Thursday, October 22, 2009

6 nights on the sea

After traveling 5,000 miles we reached the end of the Central American road! There are no roads past Panama City thru the dense jungle and into Columbia. To get into Cartagena you must travel by boat or fly. We chose to take a sailboat and travel with the motorcycle. Getting the motorcycle onto the boat was quite an experience... (at the moment i am unable to upload the photos..grrh..)

The first sailboat encountered engine problems 24 hours after departure. Luckily we were still in the SanBlas Archipelago and able to swim, snorkel and visit the many isolated islands owned by the KunaYala people while waiting for the new sailboat.

Snorkeling was fun, the water is full of small fish, starfish and white coral. The beach was the smoothest white grain sand I had ever been in. We snorkeled over a 6 foot shark at one point..I flailed around the water in a brief panic until we discovered the shark was dead! Scary...

I bought my first souvenirs here, two brightly colored handembroidered molas. The molas are similar to a quilt patch, decorated with birds, plants, mythical animals and many more designs. Intricately sewn and always colorful (almost a bizarre combination of colors) the molas are traditionally attached to a woman's blouse wrapping around her stomach.

Once the second sailboat arrived it was smooth sailing to Columbia. Montgomery admired the new sailboat, a Beneteau...he knows a lot about boats and can talk for hours about their unique features...

It was a long trip on a sailboat, many hours staring into the sea but we finally made it into South America...the trip continues...

pictures to accompany this post as soon as i find a modern computer...ha

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