Leaving for the San Blas islands
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Fri 10 Jun 2011 07:43
|
Leaving
Portobelo:
We have had a great time in Portobelo and have
enjoyed seeing Jack again. His bar, "Capt. Jack's Canopy Bar" is quite the
centre of all social activities for yatistas in Portobelo. They also
co-ordinate a net on the VHF each morning, which gives information on weather,
introduces people, and is an opportunity to ask for help from others. This
bay was famous for all the pirate activity centuries ago, with lots of
plundering by Henry Morgan, and remnants of the Spanish forts can still be seen.
We had some serious problems with our dinghy -
it just stopped! Mike then discovered that gear cable and the steering
cable both snapped! Poor Mike, what a job to analyse the problem, find the parts
(a long ride to Panama city) and then fix it..but he did, and all is well again
with the "convertible".
The buses of Panama are amazing - known as
"chicken busses" they are quite a slow and sweaty affair, but amazing to look
at. Each one is privately owned and more decorated than the next one! Some
even have horns on the roof and are lit up at night. However the 90min bus
ride to Colon is not pleasant - and nor is the city. It is very run down and
dangerous, but we had to go there for our cruising permit. It seems strange that
this city which is the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal has not been
cleaned up!
Earlier in the week I took the bus to a larger
town (Sabanitas) about 1hour away to do provisioning, which was quite an
experience. My Spanish is very limited and there is little English there - the
butchery counter was a challenge as I recognised non of the beef cuts and the
chickens with heads on was a bit of a freak out! However, I managed to get most
things and took a taxi back!. We are now en route to the lovely San Blas islands
(Kuna Yala) which is further towards Colombia.
|