Anam Cara Adventures

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Summer off!

At the end of June, after three weeks in Bocas del Toro, and a lovely side trip to the mountain town of Boquete with Roy and Michelle, we left Anam Cara safely tucked into a slip at Bocas Marina and went on a grand journey back into "civilization". First stop - Panama City. Here we stayed in a cheap hotel, and went in search of Dim Sum at a Chinese Restaurant that had been recommended to us. We enjoyed it throroughly after months of simple fare on the boat! The next day we took off to the UK with a stop in Miami to do some shopping for boat parts. It was delightful to see Dave's family, and get to play with all his lovely grandkids. We were fed royally by Dave's sister in law, his daughter and son! Soon the pounds we had lost while at sea started to creep back on to our bellies, but we enjoyed all the delicacies we could choose from. We also spent quite a bit of time with my parents in Tenerife, where we continued to be spoiled with wonderful food and great company. Our dear friends Ingo and Sabine showed up one day on our doorstep, surprising us with a visit from Germany. Dylan, Dave's son, managed to squeeze in one week holiday with us there too. My Mom took us on lovely hikes and we once again relished the beauty which is Tenerife!

Back in England later on we had a fantastic camping expedition with Bianca, Stuart, and their three kids in Cornwall. While it rained buckets the first day, once the sun came out we had a wonderful time. Days on the beach, hiking along the spectacular cliffs, buying fresh pasties and croissants at the local bakers, and having fun playing games with Thomas, Charlotte & Sophie. Stuart's parents and sister with her husband and children also joined us for part of the week, and all in all it was a lovely time. I relished telling stories to Thomas, Sophie and Charlotte at bedtime, and Dave and I loved having them over for "sleep-overs". The entire coastline in Cornwall is absolutely stunning, and I felt blessed to be there surrounded by Dave's family. While in Europe we also got to celebrate three birthdays - my mother's, Bianca's and Dave's youngest granddaughter, Eila, who turned one. What a lovely treat that was!!!

My sister Marion and her family in France invited us to come for a visit, which was delightful. They took us around the spectacular area of Nice and its beautiful mountainous back country. Amelie and Mia, our nieces, were great fun to be around! Together we jumped into the mediterranean sea and applauded them when they performed dances for us. All in all, we had a memorable and wonderful summer, relishing the fact that we were able to spend quite a bit of time with our families while we were there.

Back in Panama

We arrived back on Anam Cara after a long and exhausting journey. Dave wasn't feeling great, and complained of a toothache. We immediately started him on antibiotics and made a dentist appointment. Dr. Wong, the local dentist in Bocas, told Dave he had an abscessed tooth, and extracted it for him. I cooked Dave up some soup and let him rest. He continued to feel lousy, however, and few nights later I woke up to find Dave in a state of what he called "disorientation". As it turned out, he had severe vertigo, and could hardly get out of bed. I was most grateful in the morning when we put out a call for a doctor on the cruisers net. Within seconds I had a retired ER physician on the radio, who confirmed what we hoped it was - benign vertigo caused by an infection. Could the tooth abscess be related? We think so, although the dentist had never seen this before. In any case, as unsettling as it was for Dave to feel this way, it was just a matter of time for the symptoms to abate. What it meant, however, was that we stayed on in Bocas del Toro at the dock for weeks waiting for Dave to feel steady again. Being at sea with vertigo did not sound a very good proposition!!!

One of the plusses of staying in one place for a while was that we were able to make new friends. I began giving acupuncture treatments to a lovely woman Laura, who in return did some fabulous sewing for us. As I am not the most gifted seamstress in the world we were as happy as can be! Now our rope bag will stay put, and not be in danger of falling all over our steering cables! In many ways our extended stay at the marina was also a bit of a trial, as the heat was often unbearable, and the "chitras" (all mouth no-see-ums) a plague. In addition, whenever Bocas town decides to empty out it's sewage the water in the marina is full of excrement, not to say anything about the smell!

Boat jobs are an ongoing thing, and with the help of the local diesel mechanic, Jeff, Dave managed to install a dual fuel filter system for our engine. This is a big plus, as in these parts of the world fuel is often contaminated, and we have heard horror stories about having to change out filter after filter as soon as the boat comes into a swell, which shakes up the fuel in the tank. I, in the meantime busied myself with sanding and varnishing our caprails - a job that required a lot of prayer to the rain gods, as it often threatened to rain and ruin my fresh coat of cetol (a varnish like substance that we have on Anam Cara's teak).

