Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The "Big" City

It was time to head to the "big" city of Kuna Yala - Nargana. This is a fairly large Kuna village (actually two islands connected by a bridge) - where the people have chosen to live in a more non-traditional Kuna way - a more "western" lifestyle. They have a big generator plant so the islands have power and many huts have television, radio, and cell phones abound. There are several tiendas (small stores), a bank (no ATM but an armed guard), a few bread "panaderias" and even a couple of restaurants. You can get gasoline and diesel here from Paco and lots of Colombian trading boats come in loaded with plastic goods from China as well as fresh fruits and veggies. So you can pick up some supplies in Nargana. We needed some fuel as well as some fresh fruits and veggies. As we arrived Frederico came out in his ulu (we've met Frederico before - he offers services like getting your fuel, taking your garbage (which he burns) and giving tours up the river). He came aboard for awhile and we visited. He's practicing his English and is always helpful with local information.

We had lunch out (not very good) and got some diesel, bread and fresh veggies. The bread is interesting. Traditional Kuna bread is like large bread sticks - or small hot dog buns and that's pretty much all you can get. Some tiendas also make "rondos" which are more like small dinner rolls. It's always fun to walk around the island and having been in Kuna Yala for awhile, you start recognizing people and they recognize you. In fact, two Kunas yelled to us and reminded us they saw us in Esnasdup where we gave them some water.

We stayed a night in Nargana and went back to town in the morning for some additional diesel and bread. When Barbara went to Tienda Eides to get "rondos" she was asked to help with English lessons for the tienda owner's (Juliano) wife. She's a teacher in town and they have just started teaching the children in the school English - but she has to learn it first in order to teach it. She's taking a University course and was struggling. After diesel, bread and English lessons, we upped anchor and headed out again - destination Green Island. As we got close, we saw a large power boat anchored there and jet skis zipping about. No thanks! So we went back to nearby Esnasdup to revisit the two large crocs that call that area home.

Sunday ended up being a stormy afternoon - with some heavy winds and squalls. It was a scary looking sky with a big black line of flat clouds literally rolling towards us. Hurricane Asarte hit with winds at 80 gusts to 100 - though most of the rest of the anchorage saw a steady 25 with gusts to 30. There were three boats including us in the anchorage and the middle boat drug a bit towards us - but everyone was on board their boats and under control. After the storm passed we re-set anchors.

The no-see-ums bugs arrived in Esnasdup and we decided it was time to leave on Monday morning. So we headed back to the Eastern Holandes. It would be good to get in the water again - without fear of giant crocs. Barbara's ear is still bothering her - so she's staying dry for the time being (swimming that is!!) The evening dinghy raft-up-finger food-potluck happened as usual on Monday nights in the anchorage and we always enjoy the social time. We may organize a fun night snorkel with a group this week as well.

The boat bottom needs cleaning again and Michael's tackled one side already. A million dollar sport fishing boat was on the reef as we came into the Holandes. Guess the KH left in the middle of the storm on Sunday with no visibility and ran full tilt into a reef. The Kunas were literally cutting the reef away from the boat - hacking it up to free the boat that had been on there for more than 30 hours. This morning it was finally gone though we saw them still working on it at midnight last night. The poor reef.

There is a fearless bird that's in the anchorage and seems to love going below deck on boats. He was aboard ours (in the main salon) this morning. Scared Barbara - who has had a few bad bird experiences. Have to keep the screens in!

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