San Blas Adventures

Each day is a new adventure. During our first full day in the San Blas, after we had settled in at Lemmons Cays along with another 7 or 8 boats, a guy came by with a bin full of molas, so we invited him aboard and spent about 1 ½ hours trying to narrow our selection down. They were of very good quality, which is why we invited him aboard. We finally settled on a few molas and are happy with our purchase. A mola is actually part of a woman's blouse, but has become an art form and is Panama's best-known handicraft. They are made by cutting and stitching different layers of cloth. Actually, it is too difficult to describe.

The next day, Lisa stopped by and introduced herself. She came during a light rain, so we had a good excuse not to invite her aboard. We had heard of Lisa long before arriving in the San Blas. Lisa is an infamous transvestite who does very well at promoting herself. Later in the day, a family stopped by that wanted to sell lobsters. They were too small, so we rejected them, and hopefully, all cruisers will reject undersized catch. Next, the woman offered a mola, but it was of poor quality, so after we said no to that, they asked for candy for the child, at which point we sent them on their way.

The following day, we moved to Salardup and for the first time had the anchorage to ourselves, but we also noticed a couple of huts behind a very beautiful sandy beach at the tip of the island. Late in the day, a couple of guys from the island paddled out in their cayuco. The native language is Kuna, with Spanish as a second language. One of the guys spoke Spanish and absolutely no English. After a long, struggling conversation, we realized they wanted gasoline so they could travel to one of the populated islands closer to the mainland. We agreed to give them a couple of gallons in exchange for a couple of coconuts. Coconuts are very important to the Kuna and a big part of their economy. We have been enjoying the best coconut we have ever had. We determined that one of these guys owned the island or at least his family does, and they are running a day trip tourist stop, or at least trying to. The next morning, before we got underway, they passed us on their way in toward the mainland.

Also, the next morning, before we got underway, Lisa stopped by again. We explained we were just getting underway, so we did not want to look at molas. When we arrived at our next stop, Green Island, Lisa was on a catamaran showing them molas, and by now we are old friends, so of course we exchanged waves with her. Just after we got settled on the anchor, a couple of guys stopped by selling lobsters, so we bought some. These seemed legal size, but certainly not what we would term grande, which is how they referred to the ones we selected.