While in Bocas, we began participating in the morning cruisers net, and meeting quite a few interesting people. The cruising world is full of amazingly corageous people from all walks of life! John, on a refurbished gaff rigged rum runner, has been sailing without an engine for decades. He lives on his boat with his dog, and we often saw him kayak by us trawling his fishing line to catch dinner. He is also a gold mine of information on all matter of worldly things, and we often enjoyed his trivia questions on the net. Ray on Aventura, who left his career in economics many decades ago to become the first juggling street artist in San Francisco, and the then mayor of San Francisco even named a day after him! He began cruising on his little sloop many years ago, and has written for sailing magazines, and is author of "Tales of a Sea Gypsy", which he gave Dave while he was still recovering from his tooth abscess and consequent vertigo.

The colorful characters of Bocas del Toro were enhanced further by all the happenings there. From fire dances put on by the South African couple, Darian and Dylan on Jacaroo at the Calypso Cantina, to stories of crocodiles jumping eight feet out of the water to snatch a sloth out of the mangroves - plenty of happenings...

Our almost single side band radio

One of the many things on our "wish list" is a two way single side band radio. The one we have allows us to receive broadcasts, but not to transmit, which hampers us from communicating with our weather guru and talking to other sailors at a long distance. One reason we haven't gotten one is due to the expense. Our friends Dennis and Debbie on The W.C.Fields mentioned to us that somebody had donated one of such radios to the port captain in town. We took our dingy over there, and sure enough, in a big pile lay not one, but two single side band radios. Granted, they were of an older vintage, but, if they worked we would be as pleased as punch! The port captain gladly exchanged these radios for "anything that could be donated to the old folks home", as that is where this pile of stuff was headed. We went back home and thought about what we could donate. Our printer! No longer of use to us because our new laptop is not compatible with it, it just took up a load of space. The port captain was indeed as pleased as punch to trade these items, and I have my doubts as to who the printer ended up with... but one shouldn't make assumptions! In any case, he assured us that one radio worked fine and the other was there for spare parts. Off we went with a huge heavy box, only to find out soon thereafter that these radios had been donated by John on Mermaid. John had bought these radios in Curacao, but never installed them as he didn't have enough battery capacity for them. He donated them to the port captain after he helped John rescue his buddy who had run aground on a reef and was taken in by local Indians. What the Port Captain had omitted to tell us was that he had immediately plugged the radio into his 110volt socket. Being a 12 Volt instrument, this little experiment ended up in blowing out all their fuses, as well as blowing up the radio! Dave and Dennis both looked at it extensively, but, much to my chagrin, it just didn't work!!! Oh well.

As a little side note here for any would be cruisers - do not make the mistake we made and let someone recommend Skymate to you as a substitute for a single side band radio. In hindsight we would so gladly trade that service in for a working SSB!!!

Camrykaland

We finally left Bocas after much provisioning and filling up our tanks etc. to explore some of the local archipelago. Bocas is on the Island of Colon (named after Christopher Columbus!) and is surrounded by islands, lagoons and the mainland of Panama. Camrykaland is a small corner tucked into the east end of Dolphin Bay, where a couple of cruisers have built their house right in the heart of the jungle. Mary and Carl, we were told, were exceptionally nice people, who loved meeting up with other cruisers. It was not hard to spot them, as their sailboat, Camryka, is anchored right outside of their gorgeous property. We hailed them on the radio, and were immediately invited up for sunset from their verandah and drinks. Everything we had been told about their wonderful hospitality was indeed the truth! We left there that night laden with gifts of home-made mango chutney and new friends! George and Jenny, on Claire de Lune, joined us there too. They were house sitting one of the two neighbors that Mary and Carl have, and had their boat anchored outside too. The third house belongs to a California couple who grow and manufacture exquisite chocolate. I bought a silver wrapped hunk of pure chocolate which I am guarding with my life! The chocolate sauce I made out of it is so good I could have taken a bath in it!

The money factory

While we were in "Camrykaland" we also made our first aquaintances with the local Ngobe Indian folks, whose village is not far from there. Every morning the kids paddle their dug out canoes ("kayukas") to a small mangrove clearing, from where they walk another half hour to school. They have one tree in the dense jungle where they change into their school clothes as they get closer to school. This is a necessity, as the trails are so muddy, one would never get there even semi-presentably otherwise. There was one little boy, however, who rather paddled out to see us, than attend school. Ten year old and cross eyed "Rogelio" just loved to hang onto Anam Cara to chat with us, but more that anything, to figure out any means of extracting from us a few bucks. The first day we heard the story of his granmother needing money to get on the water taxi to Almirante so she could get to a hospital for medical care. The stories we were told grew arms and legs, and while little Rogelio never gave up, we began to wonder which of these stories actually held true. He offered to clean our boat for $2, so I gave him a sponge, and he sponged down the hull a little. When I handed him the two dollars, which were crisp new bills fresh from the bank in Bocas, he asked full of awe:
"You made these bills, didn't you???"
As it turns out, most of the Ngobe Indians think the reason the "Gringos" are so rich is that they can just make more bills when they run out. Wouldn't that be nice!!! In any case Rogelio became quite the feature for us with his daily visits. Dave took to calling him "Oy" as he could never understand his name, and so as soon as we would hear some singing or a little voice, we knew Oy had arrived. Usually he asked for money or food, or a watch or a backpack. He lives inside the mangroves with his grandfather in a tiny little shack, which most of us couldn't even consider a garden shed. We tried and tried to bring out the best in little Oy, without letting him beg. We asked him to bring us fruit or fish, which we offered to buy from him. Dave is convinced there is a little entrepeneur in that little boy, if only his energy gets redirected a bit from telling stories that may or may not hang together to designed to pull on our heart strings. We really wanted to help him, and so we needed to know more about what really makes up the world of these Ngobe Indians.

