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Skyelark of London - Portobelo



Main Land Panama
Leaving the idyllic Guna Yala behind, we decided to hop down the Panama
coast and see the sights. The first stop was Port Lindon to complete our
paper work and official entry into Panama. There was very little to see
except for a little village, which was simply run down and lacked any charm
and a private island now over run by monkeys - they look pretty cute from
the beach and are very welcoming when you land - just don't try and leave!
At this point they become quite upset and violent, even biting the crew from
another WARC boat! Following the advice from our pilot book we admired them
from the dinghy and moved on!

The next stop was Portobelo, a nice town with quite a past. Named by
Columbus as 'pretty bay' in 1592 it became the main Spanish port settlement
for the plundering and pillaging of south America. Tons of gold and silver
were shipped from here to Seville, and no less than 45 fleets of galleons
collected 30,000,000 Pesos of gold each! Such treasure in abundance did not
go unnoticed and so Portobelo became a target for the British Pirates and
Privateers, with Captain Morgan and Sir Francis Drake making their own mark
on its history. Morgan took and ransomed the port for 100,000 pesos and
Francis Drake was buried at sea nearby.

As would be expected of such an important port with the wealth to attract
Spain's enemies, it became very well protected, with 3 large fort structures
that are still well preserved and now are protected under UNESCO- mostly
because when the gold stopped flowing the port became redundant and the
settlement remains a small village. No development means the fortifications
remained untouched and are a pleasure to explore.

Another interesting resident of Portobelo is the statue of the Black Christ
in the Church of San Felipe. Legend has it that is washed up on the shores
of portobello, Some time during the 17th it was carried in a Colombian
vessel to be installed in the New World. Due to a storm, the ship was forced
to dock at Portobelo. When the ship was scheduled to depart, a sudden storm
set in, preventing the ship to set sail; this happened repeatedly.
Attributing this phenomenon to the statue, the superstitious sailors threw
the box containing the statue into the sea and thereafter the storm
subsided. There is a Pilgrimage in October, where believers from all over
panama walk to Portobelo, some spend the last mile knees to atone fo there
sins.

Given the size of the village, the large purple and white church is as
incongruous as the forts.

more photos at www.facebook.com/skyelark.charters


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