We're in the small fishing village of Esmerelda, on Isla Del Ray in the Las Perlas. We're supposed to be spending our time out here fixing things and preparing for our canal transit, but to be honest we've mostly been relaxing and playing. We spent a few days around the corner at an anchorage near the entrance to the Rio Cacique river, which was really nice. We were planning on exploring the river but we had to go in at low tide, which was stupidly early in the morning. Then the swell picked up in our quiet little bay and we had to escape from the rocky waves in the hopes of getting a good nights sleep.
We didn't actually do much while we were there. I did go to shore with Tori and Garth in the kayak, to explore the stunning rocks surrounding the little bay. They were gorgeous, standing tall in amongst hidden beaches and patches of jungle. It didn't really feel like we were in a jungle until we climbed up the rocks and Garth very nearly stepped on a snake curled up in the nonexistent sun. He was hanging onto the edge of an outcropping ledge and didn't seem overly interested in us. Phew! I know nothing about snakes in foreign lands, but I do know that in Australia if their head is bigger than their body then their venom usually won't kill you straight away. Hopefully that's true here too, because he had a nice big head. I didn't want to get too close for a picture though!
Find the snake...
We later found out that it was a Boa Constrictor!
I walked along the coastline with Tori while Garth paddled over to another beach. We found a waterfall, but with so little rain lately it was reduced to a sad little trickle from the stream above. Garth led us to an almost-cave he'd already explored with Dave, which was filled with tiny little bats hanging off the ceiling. They looked like baby mice! Cute little squeaking noises filled the silence when we stuck our heads in, so I'm guessing comparing them to mice isn't that much of a stretch.
Looking for bats
We had a hermit crab race on the beach (Tori's entrant shot out like it was on fire and ours refused to wake up), walked through the bush to find some mangroves on the other side, and discovered a mango tree just begging to be stripped of all it's fruit. Unfortunately the branches were too high up and all we could do was throw things at the mangoes to get them to drop down. While we were in the kayak some gorgeous spotted rays swam underneath us, and then Dave came to our rescue in the dinghy so Garth didn't have to paddle all three of us back with only one paddle. So that exploration mission was definitely a success.
Because we were just round the corner from the village, we had people come out nearly every day trying to sell us things. Sometimes they were in fishing boats with big outboards and sometimes they paddled out in their leaky little canoes. I gave one of them a bailer, because he was trying to scoop a neverending flow of water out of his canoe with an old ripped up container that wouldn't hold water. It was painful to watch. They all asked for chocolate and cookies, which they obviously don't sell in town. We managed to acquire coconuts, bananas, papaya, yuca (a type of cassava, which is a funny looking root vegetable), limes and fish without having to leave the boat or even put on proper clothes. They were all very cheap as well - one very friendly guy just started loading things onto our boat and only wanted $5 for the lot. They usually cut the coconuts open for us, but whenever we need to open a coconut I can never understand how we have failed to buy a machete. I saw them for $3 in Tahiti, yet we never remember to buy one.
We even bought some lobsters, and I'm very glad we have Tori around to translate for us. She's so good at getting them to lower the price and the look of disgust she puts on whenever somebody tells her the cost of something is priceless. She even manages to wrinkle up her nose while still looking adorable. By the time I have figured out what the people are trying to say to me in Spanish, there isn't really room in the conversation for bartering. I feel like I have to pay them just to say thank you for putting up with my incompetence with the language. So the lobsters ended up being a lot cheaper than they would have been if I'd bought them myself, and Tori and Dave prepared them wonderfully. I'm very excited about all the cheap seafood! We bought 2 big Mackrel from a guy in a canoe for $2 each, and ended up getting eight good sized meals out of them. It's a big change from not being able to eat any of the fish in between here and Australia because of cigaturia. With so many people coming by and yelling 'Langosta!' at me, I've even managed to remember the spanish word for lobster.
We spent the rest of our time in that anchorage just relaxing. Garth has gotten into the routine of scrambling up the mast with my trapeze and the rigging pole every time we get somewhere new. So my trapeze is always up, which is awesome. I've been up on it at least once a day, and I'm slowly building my muscles and callasus back up. The other day a fishing boat came past filled to the brim with locals, and they killed the engine by our boat to watch me. I was just playing around and I'm still not very strong after so long at sea, but I managed to pull off a few beginner tricks for them.