To further our cause, we followed one of Marys recommendations to visit Michelle, the twent-three year old peace corps worker in this particular village. She had just come back from a hike in the jungle in her big duck taped rubber boots, and small children were flocking around behind her. Immediately taken by her natural sweetness, and impressed by her courage to do exactly what she is doing, all on her own in this truly poor Indian village, we agreed to meet again for a hike the following morning. She led us up to the hilltop from where we had a great view over Dolphin Bay and could see all the cacao plants laden with fruits, ready for harvest. She told us her story, and the more we heard, the more we admired her! In the first months she had to live with three different families in the village, and she did not yet know a word of Spanish. This she had since learned to speak fluently. Usually these homes are tiny two or three room shacks, which house three or four generations all together under one roof. She finally has her own little two room part of a house, where she cooks and sleeps. Originally from Lake Tahoe, fresh out of college, she decided to do something truly extraordinary, and this is where she ended up. The villagers obviously adore her. She teaches them English, and has started a Girls Scout Club with the young girls of the village. You can read her story in her own words on her BLOG if you like.

Through her we learned a whole lot more about these people. As it turns out, many of the different Indian tribes in Panama live in their own "Comarcas" (akin to Indian reservations in North America), governed by their own laws. But in some areas, such as this one, the Indians were brought in as slaves to the Caribbean Panamanians (originally from places like Jamaica) to work on the Chiquita Banana Plantations. When this operation went under, many of these tribal people were left with practically nothing. They are the outcasts to society and seemed to us, most downtrodden. In the entire village of about 250 inhabitants, only six have jobs. And these jobs are working for people like Mary and Carl, helping out with their property and doing boat projects. These are the wealthy people in the village. The rest of them grow root vegetables, which they eat as their staple diet. Fruit, other than bananas, are not favored at all - they don't like them. Hardships that we cannot even imagine! No running water, no electricity, not even proper string to tie up their ownly means of transporation - their wooden canoes. It does give you a reality check when you see how some of us live our lives on this planet...

With respect to Oy, I often laid awake at night wondering what it must be like to have so little, and to obviously have only want and need in your heart. Part of me wanted to adopt this little boy, and give him a "better" life - but is that just my own ignorance, thinking that I might have something to offer a little person like this?? The other part of me feared Oy for what he might be capable of to fullfill his desires, and my prayes still go out to him, that he learns to be an honest businessman in whatever endeavours he undertakes. It is so much the old dilemma - give freely, and create dependence, or the tough love approach, to empower them to better their own lives. It is for this reason that I applaud people like Michelle, who have given up two years of their lives to a very lonely existence amongst the poorest of the world. Oh, there is so much in the world to do - may that we all be given the wisdom to know how to do it when we can!

Laguna Bluefields

Dave kept getting hung up on the name, calling it everything but Bluefields. Named after a famous Dutch Pirate "Blauvelt" who had his hayday in these waters back when the Spanish Conquistadores plundered gold wherever they could, this bay is exquisite in its beauty. Here we got to experience a different type of Ngobe - the Ngobe living in a Comarca. These people were just as curious as Oy about us, and approached us in their Kayukas all day long. But instead of begging, they brought us "johnny cakes", bananas, coconuts, fish and Yucca root, which we bought from them for a quarter each. One particular lovely family invited us to come to their house. We tried to find where she had pointed to when we approached the shoreline with our dingy, but without success. So we parked our dingy at the public dock instead and walked across the ismuth to the renouned beach on the eastern side. A young fellow from the village accompanied us, and showed us the "back way" to Ibette and her family's house. By the time we got there, we must have looked like we had just come out of an Indiana Jones action scene. Covered from head to toe in mud from the slippery trail and quick sands, we were quite embarassed when we arrived. To our dismay, Ibette had already left, and her cute little daughter Hania and her sister came out to greet us. Hania, who is about four, already had on her bathing suit, as her mother had promised her to take us all swimming! We felt awful for having let them down. We traipsed back through the mud to the beach, which indeed is one of the loveliest we have seen. Here we immediately jumped into the surf to clean ourselves and our clothes, and to freshen up in the cool water.

