“ANY IDEA WHAT DAY IT IS ?”
That’s a common question these days and we love it !
The silence is surprising . The jungle is huge and impenetrable and yet barely a creature stirs . Early mornings I was delighted to hear a few wild monkeys and some kind of parrot squawking. But the ratio of greenery to creatures seems unbalanced . Has all the plastic killed them ? Are they insulated by the thick growth and actually having a wild time and we can’t hear ? Our back yard in Australia is noisier with wildlife ! I hope someone can explain ?
This morning a group of 4 men paddle over in their thick solid hand made wooden canoe with wooden paddles . They only have a few words of English and we all smile and nod a lot even though we have no idea what each other is saying . Luckily we’ve read the guide books and when they hand us their mobile phone we know they want it charged ! The fact that they even have phones seems incredible . The rest of their existence is so rudimentary and earthy. They have phones but minimal electricity . We are in a remote bay so presuming their electricity is a days paddle away . Our communication fails us again and we are ready to move bays and still have an unknown phone !
We find another smiley faced local with a wooden canoe full of gravel . He starts talking to us and we give him “amigo’s” phone and just hope they are mates. There’s no wind at all so we motor to the first island . Word is there’s no crocs here so we can swim. It’s nice not to have the background fear of being wrestled into a watery grave by a crocodile !
As we motor along side the expansive jungle we marvel at the mountains and the height of the trees . Glimpses of sandy beaches but mostly the trees are right at the waters edge
On the way we spot a floating wooden paddle and use this opportunity to practice retrieving things from the ocean . It’s easy without waves or wind . We hope to find the owner but the paddle is slightly split anyway .
Next Sean navigates a very tight entrance that is shallow and surrounded by reef. He has two charts and I’m up the front ready to yell if we get close to hitting anything . The captain heaves a sigh of relief as we drop anchor and settle in .
Now off to the local village to try and find some vegetables . It smells nice here like palo santo smoke . The buildings are a mixture of tradition bamboo with palm frond roofs and dome concrete and some wooden .
Happy children follow us and skip along . One tiny sweet girl slips her hand in mine and drags her doll with the other . Mum and Dad poke their heads out and say “hola”.
One persistent young boy asks with pointing if he can have my bracelet . It’s from Cartagena and made from colourful beads and aluminium can tops . I think he will enjoy it more than me , it’s a pleasure to give it to him . I do worry this may be a bad example from tourists but the kids are not pushy and the community looks healthy and happy .
We buy some eggs and onions but no other veges are available . Cross dressing is widely accepted here and we marvel at the mixture of people . They are playing basketball and volleyball . Once again there’s a lot of clothing everywhere .
We watch a local repair a hole in his boat with some apparent rubbish . He mixes a chunk of polystyrene and petrol which creates a liquid plastic which he pours over the visible hole. I do worry that he uses bare hands in this toxic concoction but their lives are so pure here maybe it won’t affect him.
Back to the dinghy and a young man waits to talk with us … he has a few words of English and asks for a fee of $10 US dollars to be moored at this island . We were expecting this and know to ask for a receipt to avoid repetitive requests.
We’ve done some cleaning and house work and cooked a few meals, and that’s our day . Hoping for a sunset now we have moved to Suledup. One of the many San Blas islands .. still so many more to explore .
We feel very lucky to be living this lifestyle .