auf ein Krokodil zu erhaschen (laut den Fischern gibt es viele hier), wir haben aber keins gefunden, nur Voegel (unter anderen auch Hornvoegel) flogen uebers Dinghi und als wir zurueck bei Pitufa waren, kamen ein paar Delfine vorbei.

Wir sind schon wieder in unserer Bucht-Routine: bald aufstehen (die letzte 3 Tage weckte uns das 5-Uhr Gewitter), Brot backen, Waesche waschen (um den Ueberfluss an Regenwasser vom letzten Gewitter zu nutzen), Sachen reparieren/stopfen/naehen und ein umfangreiches Abendessen kochen. Christian laboriert an einem unidentifizierten Schmerz in der rechten Schulter und kann ausser lesen nicht viel machen, gluecklicherweise haben wir aber eine halbe Bibliothek mit.

Wir wollen seit Tagen weiter zur naechsten Ankerbucht. Diese ist zwar nur wenige Meilen entfernt, erfordert aber kniffliges Navigieren zwischen Riffen und dazu braucht man perfekte Bedingungen: Sonne und Licht von hinten fuer den Ausguck am Bug (also am besten Mittag). Heute Morgen war es sonnig, wir haben das Boot segelfertig gemacht, Leeloo musste ihre Ani-Seekrankheitstropfen nehmen, aber um 10 Uhr hat es zugezogen und ein Gewitter mit einer apokalyptischen Wolkenstimmung hat sich aufgebaut und zu Mittag hat es schon wieder geschuettet.

Unser Ankerplatz wurde ungemuetlich rollig, weil die Duenung aus einer anderen Richtung kam und somit haben wir 100 m weiter noerdlich neu geankert. Normalerweise kuemmert sich Christian um den Anker, waehrend ich am Steuer stehe, aber eigentlich soll jeder von uns alle Jobs an Bord koennen, also haben wir heute die Rollen getauscht. Wie sich herausstellte, haben wir Uebung bitter noetig, denn auf diese Weise dauerte das Ankermanoever 3x so lange wie sonst und wir haben ganz schoen herumgeflucht.

We’ve just experienced how fierce thunderstorms can be in the San Blas Islands. It started like a normal thunderstorm at 5 o’clock in the morning, but by 6 o’clock the wind accelerated to 40 knots sustained, visibility went down to a few metres, so we turned the engine on, kept a look at the GPS and were prepared to set the anchor newly in case we’d start dragging. Working on deck’s not a nice thought with lightning and thunder almost at the same moment, rain coming horizontally and reefs all around. Fortunately the anchor held and even our two big rain-catching awnings survived, although they fluttered like crazy.

Yesterday we took the dinghy to a few Kuna huts in the bay, some huts are built next to a powder-sugar white beach and three more stand on roughly built stone plateaus on the reef. These huts are only occasionally used by fishermen and yesterday nobody was at home, so we had the chance to take as many pictures as we liked (usually a picture costs 1 dollar–the Kuna are efficient businessmen…). Nearby lie the ruins of Fort St. Andrews overgrown by the jungle. In 1698 Scottish colonists tried to settle here, an enormous amount of money was spent and 3000 settlers arrived in two phases. They couldn’t cope with the conditions though, “fevers” (malaria and other diseases) and malnutrition killed 2000 of the involved people and in 1702 the fort was abandoned and the survivors returned home. Looking at the paradisiac bay it’s hard to imagine how anyone could starve in a bay full of fish (we hardly dare going swimming, because of the large fish we’ve seen jumping and the even bigge r ones that must have chased them) and such lush vegetation, but for the Scots their dream of a new life in the “new world” turned into a nightmare.

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Gewitter in Puerto Escoces Wir haben gerade erlebt, wie heftig Stuerme in den San Blas sein koennen. Es hat um 5 Uhr wie ein normales Gewitter begonnen, aber um 6 Uhr hat der Wind auf 40 Knoten beschleunigt, die Sichtweite ging auf wenige Meter zurueck, also starteten wir den Motor, hielten ein Auge auf’s GPS und waren bereit, den Anker neu zu setzen, falls das Boot driften sollten. Arbeit auf Deck ist allerdings kein verfuehrerischer Gedanke, wenn Blitz und Donner fast gleichzeitig rund ums Boot niedergehen, der Regen horizontal daherkommt und Riffe rundherum sind. Glueckerweise hielt der Anker und sogar unsere zwei grossen Regenfangplanen ueberlebten, obwohl sie wie verrueckt flatterten.

