After settling down after our last trip by taking in some nice we-time in San Blas (it was Karen’s first time there, she fell in love with the place and its people in mere seconds), we decided to head into the city to take care of some business, deal with some affairs, and of course, line up some passengers for a trip back to Cartagena (I know what you’re thinking… didn’t we just LEAVE that place?). Karen was also going on a buying mission to take advantage of Panama City’s incredibly low prices on clothing and other stuff, and buy up some inventory for her parents’ clothing store back in Caucasia.
So, after securing the boat with Karen’s cousin Alejandra, who was also in San Blas with her Spanish beau on his boat, we got on a lancha to Carti, and then onto a 4×4 to Panama City. This ride was definitely not for the faint of heart. The ride covered all kinds of terrain. Jungle, river crossings, mud up to your waist, gravel roads, roads that edged steep ravines, you get the idea. Indiana Jones stuff.
Three hours later, we were in Panama city, one of my favorite places in Central America. It’s a city I came to really know and love last year during my time in Panama. It’s an easy city to get around, cheap, and first-world by most standards. It’s an economic boomtown that shows no sign of abating anytime soon. Let’s just hope that the city can handle all that incredible growth.
After getting settled, we headed out into one of the city’s… MALLS?? Albrook Mall was pretty much the first and only place that Karen wanted to see that day so she can start her mad shopping jaunt. After spending a few hours in that behemoth of a place, we ventured out to the city’s hostels. We wanted to see about working with them on trips between Panama and Colombia, as well working with them on some neat ideas we had for Andiamo and San Blas. That round went pretty well and was very productive.
Next order of business was to meet up with Ceci, a friend of mine who lives in PC, and her boyfriend Rey, as well as her son Gianni, who I met last time I was here. We met up for sushi at a great little place I’d been to before. It was nice catching up with Ceci, and talking about Panama City.
The next couple of days were essentially more of the same. Karen shopped some more, and I took care of other pressing issues, and tried to build more contacts. We’d also met a nice group of dutch travelers at our hotel who were looking for ideas of what to see in Panama. We got to talking with them about San Blas, and before we knew it, we had them signed on for a sailing trip. I love it when stuff like that happens. So we arranged to meet with them on the day we were heading back, and despite a snafu with our previously arranged driver to get back to Carti, we were off.
The trip was rather tight because there were six of us in a Nissan Pathfinder, but everybody was in decent spirits. Dino, our main Kuna guy in Carti, arranged a lancha to come pick us up at the river and bring us to the boat in Chichime, a good six miles away. The only problem was that it was getting late in the day, and dark was creeping up on us. Nelson, the Kuna who was driving the lancha, said he had gone into Chichime at night, and indicated through Dino that we would not have a problem getting through the rather narrow channel entrance into the reef.
Unfortunately, the driver was a little off course, and we ended up RIGHT ON THE REEF!!! I kept telling Dino that I knew the entrance pretty well, and that I wasn’t sure that we were on the right path in. The driver insisted all was good. The lookout guy on the bow essentially removed all doubt by screaming that we were right on a flat jagged row of reef. Luckily, Nelson listened to me, headed full reverse back into the deep water. We found our way off the reef before there was any real damage. After going around the reef we had just landed on, we were inside the channel and tied up alongside Andiamo. With GREAT relief. To the dutch passengers’ credit, they never panicked. They stayed cool and calm and hung on to the rails of the boat. This situation could have really gotten ugly. If the waves that were breaking on the reef were any bigger, even a couple of feet bigger, we would have been in some serious shit.
I told the Kunas to stay aboard and sleep in Andiamo’s cockpit for the night. I didn’t want them going back in the dark, particularly as exhausted as they looked. They accepted the offer, and slept in until early morning. When we all woke up, they were already gone and on their way back to Carti. The next couple of days were spent swimming, sailing, and checking out a couple of nice spots in San Blas.