Central America
June to August 2014
Panama
June 2014
Sailing to San Blas
Dushan reads in “The Short History Of Nearly Everything” about the creation of Panama. Do you know for whom the Panama was the most important? For use, humans! It is possible that, when the two previously separate continents merged, it caused draught in Africa, so the monkey descended the tree and hoped that he became a man...
San Blas
We arrived to San Blas islands that look like flowerpots full of palm trees. There are 350 of them and they look like when a child draws an island. We still don’t have an idea of the shipping date, no more credit on the sat phone, Dusan’s laptop is out of function, Peter almost sent search and rescue but we decided to remain here until we get some information.
In the morning we rushed to the deck from the interior oven (motor slowly evaporates), to see one tiny island or the second or the third one or the one of five square meters surface with two palm trees, which we would rather go by kayaks…or the wreck higher than the small piece of land where it finished...
Then the Kuna grandpa arrive with his little granddaughter and ask us politely to charge their mobile phones…
Colon
We arrived well in Colon. After rush rush we arrived to the cancelled shipping.
In a minute from the marina is a jungle, green like in the books. Yesterday we saw the sweet white-headed monkeys, heard a howler, walked carefully not to crush the ants on regatta (hundreds of meters of ants who carry the pieces of leaves), saw tapirs, birds, eagles, and heard that there is a salt water crocodile, that we still haven’t met, warn not to throw food overboard because it could attract toothy friends.
Today we met Japanese sailors for the first time. Misao and Taki from Yakushima, one of the Southern most Japanese islands, the one with Mononoke forest. They sail from the Med until Japan for about a year.
We meet more and more people with whom we agree that it is hard to settle at one place for a longer period after this way of living on board. Why should we?
We didn’t become wild, we only spent a very happy birthday in the jungle, soaked until the underwear as never before than heard a guttural sound, among all the other unusual ones. Something roared from the bushes, it didn’t sound like something little or tame, and we must admit that we are glad that we can now talk about it and laugh. As we are sailing farther and farther more and more we have the impression that we will make a tour around the world in spite of us…
Panama canal
On one side of the Panama canal is Colon, severely impoverished city of the living ghosts, silent witness of the abuse of geographic position, that, as its inhabitants say "Panama prefer to forget."
On the other side is the Panama City, that has maybe only one common point with Colon and it’s this same testimony about the abuse. If Colon was created for digging the canal, Panama City broke out as a result of "improved flow" for all the malfeasance related to the canal.
We still cannot rely the extreme poverty with the fact that the canal is a jack pot - an average of 40 big ships a day pass through it, from its opening there was no break, and the yearly income of the canal transit is about 1.8 billion dollars.
Panama’s Pacific islands
We were welcomed in the Pacific firstly by pelicans, flying by hundreds around the canal.
After a few days rest at the Anchorage La Playita next to Panama City, we sailed again into a dream. In two weeks of heading to Costa Rica we haven’t seen a single boat and only a few representatives of the human race. Everything else is pretty untouched, some would say wild, we certainly wouldn’t because we can’t say that for the generous pleasures that provided us the numerous green islets and the mighty Pacific.
see more photos in galleryCosta Rica
July 2014
The experience of love at first sight is hard to squeeze into words. We took these few photos out of Sport Billy’s bag of impressions to tickle your attention or to confirm of this fact.
In Costa Rica you should go without thinking, you’ll find out everything on the spot. Whether from its citizens who are at the top of the happiest people in the world, or from its preserved nature: 25% of the country’s surface are national parks (we don’t know why not almost 100%), 104 volcanoes, 850 bird species, 750 000 species of insects, 9000 plant species.
One important point in the past: the army was abolished in 1948. One important point in the future: The goal is 0% carbon dioxide emissions in 2021.
We don’t know what is more irresistible : the jungle on the coast or in the mountains, tree roots or their height, countless shades of green on the bright sunlight or in a tropical rain, passing with a jeep through a deep river or pulling out of it, a cow or a bird in their symbiosis, the mountain strawberry or rambutan ...
In such an environment, it’s not unusual that we met the dearest people at the airport: Danny and Donnie across the runway in the middle of the jungle next to Golfito, after a series of "failures" (delayed walking, wrong way to the waterfall, etc.) With Edgar, by simple law of magnetic force ...
see more photos in gallery