Gestern sind wir mit dem Dinghi zu einigen Kuna-Huetten in der Bucht gefahren, einige stehen an einem weissen Puderzuckerstrand, drei weitere auf am Riff aufgeschichteten Steinplateaus. Diese Huetten werden nur gelegentlich von Fischern genutzt und gestern war niemand zu Hause, somit hatten wir die Chance nach Lust und Laune zu fotografieren (normalerweise kostet ein Foto einen Dollar – die Kuna sind geschaeftstuechtig…). Ganz in der Naehe liegen die Ruinen von Fort St. Andrew im Duschungel. 1698 versuchten schottische Kolonisten sich hier anzusiedeln, eine Unmenge Geld wurde in das Unternehmen gepumpt und 3000 Siedler in zwei Phasen hertransportiert. Sie kamen jedoch mit den Bedinungen nicht zurecht, im Endeffekt kamen 2000 der Beteiligten durch “Fieber” (Malaria und andere Krankheiten) und Hunger ums Leben, das Fort wurde 1702 wieder aufgegeben und die Ueberlebenden kehrten nach Schottland zurueck. Wenn man sich die traumhafte Bucht ansieht, kann man sich kaum vorstellen, dass Leute in einer Bucht voller Fische (wir trauen uns kaum schwimmen gehen, wegen der grossen Fische, die wir springen gesehen haben und den noch groesseren Monstern, die diese gejagt haben muessen) und einer so ueppigen Vegetation. Doch fuer die Schotten wurde der Traum von einem neuen Leben in der “neuen Welt” zum Albtraum.

Today it poured down incredibly for hours. There were times when we couldn’t see the shores of the bay through the dense curtains of rainwater. We filled up both watertanks, all jerrycans and buckets–no more worries about saving water in the next time. The monkeys in the surrounding mountains seem to be not that happy with rain. Each time it starts they loudly utter their displeasure with roaring barks. We’re the only boat in the bay, there are some huts ashore, which are sometimes used by fishermen, but at the moment apparently unoccupied. We enjoy the peace and quiet here after the busy days anchored off the Kuna village of Puerto Perme.

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Soooooo viel Wasser!

Heute hat es stundenlang geschuettet. Zeitweise konnten wir die Ufer der Bucht durch die dichten Regenvorhaenge nicht mehr sehen. Wir fuellten unsere Wassertanks, alle Kanister und Kuebel – jetzt haben wir laengere Zeit keine Sorgen mehr wegen des Wasserverbrauchs. Die Affen in den umliegenden Bergen sind ueber den Regen nicht so froh. Jedes Mal wenn es anfaengt, tun sie ihren Unmut mit bruellendem Gebell lautstark kund. Wir sind das einzige Boot in der Bucht, an Land gibt es einige Huetten, die manchmal von Fischern benuetzt werden, im Moment aber offbar leerstehen. Wir geniessen die Ruhe und den Frieden nach den geschaeftigen Tagen neben dem Kuna Dorf bei Puerto Perme.

We spent another day in Sapzurro yesterday, waiting for the swell to go down. During the night, there was some commotion on deck, then we heard the clip-clap of the catflap and Leeloo delivered a squid to our cabin. After ungratefully refusing her generous gifts of mice, moles, birds, snakes and frogs for years, we decided it would be a shame to waste the little squid and put it into the fridge. It went into a sour-spicy Thai soup for dinner

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Leeloo besorgt unser Abendessen Wir haben gestern doch noch einen weiteren Tag in Sapzurro verbracht, weil wir ein Abklingen der Duenung abwarten wollten. In der Nacht ging es auf Deck ploetzlich rund, dann hoerten wir das Klipp-Klapp der Katzenklappe und Leeloo lieferte einen Tintenfisch in unsere Kabine. Nachdem wir jahrelang ihre grosszuegigen Geschenke (Maeuse, Maulwuerfe, Voegel, Schlangen und Froesche) verweigert haben, wollten wir den kleinen Tintenfisch nicht verschwenden und haben ihn in den Kuehlschrank verfrachtet. Zum Abendessen ist er dann in eine sauer-scharfe Thai-Suppe gewandert

Off the coast of Panama lies the Comarca de Kuna Yala, an autonomous region where the indigenous group of the Kuna live according to their traditions and culture, successfully avoiding the “blessings” of the western civilization. There are 365 islands (1 for each day of the year) so we’ll take some time exploring them

yesterday we got out all things from the saloon cupboard to reach the huge compartment full of cans and other long-lasting provisioning underneath. Checking our stock revealed that many delicacies need to be eaten before they expire, so we just had to buy some veggies, fruit and eggs from our veggie-lady Marta here in Sapzurro to be prepared for the next weeks of cruising. We’re a bit sad to leave Sapzurro, but are also looking forward to Panama!

