The KKK has arrived in the San Blas, Panama
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Fri 27 Nov 2009 15:14
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9:35N 78:41W Eastern Holandes Cays, San
Blas.
Since arriving in the Caribbean, all the cruisers
that have visited the San Blas group of islands (or Kuna Yala) have been
banging on about how wonderful it is and that we must go there. As
with most recommendations, they are only just personal opinions and of course,
as we all have opinions, it is best to just go there and check it out for
yourself.
We did a quick bit of research and it appeared that
there was nothing there except tropical islands sparsely occupied by the native
Kuna Indian. So off to the supermarket we went, well about 15 times actually, to
stock up for a 3 month trip. We were pretty much filled to the gunnels with top
scoff & grog and about ready to leave Columbia for Panama when
disaster struck.
Well bugger our luck. Disaster struck
quite literally 'cos we took a direct hit by lightening.
This part of the world is renowned for tropical
storms.......well it is the tropics afterall and it was that time of the year
when they were at their worst. These storms are particularly violent with high
winds, torrential downpours and lightening, the likes of which, we have
never seen before.....just like the old 'Hammer House of Horror' type of storm
but worse cos it was really happening and we were directly under
it.
We figured that we were ok though, safely
tucked down below watching the tele, under the added safety barrier
of our comfort blanket , when were hit by a simultaneous bright flash
and deafening crack directly above us. Cripes, it scared the crap out
of us. Jo jumped so high I had to peel her off the ceiling. Clearly we
had taken a direct hit. Everything went out including all
the lights, 2 of which were blown completely out of their sockets by the
force of the strike. The only exception was the tele, which stayed on,
and quite bizarrely, the SSB radio, which managed to switch itself on.
The whole thing became very disorienting 'cos the lights were now off and
the only glow was from the tele and the only sound was a ghostly voice from
the SSB radio. We figured that the devil had just landed on our boat for a
not so friendly chat.
So there we were completely dead in the
water with newly acquired static induced hair do's. Jo had a
fuzzy beehive affair and I looked like a 50 year old punk rocker with a solar
panel. We spent the first hour wandering around the boat like a comedy duo
in a complete daze checking out the damage. We were gob smacked by the extent of the damage. It
appeared nothing was working including the fridge, freezer, nav electronics,
radios, radar, infact anything that had a printed circuit board in it, which, in
fact, is about everything that uses electrical power in modern boats now-a-days.
The windex antennae at the top of the mast took the direct hit and simply
vaporised and the bits fell over board. Everything was deep-fried. We
didn't need to electrically test anything to establish this.........that
fried electronics smell was hanging in the air, similar to the smell I
remember when I had blown up the electric motor of one of my Scalectrix race
cars......that takes me back a bit.
The timing couldn't be worse. Loads of food on
board with no fridge working and our visa was about to expire so we had to check
in again. Poo and double poo. We weren't best pleased.
And it took for ever to get things sorted.
Unfortunately, as great as Cartagena is for having a fun time, it is not the
best place to get electronics repaired. Everything has to be imported into
Columbia via manana customs men waiting on back handers. And buying stuff from
America, ya know, that land of milk and honey and the centre of modern day
capitalism, well they wouldn't take our money. I tried my best to
spend a few thousand dollars with the biggest marine part trader, West
Marine, but they wouldn't take it. They would not except credit card
transactions over $1000 dollars being shipped to an address other than the card
holders address, which in my case was in the UK. A lot of good that would
be....NOT. So, there we have it, America is now officially a victim of its own
success, but of course so were we, D'oh.
Well, with the fear of boring you further, all I
will say is, that I am writing this now 4 months later and we still haven't
got it all sorted yet....What a serious pain in the proverbial. It screwed up
all our plans and delayed our departure indefinitely. However, we
did eventually escape Cartagena and found that Kuna
Yala proved very much to be everything people had said it was.
So with the boat reprovisioned and with some
working electronics we set off again. And within minutes......... we hit a
tree!! Yes a flipping tree.
At this point Jo was about to throw in the towel
and take the next plane home. But despite the mighty thwack we gave this
enormous bit of flotsam, we appeared to have come out on top,.... well on top of
the tree anyway and the only damage was to bit of antifouling and my
underwear....Damn fine boats these Beneteaus, despite what these heavy
displacement 'Colin Archer' old sailing types say.
The rest of the 200 mile trip was fairly
uneventful, except I totally miscalculated how long it would take and arrived
much sooner than anticipated due to the wind staying in overnight rather
than dying away as it usually did. Well, normally this wouldn't present a
problem, but making landfall in the San Blas islands is a bit tricky at the best
of times but at night with out proper working nav equipment,.... don't think so.
So prudence took the better part of valour and we hoveto till dawn for 6 hours,
(Joanne wasn't best pleased), and then we successfully tackled the reef in
daylight.
The San Blas Islands are all about tropical desert
islands sheltered behind an extensive coral reef and are solely occupied by the
native Kuna Indian and, of course a few cruisers.