After the swell picked up we ducked round the corner to the anchorage outside the village of Esmerelda for a day. There aren't many people living here and it says in the cruising guide that it's just a small fishing village, but I absolutely love it. Before we even had the anchor down we were surrounded by kids in little canoes trying to scavange rope and chocolate. We eventually got rid of them, but they were soon replaced by our friendly vegetable guy from the other day. He was in a fishing boat with an outboard this time and was ready with a big smile when we arrived. He took our jerry cans to refill our water, and came back later on with a big bag of Yuca for us.
Tori and I went to shore in Eva Marie's dinghy, leaving Garth and Dave alone on our respective boats. Before we could get out of the dinghy when we got into shallow water, we were surrounded by children. They came running from every direction, racing their friends out of the water and abandoning whatever games they had been playing. Hands came from everywhere to help us carry the dinghy up the beach and we were completely overwhelmed by how many children had appeared out of nowhere. One of the older boys who had come out to us in a canoe looking for chocolate took charge and led us to the shops. There were actually several of them, but they were just tiny little holes in the wall connected to people's houses.
The kids wanted to pose for pictures! The ones on the right tried to step aside, not realising what a wide lens the gopro has. The main shop for the town is in the background - it's just somebody's house.
Thanks to Tori's translating I managed to get almost everything I needed. Unfortunatly the only thing on her list was fresh vegetables and all she could get out of them were a couple of sad looking cucumbers. We were led to another store that didn't have anything fresh either, but I was impressed that they had refridgeration. We'd been told that most villages didn't have anything cold, but this town actually had margarine and a few other cold things for sale.
Tori chats to the children in Spanish
The town was absolutely gorgeous. The walls of all the houses were brightly coloured, which were complemented by a rainbow of colours strung up across the streets as the locals waited for their washing to dry. Our following of children grew bigger and bigger as we walked around until we must have acquired every single young child in the village. The older ones were sitting around chatting amongst themselves, some of them with huge rollers in their hair. They musn't have much to do, because all the girls had their hair done up. The younger ones just had braids with clunky plastic flowers on the ends, but every single girl was adorned with something. As we were walking one of the younger girls reached up and took my hand, which was adorable. Everybody seemed so close, it must just be natural for them to hold hands all the time. The smallest girl in the village was just darling, with huge eyes and a pretty dress. She kept running off and coming back to give us chips out of her sister's packet, which the sister didn't look overly impressed with. She wanted to hold my hand as well and it was all I could to not to take her back to the boat with me. It was lovely seeing all the kids banding together and playing amongst themselves. When we had to step over a big crack in the path, hands shot out from everywhere to grab the little one and help her over. They're obviously just one big family.
The little one had such big eyes!
Outside another "shop". You can see the playground in the background - no swings, no rings on the monkey bars. It's been stripped of all rope and chain
A lot of the men recognised us. I guess they all fish, so most of them had been near us in the last few days, either fishing or selling us things. One of them had a laugh when he saw me and very excitedly managed to ask if I had been the one on the trapeze. He flexed all his muscles and grinned, so I guess they think I'm strong!
Tori walking back to the dinghy with some of our followers
As we went back down to the beach our following grew again, as everybody who had gotten bored and run off to play returned to see us off. I couldn't help take the dinghy down to the water, because I couldn't physically squeeze in between the children to lay a hand on it. Some of the smaller kids tripped over and were left in the dust as everybody ran down to the water with the dinghy - I couldn't believe how fast that thing flew by! It took us a while to get it started once we were in the water, with kids climbing all over it and some of the older boys taking over from us poor, weak girls to get the thing going. I think they must have flooded it in their excitement. They were neck deep in the water hanging onto the stern for ages while we gave the outboard few minutes to recover from their overzealous help. They all started begging for money and sweets, and Tori handed out cash to our little leader and the big guy helping us start the engine. She eventually got the outboard going and kids went flying off over the sides as we took off, giggling as they jumped into the water.