Yesterday we hiked to the next bigger town Capurgana. It was an incredible experience walking through the rainforest, with large butterflies fluttering around us and colourful flowers everywhere. The region here is within the “Darién gap”, a nearly impenetrable jungle in Panama and Colombia that reaches from the Caribbean all the way to the Pacific, without roads and very few inhabitants. The colonialists were fended off by Malaria and other diseases, later on it was infamous for Colombian guerrilla and drug dealers and nowadays forest protection movements create a break in the Pan-American Highway, which otherwise forms a complete road from Alaska to Patagonia.

The well maintained, but slightly muddy path took us steeply up a ridge, we could first hear monkeys shouting from far and the further we walked the louder they got, but unfortunately we couldn’t get a glimpse of them in the dense foliage. When we reached the highest point we were drenched in sweat, but rewarded with a view of the Sapzurro bay with Pitufa peacefully at anchor.

After 2 hours we reached Capurgana, a town with a few minimarkets and many bars and restaurants for the backpackers, who hike along and the coast, take “lanchas” (open boats) from bay to bay, or sign up as passengers on sailing boats going back and forth between Panama and Cartagena. Instead of walking back over the mountain we also took a lancha, that only took 10 minutes back to Sapzurro.

Today we took a walk up the hill (steep earthen steps) to the border to Panama. After 20 minutes we reached two idyllic huts with thatched roofs, each with a hamack and a relaxed soldier in it. 10 minutes and a few hundred concrete steps later we reached the village on the Panamian side: Puerto de la Miel. It’s also not connected to a road system, even smaller than Sapzurro, but not quite as pretty.

Our first two days here in the bay of Sapzurro we were busy finishing our rain canvas, setting a stern anchor (sometimes some swell enters the bay), cleaning the boat, launching the dinghy, to snorkel along the reef, etc. and only marvelled from afar at the beaches and the pretty village. Yesterday we set out to explore the village and the bay. It turns out there’s no road to Sapzurro, only two footpaths through the steep mountains connect the village to Capurgana (the next somewhat bigger town 2 miles further south) or to Panama (Puerto Miel). All goods are brought here by small, but fast boats (“lanchas”) that commute between Sapzurro and Capurgana and also take passengers with them.

Sapzurro is a pretty place with a lovely church right at the seaside, basic, but well kept houses, some small tiendas, several bars and restaurants for the few tourists who come here. Most of them seem to be backpackers who stay in hostels, on camp sites, or in eco-lodges, but we’ve also met some Colombians from Medellin or Cartagena who have holiday homes here. The only real downside we can see so far is the trash problem. Since there’s no road, there’s also no garbage collection system and there are no rubbish bins. Each household burns the rubbish, but nobody wants to take ours–except for a stiff payment to take it by boat to Capurgana. We refused that offer, as we’ve already paid about 17 dollars for the privilege to anchor here (with water and rubbish disposal officially included…). In the end we found a guy from the “junta comunal” (the ones we paid the anchorage fee to) and he took over our three bags.

We’re the only cruisers travelling through, three of the other boats apparently belong to locals, our German neighbour liked this place enough to buy a restaurant and settle here, even though he still lives on the boat with his family. According to him it’s no problem staying here without an official cruising permit (he’s done that for half a year), there’s a coast guard boat with 4×200 hp outboards at the town pier, but apparently they don’t control sailing boats.

We’ve decided to stay here for a while. We want to go hiking in the mountains and get into the local village life. For some reason Leeloo also loves this place, even though fishing boats pass close by and our neighbours are anchored near to us (conditions that our asocial cat usually hates). But the weather is pleasant, a bit cooler, hardly any wind and she spends hours lying on deck and even ventures up on the sprayhood and the bimini in plain daylight (normally she only dares to do that in the dark).