When we finally made it back to the village, we found Ibette and her parents there. They immediately took us to their place, guiding us through the mangroves to their lovely property. Here we were invited into their simply furnished, but very clean home. Coffee and Johnny cakes appeared before us immediately, and before you knew it, we were everyones best friend. They were a lovely family, whose cohesion as a family unit, and the love they shared was almost tangible. The parents live with their daughters, who bring in their husbands and children. In the end I invited them to dinner in a spur of enthusiasm (without prior consultation with Dave - which wasn't a good idea, as I had not really taken into consideration that he would not be able to understand a word all night...). Five of them showed up that night, to a big bowl of pasta and tomato sauce, which was the only thing I could think of making that we had available on the boat. They aboslutely loved seeing our boat, and marveled at the beautiful varnished wood work. The son in law is a carpenter, and we had seen some of the things he had created with the crudest of woodworking tools. Home Depot is not around the corner here, so if they need wood for anything, they first have chop down a tree, then make planks and so on and so forth. Their skill level is extraordinary! This chap was so taken by our fold out dining table that he vowed to make one just like it for his mother and surprise her with it. We received multiple blessings by the father of the family, who is the local episcopalian minister. The mother, who was a delightful vivacious and very intelligent woman, delighted me to no end by just laying down on our settee after dinner to rest! I loved that they felt so comfortable around us. They would have gladly had us come back to their house the next day, and share their Panamanian Independence Day that November 5th. But, as always, life on a boat is unpredictable, and the weather forecast was such that we could not stay at Bluefields comfortably. In fact, hurricane TOmas was leaving his mark to the east of us, and a cold front was quickly approaching from the northwest simultaneously. Not a good recipe for us sailors. So, we picked up the hook and backtracked our way to Camrykaland. What it meant was that we would have to forgo a few other areas we would have loved to explore, the Chagres River in particular. But hopefully another time!

Farewell Bocas!

For almost a week we hung out in Camrykaland, often stuck on the boat due to the torrential rain and strong wind. But we were in a safe haven, and had our friends nearby. One afternoon we played Mexican train dominoes at Mary and Carls place, and met the new housesitter next door. David Brown, a young author who came here to finish his fourth book. A delightful young man. We all got to participate in Carl's Birthday celebration one day, tasting Mary's delicious chocolate cake. Oy, of course, resumed his daily visits, and actually started bringing us a few bananas and guayabanas. I began treating a couple of the villagers with acupuncture (which they had never heard of before, but were willing to try out), as well as Michelle, who had contracted some type of viral infection and was feeling rather low. All in all, it was a very satisfying time for us, and it was hard to say goodbye! But move on we must, as the season to travel east comes to a close. Before we know it the NE trade winds will fill in, and then it will be a big challenge to get to where we are headed - the San Blas Islands, or better said, the Kuna Yala. With many blessings, including some deliciously fragrant white ginger flowers from Mary's and Carl's garden, and other gifts, we set sail, vowing to return some day to this paradise!

Passagemaking

We had almost forgotten all the many things that you have to do to get your boat safely across a body of water. In the end we did manage to raise our awfully heavy dingy, prepare meals, prepare the seaberth, stow things, check engine oil and water, prepare our navigation and on and on. And off we went the next morning. As we headed away from the land, I was down below in the galley preparing some lunch, worrying about all those big ships that could run us over, when Dave shouted "come up here!". I couldn't believe my own eyes!! At least five miles away from land, we had almost managed to run over a tiny kayuka with two Ngobe Indians in it. They gave us a friendly wave and went on their business, while we realized that we had not kept a good enough lookout, having never expected kayukas to come out for fishing into the rough ocean that far away from land! Other than that our passage was uneventful, and conditions were pleasant for sailing along. In addition a nice favorable current pushed us along at almost seven knots. By day break we approached the Panama Canal Shipping lanes, and those definitely kept us on our toes. Encountering big ships at sea I find one of the most unpleasant experiences, especially in the dark. To them, I am sure, we are just about as invisible as the kayuka we almost ran over was to us. Exhausted we have arrived in Eastern Panama, and are anchored in Portobello Bay. Already we have spotted friends here on other boats, and look forward to catching up with them! Soon we will be in the San Blas Islands, which, from what we have heard are some of the best places in the world to be in a sailboat. We will let you know when we get there!