We knew we wouldnt be able to cross the boarder into Colombia overland so we made plans to take a boat. We needed to get to Portobelo because thats where our boat, the Darien Gapster, would be waiting for us. We had to take 2 buses to get there, the second of which was unbearably overcrowded, sweaty, moist, and theft-ridden (good thing our thefts were only after an ipod charger, a cell phone charger, and a headlamp). Portabelo was interesting as it used to be one of the richest cities in Panama and is now made up of beach side ruins.
Our ocean adventure started that morning on a 20 passenger speed boat, with bench seating, and shade to protect us from the elements. We opted for this trip over the common 4 day sailing trip because this way would get a cultural experience by visiting many different islands in the San Blas chain. The first day at sea was the easiest with only an hour of travel to Nalunege. Here we got to interact with the island native, the Kunas. We played volleyball with the kids while the adults generously prepared our dinner. And spent the rest of the evening hanging out with our fellow travelers.
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| Staying warm in the ocean during the storm with new friends |
Day 29
The second day at sea was a bit rougher leading to our new friend Lisa getting violently sea sick. But we eventually made it to Iguana, a practically deserted island populated by just a few fishermen. Here we lazed in the sun for a while until a pounding, terrential, thunderous storm rolled through. But dont worry, being the wilderness survivors that we are, we were able to erect our tent in under 90 seconds and were able to keep all of our stuff dry. Well almost all of it. That night was spent gathered around a camp fire with burning plastic and lobster spewage.
Day 30
We woke up in the morning to hear the other travelers complain about almost drowning in their tents during the night. Thank goodness for our perfectly awesome tent, because we stayed relatively dry. The last day at sea started out like the 2 previous days. We left from Iguana Island and docked at Piños for lunch. Piños was a beautiful completely deserted island but we didnt stay for long because we still had a couple hours on the boat before arriving to Colombia...so we thought. However, in 2 hours instead of being in Colombia we had docked at a beach that was supposedly 10 minutes from Colombia. We were told we were staying the night here but everyone on the boat opposed this idea as we were all anxious to arrive in Colombia. At that time we had no way of knowing that this would lead to a chain of events that would delay our arrival to Colombia by 4 hours. At around 5:00 we were rushed to leave the beach by our french-canadian captain, Marco, the worlds most interesting man who constantly had us in stitches. After getting on the boat we were told we had to back track to go get our passports checked by the "officials" farther north. We arrived there at 5:40 and were told that if they didnt have all 21 of our passports checked by 6 then we would have to stay at the broken down, water logged, military invaded city, that is Puerto Obalido. Needless to say none of us were thrilled about that idea, so we stood over the 2 men checking our passports with flashlights, encouraging them to hurry up. Luckily we made it by the hair of our chiny chin chins. (we learned in the end that they were just looking for a bribe and that we already had the stamps they were looking for) We finally pulled into Sapzuro, Colombia, exhausted, soaked, and coughing from the fumes of the boat around 7.
Day 31
First thing in the morning we had to offically get checked into Colombia and then we just hung out for the rest of the day because we couldnt catch a boat out of the area until 7:30 the next morning. That night we celebrated our friend Lisas birthday was the next day and we wouldnt be together the following evening to celebrate with them. Marco arranged for us to have a dance party on a small covered dock with a mini bar.
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| Turbo |
Day 32
We had to wake up at 6am and a night full of drinking did not leave us feeling well. This day was full of punishment. It began with a 3 hour turbulent boat ride to Turbo, the most terrifying place in the world. Luckily we were with a small group who made the arrangments for us to get to Medellin from Turbo on one of the worst roads we have traveled. We got to Medellin halloween night, thought we would be able to rest up to celebrate, but ended up getting delivery and going to bed. Happy Halloween.
Day 33-37
We LOVE Medellin. Its our favorite place so far. It has everything, its beautiful, has the best public transportation complete with gondolas, and a great night life. Here we learned all about Pablo Escobar and his influence in Medellin and Colombia, actually the whole world. We mistakenly went to a museum that is made for 3rd graders to take field trips to where we learned about static electricity, and the 3 phases of matter. We saw amazing views of the city aboard the 2 gondola lines and visited the national park thats at the top of one of them. We also went to the largest mall in Colombia where we cursed ourselves for walking into a store where we fell in love with everything in it but couldnt justify buying anything. Tonight will be our last night here so we intend to go out with a real bang, though we will probably be cursing ourselves on the 8 hour bus to Bogota tomorrow morning.
WE LOVE YOU, GOOD NIGHT!
-Kristin and Molly
My Dearest Travelers;
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly learning to navigate your way through quite an adventure. Have a safe trip to Bogata, and look forward to reading more.