All the kids running with the dinghy down to the water
There's nothing else to do here so we only stayed the night, but visiting this town was definitely one of the highlights of our Panama experience so far. We were visited by more kids in the afternoon, all demanding chocolate and rope. They eventually gave up and came back later with fish and coconuts, which we didn't want. But Dave and Tori traded some lollipops for a few fish and they said they were delicious. I guess the kids don't have anything else to do, so fishing off their ulu canoes is just entertainment. We should have bought more candy in Panama! I never would have thought that we could have fresh fish every day in exchange for lollipops.
Xxx Monique
Click here for more pictures!
We didn't actually do much while we were there. I did go to shore with Tori and Garth in the kayak, to explore the stunning rocks surrounding the little bay. They were gorgeous, standing tall in amongst hidden beaches and patches of jungle. It didn't really feel like we were in a jungle until we climbed up the rocks and Garth very nearly stepped on a snake curled up in the nonexistent sun. He was hanging onto the edge of an outcropping ledge and didn't seem overly interested in us. Phew! I know nothing about snakes in foreign lands, but I do know that in Australia if their head is bigger than their body then their venom usually won't kill you straight away. Hopefully that's true here too, because he had a nice big head. I didn't want to get too close for a picture though!
I walked along the coastline with Tori while Garth paddled over to another beach. We found a waterfall, but with so little rain lately it was reduced to a sad little trickle from the stream above. Garth led us to an almost-cave he'd already explored with Dave, which was filled with tiny little bats hanging off the ceiling. They looked like baby mice! Cute little squeaking noises filled the silence when we stuck our heads in, so I'm guessing comparing them to mice isn't that much of a stretch.
We had a hermit crab race on the beach (Tori's entrant shot out like it was on fire and ours refused to wake up), walked through the bush to find some mangroves on the other side, and discovered a mango tree just begging to be stripped of all it's fruit. Unfortunately the branches were too high up and all we could do was throw things at the mangoes to get them to drop down. While we were in the kayak some gorgeous spotted rays swam underneath us, and then Dave came to our rescue in the dinghy so Garth didn't have to paddle all three of us back with only one paddle. So that exploration mission was definitely a success.
Because we were just round the corner from the village, we had people come out nearly every day trying to sell us things. Sometimes they were in fishing boats with big outboards and sometimes they paddled out in their leaky little canoes. I gave one of them a bailer, because he was trying to scoop a neverending flow of water out of his canoe with an old ripped up container that wouldn't hold water. It was painful to watch. They all asked for chocolate and cookies, which they obviously don't sell in town. We managed to acquire coconuts, bananas, papaya, yuca (a type of cassava, which is a funny looking root vegetable), limes and fish without having to leave the boat or even put on proper clothes. They were all very cheap as well - one very friendly guy just started loading things onto our boat and only wanted $5 for the lot. They usually cut the coconuts open for us, but whenever we need to open a coconut I can never understand how we have failed to buy a machete. I saw them for $3 in Tahiti, yet we never remember to buy one.
We even bought some lobsters, and I'm very glad we have Tori around to translate for us. She's so good at getting them to lower the price and the look of disgust she puts on whenever somebody tells her the cost of something is priceless. She even manages to wrinkle up her nose while still looking adorable. By the time I have figured out what the people are trying to say to me in Spanish, there isn't really room in the conversation for bartering. I feel like I have to pay them just to say thank you for putting up with my incompetence with the language. So the lobsters ended up being a lot cheaper than they would have been if I'd bought them myself, and Tori and Dave prepared them wonderfully. I'm very excited about all the cheap seafood! We bought 2 big Mackrel from a guy in a canoe for $2 each, and ended up getting eight good sized meals out of them. It's a big change from not being able to eat any of the fish in between here and Australia because of cigaturia. With so many people coming by and yelling 'Langosta!' at me, I've even managed to remember the spanish word for lobster.
We spent the rest of our time in that anchorage just relaxing. Garth has gotten into the routine of scrambling up the mast with my trapeze and the rigging pole every time we get somewhere new. So my trapeze is always up, which is awesome. I've been up on it at least once a day, and I'm slowly building my muscles and callasus back up. The other day a fishing boat came past filled to the brim with locals, and they killed the engine by our boat to watch me. I was just playing around and I'm still not very strong after so long at sea, but I managed to pull off a few beginner tricks for them.
