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Two Fish - Day 11 - Hanging with the Kuna



Kuna, pronouced Guna, are the inhabitants of a chain of islands off the coast of Panama. Generations ago, when the Spanish invaded, they fled the mainland. Kuna Yala (aka San Blas Islands) are an obvious stop for canal crossers. We did a bit of research and decided to go 60 miles south of the main anchorages. We would face more difficult navigation in an area known for boat-eating reefs and useless charts. The Bauhaus guide of Panama is an amazing resource to navigate this area. To make his charts easier to use we cut out and scanned the charts. Then using a free application called Map Cal I made them into raster charts. This is a must for the southern San Blas Islands.

We walked onto the island of Mamipitu and fell back in time. The small lanes, communal kitchens and lack of utilities are signs that this island life is a world apart from life on Two Fish. Many of the residents are bilingual (Kuna and Spanish) but we found that the women are better Spanish speakers. We had a hard time communicating with some men who were relaxing at their fishing port. There was plenty of boat traffic; all were dugout canoes powered by stubby paddles. The passing canoes were transporting a few coconuts, a log, of which we were unsure of its purpose, jungle fruits and a pair of rubber boots. The boots seem misplaced but they may be used on the mainland or in the rainy season. The kuna people are small in stature with a deep brown skin and very white teeth.

The village has a few solar panels but no electric grid. There were a couple of stores that had a tiny inventory of lollipops and sugary sodas. Kids were playing a form of tag in the village lanes with laughing as a key element. Gail invited some of the locals to play in our dinghy as we were leaving. One kid borrowed Gail's glasses and pumped up his chest in a macho pose. I wonder if the little guy has a headache now. They would have stayed with us until dark when non-kuna must leave the island. After dark they have a meeting led by the chief and issues are dispatched. We gingerly navigated the dinghy away from the island avoiding a few hazards and thinking how lucky we were to see another culture. We were still excited by the experience as we ate Gail's tasty tofu stir fry and watched the setting sun from the cockpit.

Before we anchored here, the second day of the passage to Kuna Yala was much like the first. It became a fun game to control the boat speed for a sunlight arrival. At one point we were down to 4 reefs in the Genoa. The winds are usually light this close to Panama but the 35 knot winds in Colombia are creating havoc. The World ARC fleet have been held up by the Port Captain in Santa Marta. They hope to leave today. The Coast Guard chased down one boat and forced them to return to port. I am happy we snuck out early.

A couple of folks have asked why the photo quality has dropped on our posts. We are now posting using our Iridium Go; this is as fast as the formation of coal. So please bear with the low quality - at least we don't have to wait weeks for wifi. As an aside, I am very happy with the Iridium Go. I can get text-only email and weather with little effort while lying in bed. In super rough conditions sitting at the nav station is headache-inducing. Also the Iridium GO consumes almost no electricity versus the KVH. The ARC Rally gave us Yellow Brick tracker, which does a bunch of things from email to tracking. After a bit of beta testing we like it but I prefer the Iridium Go. May be a future post on our extensive communication strategy.

Off to play.
Jason
www.twofishcat.com



canoe (1 of 1)
village (1 of 1)

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