Panama Part I The jewel between the Americas
The seemingly perfect paradise, old and new faces, dancing with the indigenous people and getting up close and personal with the rainforest.
Panama, a country between North and South America, between the Atlantic and the Pacific. We spent three and a half months here, and this place will forever be a milestone in our journey. Part one of our stay here is definitely the enjoyment part. Come with us on a discovery tour!
San Blas
On Christmas Eve, we drop anchor at Chichime, an island in San Blas. The crossing from Colombia went well, but we are pretty tired as neither of us has slept much. San Blas - also known as "Guna Yala" - is part of Panama, but is considered an autonomous territory of the Kuna, one of Panama's indigenous tribes. Here they are allowed to continue to live according to their own traditions and customs, speak their own language and follow their own laws.
Guna Yala consists of over 360 islands and the coastal area up to Colombia, only a few of which are inhabited. The Kuna are a nomadic people, many of whom live on a small island for two or three months and then return to their "pueblo" (translated "village"). They leave the little houses they use standing and soon the next member of the tribe will stay here for a while. Although "huts" is a bit of an exaggeration: they are mostly shelters made from palm fronds in which they stretch out their hammocks. They don't need much more than that.
San Blas is a picture-book Caribbean. The water is turquoise, the sand white and numerous coconut palms adorn the small and large islands. We celebrate New Year's Eve on the beach with an estimated 150 other sailors, and there are even fireworks. But more on that later. Since we left Grenada at the end of October, we have been travelling in pairs on the Cervino. It's been good, the togetherness has been important and the nautical miles we've travelled have shown us that we and the Cervino can manage quite a lot together. But now we are all the more pleased to be able to share our lives again, with our friend Marco, with my parents Hermann and Manuela and with Moritz, a very spontaneous but wonderful encounter. Together we explore the islands, snorkel the reefs, look for crocodiles in the Rio Diablo and relax. We meet many old friends again and get to know new people, make a fire on the beach and enjoy being together and the sailing lifestyle. Despite a lot of work, the months here become something very special, which is how we have always imagined the sailing life.
As paradisiacal as everything seems, it is unfortunately also controversial. The Kuna culture is under threat from tourism. Yes, they live in simple huts and fish in their canoes hollowed out of a full tree trunk, but they have also realised that they can easily charge USD 8 instead of USD 4 for a pound of lobster. The capitalist system has arrived here too. Another major issue is rubbish. You find an uninhabited island somewhere in the Caribbean and you can easily fill 10 bags with plastic rubbish. It is shameful. However, this is by no means the sole fault of the local inhabitants: Panama is the dead end of the Atlantic, wind and currents drive everything that previously ended up in the sea here. There are no regulations for waste disposal (not even on the mainland) and so burning the rubbish on the islands seems to be the least of the evils. Alternatives such as throwing it into the sea or into the jungle on the mainland are out of the question for us. But it's not just the smoke in the air that has a nasty aftertaste... The influence of the western world is growing. It is also frightening to see how rising sea levels are literally washing these islands away, or rather washing them under. Many palm trees are lying overturned in the water, and some islands have already had to be evacuated as a result. Who knows how long this paradise will remain a paradise.
Viva la revolution!
On 25 February 1925, ten years after the start of the independence struggle for Guna Yala, the Kunas expelled the Panamanians and successfully defended their country. We were lucky enough to be able to experience the festivities of the anniversary of the revolution 100 years later. On Isla Digir (Guna for "tiger"), one of the most original "pueblos" of the islands, parades, games, dance and theatre take place. We watch and marvel, happy to be able to take this piece of culture with us shortly before our departure from Guna Yala.
Side note: The Revolution's coat of arms is very similar to a not-so-popular symbol from the past. But it has absolutely nothing to do with it, and it looks to the left and not to the right 😉 But it also gave me a fright when I saw it for the first time.
Oh how beautiful Panama is!
After my parents have spent two weeks with us on the boat, I accompany them on a 10-day trip through the interior of Panama. Thierry stays with the Cervino in San Blas as he has a lot of work at the moment and leaving the boat alone would be difficult anyway.
Our first stop is Panama City. We visit the Panama Canal Visitor Centre in the Miraflores Locks. Today I'm standing on this side of the canal and waving, but soon people will be waving at us from the grandstands. A surreal idea. We stroll through the charming old town, I see the Pacific Ocean for the first time and the next day we set off for the Valle de Anton, a valley inside a volcanic crater. It's much cooler here than in the city centre and we are full of energy. Together with our guide, we experience the valley at its best, my parents walk through a tropical rainforest for the first time and I am delighted to see them like this. It seems as if the whole valley is shrouded in legends, one of which is that of the "sleeping Indian girl". I could lose myself in such stories, the magic and spirits of nature seem so much more present here than in other countries and I feel drawn to them. "Maga" also means "magician" in Spanish... 😉
At the time when Spanish conquistadors ravaged the country, an Indian princess fell in love with a Spanish captain. However, her hand was already promised to a warrior of her tribe. When he found out about the princess's heart, he threw himself down the cliffs of the "El Macho" waterfall and died. The princess, deeply saddened by her unforgivable betrayal, climbed a hill, lay down there and handed her fate over to Mother Nature, who immortalises her there to this day.
Does this remind anyone of "Pocahontas"? Yes, me too.
There are many such stories, our guide told me, and many believe that they were invented and spread by the conquerors to turn their atrocities into romantic legends.
Our next destination is Boquete, a town in the far north-west near the border with Costa Rica. It is much cooler here and it rains at least once a day. We visit a coffee farm, and again I enjoy watching my parents immerse themselves in this world. A walk over 7 suspension bridges through the cloud forest rounds off our stay, we return to Panama City and here we part ways again. Thank you mum and dad for a wonderful time and for memories that will last. 💗
The Pacific is calling
In March, we spend a few weeks in Switzerland at short notice to see family and friends again before the big trip starts. We enjoy a few more days in Panama City, celebrate a shabby carnival and from the beginning of April it's all about the Pacific: preparing the ship and organising the passage through the Panama Canal. We have now arrived on the Panamanian mainland and are gradually making our way along the coast towards Colon, where the entrance to the Panama Canal is located. Our favourite stop is called Turtle Cay Marina, a very small and hidden marina surrounded by nothing but jungle. We can not only hear the howler monkeys from the boat, we can see them too! In Puerto Lindo we meet up with old friends (Christian from Tarpan, Siggie from Aletis and Adrian from Grischa) and finally, at the end of April, we moor at Shelter Bay Marina.
In a fortnight' time we will be travelling through the canal, which is enough time for the final boat work, Thierry's final spurt for his customers and the bulk purchase. And this time it's even SOMEWHAT bigger than on the Atlantic...
If you want to know how our crew members Dings and Bums join us, what really goes on in the Panama Canal and how we almost get struck by lightning?
Then look forward to part 2...