The Kuna Indians are quite unique in that they have
stuck to their original cultural ideals square in the face of the on-marching
modern world. As a result, they seem to live in complete harmony with
nature and with very little crime or problems normally associated with today's
modern way of life. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt here?? It is a
joy to watch the Kuna men paddle their dug-out
canoes catching fish and the women sewing their intricate molas. They seem
to have no real interest in changing their basic way of life and indeed,
are quite proud of their heritage. They are happy to trade with the cruisers,
(lobster at $2 each) and in return, the only modern technology they have
accepted, is the mobile phone. This system is run by solar panels for energy and
quite often don't work cos either there has been no sun for a while or a
desperate cruiser has nicked the batteries. It is a bazaar sight to see a pygmy
Kuna Indian in a Ulu (dug-out canoe) with a paddle in one hand, a spear in
another and a mobile phone in the other hand.......did I mention that
they also had three hands!!!!?
One of our high lights here was the Kuna Festival
on the Island of Tigre. It was a typical country fete affair with local
dancing and arts & craft stalls. It was also another golden opportunity
for Jo to buy even more molas. These molas are the famous local handy craft
of the San Blas. They are intricately sewn colourful fabric depicting the Indian
way of life and Jo had bought a shed load and is banned from buying anymore.
They are nice enough but cripes, how many molas does one need in life. None I
suspect, but Jo thinks differently........It is fair to say that a few words
have been said on this subject!!
   (Jo checking out the many mola's for sale
outside the mola makers houses).
Anyway, now for the good bit. The Kuna's had
erected a little stage at one end of the fair and there was a promise of
entertainment during the evening. We were all intrigued to see what it
was going to be. A great night out was in store for us all. They had built a
bar near the stage especially for the Western visitors and we were
swigging back Balboa beer with the locals at 50 cents a pop while we were
waiting for the show to start.
   The stage at Isla
Tigre
Kuna women and panpipers marching though the town to the
festival
We had traditional dancers doing the one legged hop
thing while playing the 'panpipes'.... All very authentic and atmospheric. But
this was clearly only just the build up to the main event. We were suitably
impressed with the panpipe dancers so how could they possibly top that. Well,
and this is where the KKK bit comes in. And no,
the KKK doesn't stand for
Klu Klux
Klan, ya know the racist nutters who bravely covered
themselves with bed sheets while murdering people because they had a
different coloured skin. But this KKK, stands for
the 'Kuna Karaoke
Klub'. Yes, their idea of top entertainment was for
the locals to dress up in western posh frocks and mime to Shirley Bassey and
a-like. Well, I am ashamed to admit it and I clearly let the side down, but
I found the whole thing hysterical.
It may have been partly due to the copious amounts
of beer drunk but I just lost it completely and fell about laughing. It was
the funniest thing I'd seen since my mate Ade tried sailing a dinghy we'd built
in a Build Your Own Boat race in Antigua, which, by-the-way, sunk within 2
minutes of the start of the race.
I guess you had to be there to appreciate it but
you have to imagine the scene. We were on a desert island surrounded by straw
huts with a friendly but quite serious bunch of Kuna Indians dressed
in their traditional clothes, which is mainly molas and beads, except for the
performers, who had posh frocks on and were miming in English to Western pop
stars. The locals loved it but the cruisers were dumb struck.... all except
for one idiot, (me), who was in the corner crying with
laughter. That KKK scene will stay with me
for ever.
  The KKK
contestants............................................. and the winner of the
most extraordinary event
Anyway, on a more serious note, there has been
loads written about these people and if you are interested, it is best you look
it up on the internet or the local library rather than reading my inept attempt
to describe them. Save to say, they are very pleasant, peaceful people and one
feels completely safe and relaxed here. The only dangerous event so far for us
in the San Blas was a 'very close encounter' with a big toothed
shark.
We were snorkelling on the outer reef and we saw a
biggish Lemon shark. We nonchalantly swam past it in the opposite direction
nervously whistling under our breath, then the thing turned around and came
right up to us and stopped no more than 2 feet away from my face, close enough
for me to stick my fingers up his nostrils, if he had them. Jo, at this
stage was bravely hiding behind me and obviously figured that I
was more than enough of a meal for the shark not to bother with her
and wouldn't even notice her hyperventilating in my shadow. I don't know whether
this shark was half blind and just checking us out close up or had a
serious attitude problem. Anyway, there we were right in the middle
of the 'old Mexican stand off thing', face to face with the
biggest shark we have encountered so far. But to our credit, we held our ground,
partly frozen by fear, and the shark backed off and swam a short distance
away whilst keeping a watchful stink-eye on us.
Well that was it for us. Jo did the billy big step
thing and swam at Olympian speed back to the dinghy and leapt out into
it in one swift action. I was well impressed with her athleticism.....I normally
have to yank her into the dinghy while she ungracefully wallowed & thrashed
around like a seal. Anyway, things changed after that close encounter and anyone
who has ever dove with Jo knows she was a confident diver but not
now.....she doesn't go any further than 2 feet from me, her hero, the one
that faced down the giant man eating shark!.
Credits: Photos courtesy Bob S/Y Sunrise. Both our
camaras got stuffed by the lightening strike.
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