Panama Pictures 2000 & 2001
(Return to the sailing adventures of La Boatique)
The children love to have their picture taken. (We are in the background.)
Pete, Gail and Henery talk to Sudrez, the secretary of the Kuna village on Ilsa De Pinos, Panama. We were charged $6 to anchor in the bay near the island. Sudrez's home along with his childern are to the left. The village has no roads and no electricity. But it does have a pay cell phone and a small airport three miles away on a tiny island.
The women of the village make intricate sticheries called "molas". You are expected by buy at least one. Since we had just caught the sailfish, I thought the sailfish mola was appropriate.
The Indian women with the red hat is trying to sell Colleen with the red shorts from the boat, Bow Bells a mola. The molas are on the bench and on the ground.
These parrots live in the village at Isla De Pinos.
Pete explains what is wrong with this outboard motor and then fixes it for the Indians and Isla De Pinos. In the background clothes dry on the roof.
We found this wild orchid during our walk around the island.
This Indian man is loading wood into his boat.
We saw many beautiful views during our walk around the island of Isla De Pinos.
At Achutupu we were overwhelmed by visiting people from the village selling mostly molas. A swarm of boats visits Julie and Barry on Cherokee. The locals were very curious about us and our boats.
We pulled the dinghy along through the shallows during our Mono River trip. Farther up the river we found rapids for a great body surfing ride of fresh water fun. Mono Island was one of our favorite stops so far.
Pete enjoyed visiting with these parrots in San Ignacio De Tupile near Mono Island. One of the parrots enjoyed Pete's hat.
This was our beautiful view from La Boatique. When we arived at this anchorage (Snug Harbor) we were the only boat. We told our friends about the place and within days eight boats joined us.
Our Christmas dinner at Snug Harbor in the San Blas Islands of Panama included fresh caught stone crabs. We bought these from a Kuna Indian for $3 each. We pushed the live crabs into our largest pot of boiling water for about 20 minutes. Pete used a hammer to crack open the shells and remove the meat.
Sally and Julius on Argonauta in the San Blas Islands
This wild monkey was nearly as tall as some of the Kuna Indian women. The monkeys met us at the dock at Isla Linton. We gave them some banannas. These monkeys often walk upright.
The monkeys use their strong prehensile tails to hang upside down. These two are enjoying the banannas we brought them. They wanted to get into the dinghy with us but we were warned to not get too close. They like to touch people and when they get pushed away, they bite. Therefore, we did not use this dock. Other cruisers said that when they left their dinghy here and went for a walk, three monkeys climbed in their dinghy.
Julie from Cherokee snapped this picture. Her husband's (Barry) hand is in the foreground.
We are heading into the Panama Canal on Argonauta. Pete, Sue and Julie (from Cherokee) worked the bow lines through the canal.
Once we passed this point we had crossed the continental divide. Water from here on flows to the Pacific Ocean instead of the Atlantic Ocean. This fresh water certainly was muddy.
After the Panama Canal trip we arrived at Pedro Miguel Boat Club at dark. Then it started raining. We rode in the back of a pickup truck inside a cage in the rain to get to the bus terminal. We felt like wet dogs heading to the pound. Pictured Pete, Barry Sue and Julie.
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