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San Blas by Douglas
sent October 28, 2001
Hello All, We are still in the San Blas. Ever since our
watermaker broke we have had a water problem (the high-pressure pump is broken)
and have had to collect what rain we can and jerry-jug the rest from the towns.
Dad did nine runs in Ustupu (the biggest village) with five ten-year olds. As a
reward he gave them some cookies because he had seen them scrambling to polish a
plate of rice that a Colombian boat had finished with - really makes me ashamed
of our lifestyle.
After Pinos we went to Ustupu, the largest town in the San
Blas. The anchorage was foul, (all of the outhouses for 6000 people were perched
right over the small anchorage) so we only stayed there two nights. The heads of
the villages in the San Blas are called sailas, and are chosen for their
diligence and knowledge. You are required to pay a certain amount to the saila
when you visit an island, normally 6$US per boat. In Ustupu we had the two top
sailas out to the boat. The number two saila apparently knew world geography
very well, because he named all of the countries we had been to (we showed him a
print out map with our route on it) for the top saila. They were both very
inquisitive and seemed very 'diligente' indeed.
At Mamitupu, a couple of stops down the road, we stayed two
nights. The village was about 1500 population and most of the under 20 group
seemed to be in their cayucos (dugout canoes) holding onto the side of
Margarita. They didn't want anything or to sell anything - they just wanted to
watch. It is fine at first, I got lots of Spanish practice, but after a few
hours we started telling them to let go of the boat. In the evening we and the
Toad kids jumped in the water and capsized all the cayucos we could find. They
seemed to enjoy it, even capsizing the sailboard we were paddling about on. I
also taught about ten kids in the village the English colours, 'bloom,' 'yyellow,'
'gdeen,' and all the others. After that I could always tell if a kid was one of
my friends because he or she was yelling 'bloom!'
We got tired of the towns though, so we are all glad to be
out here in an uninhabited anchorage once more. The snorkeling isn't great (by
our Red Sea standards), but the water is clean and that is a very good change.
There are loads of sharks here, and for those of you that think it would be
'fun' to swim with sharks, I will just say that they are a lot more comfortable
with your proximity than you are of theirs! While 'curious' may be a nice
feature in cute animals, it is the opposite in sharks.
The two boys on Hoptoad and I camped on shore for two
nights. Very classic - slinging hammocks between two coconut palms, and hearing
'thump's all through the night as coconut-laden palms dropped one of their
burdens. One thing about being on a palm tree island is that you are never needy
of fuel for a fire. All palm products burn extremely well - except the coconut
husk, which smoulders and repels insects. Fronds and fibres are all extremely
flammable. The main downside to the sand island that sand gets everywhere, and
it is superfine so it sticks.
Those of you that wrote back just lately, thank you, the
e-mails were all much appreciated. Keep it up! -Douglas
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