After the swell picked up we ducked round the corner to the anchorage outside the village of Esmerelda for a day. There aren't many people living here and it says in the cruising guide that it's just a small fishing village, but I absolutely love it. Before we even had the anchor down we were surrounded by kids in little canoes trying to scavange rope and chocolate. We eventually got rid of them, but they were soon replaced by our friendly vegetable guy from the other day. He was in a fishing boat with an outboard this time and was ready with a big smile when we arrived. He took our jerry cans to refill our water, and came back later on with a big bag of Yuca for us.
Tori and I went to shore in Eva Marie's dinghy, leaving Garth and Dave alone on our respective boats. Before we could get out of the dinghy when we got into shallow water, we were surrounded by children. They came running from every direction, racing their friends out of the water and abandoning whatever games they had been playing. Hands came from everywhere to help us carry the dinghy up the beach and we were completely overwhelmed by how many children had appeared out of nowhere. One of the older boys who had come out to us in a canoe looking for chocolate took charge and led us to the shops. There were actually several of them, but they were just tiny little holes in the wall connected to people's houses.
Thanks to Tori's translating I managed to get almost everything I needed. Unfortunatly the only thing on her list was fresh vegetables and all she could get out of them were a couple of sad looking cucumbers. We were led to another store that didn't have anything fresh either, but I was impressed that they had refridgeration. We'd been told that most villages didn't have anything cold, but this town actually had margarine and a few other cold things for sale.
The town was absolutely gorgeous. The walls of all the houses were brightly coloured, which were complemented by a rainbow of colours strung up across the streets as the locals waited for their washing to dry. Our following of children grew bigger and bigger as we walked around until we must have acquired every single young child in the village. The older ones were sitting around chatting amongst themselves, some of them with huge rollers in their hair. They musn't have much to do, because all the girls had their hair done up. The younger ones just had braids with clunky plastic flowers on the ends, but every single girl was adorned with something. As we were walking one of the younger girls reached up and took my hand, which was adorable. Everybody seemed so close, it must just be natural for them to hold hands all the time. The smallest girl in the village was just darling, with huge eyes and a pretty dress. She kept running off and coming back to give us chips out of her sister's packet, which the sister didn't look overly impressed with. She wanted to hold my hand as well and it was all I could to not to take her back to the boat with me. It was lovely seeing all the kids banding together and playing amongst themselves. When we had to step over a big crack in the path, hands shot out from everywhere to grab the little one and help her over. They're obviously just one big family.
A lot of the men recognised us. I guess they all fish, so most of them had been near us in the last few days, either fishing or selling us things. One of them had a laugh when he saw me and very excitedly managed to ask if I had been the one on the trapeze. He flexed all his muscles and grinned, so I guess they think I'm strong!
As we went back down to the beach our following grew again, as everybody who had gotten bored and run off to play returned to see us off. I couldn't help take the dinghy down to the water, because I couldn't physically squeeze in between the children to lay a hand on it. Some of the smaller kids tripped over and were left in the dust as everybody ran down to the water with the dinghy - I couldn't believe how fast that thing flew by! It took us a while to get it started once we were in the water, with kids climbing all over it and some of the older boys taking over from us poor, weak girls to get the thing going. I think they must have flooded it in their excitement. They were neck deep in the water hanging onto the stern for ages while we gave the outboard few minutes to recover from their overzealous help. They all started begging for money and sweets, and Tori handed out cash to our little leader and the big guy helping us start the engine. She eventually got the outboard going and kids went flying off over the sides as we took off, giggling as they jumped into the water.
There's nothing else to do here so we only stayed the night, but visiting this town was definitely one of the highlights of our Panama experience so far. We were visited by more kids in the afternoon, all demanding chocolate and rope. They eventually gave up and came back later with fish and coconuts, which we didn't want. But Dave and Tori traded some lollipops for a few fish and they said they were delicious. I guess the kids don't have anything else to do, so fishing off their ulu canoes is just entertainment. We should have bought more candy in Panama! I never would have thought that we could have fresh fish every day in exchange for lollipops.
Xxx Monique
Click here for more pictures!
Drooling at the thought of all that fresh fish
ReplyDeleteLol it was sooo good! We're not very good at cooking small fish though, we've only had experience with big ones!
DeleteLol it was sooo good! We're not very good at cooking small fish though, we've only had experience with big ones!
Delete