Bringing You to Lima

So my time in Panama City was well spent. The hostel in which I stayed was a block away from a sportsbook and casino, meaning that I was able to watch me Irish, even in the debacle against the yellow and blue. Evenings, of which there were more than I had planned, were spent largely in the hostel attempting to conquer the world. (Anyone besides me find it a little ironic that RISK is a french game?) While I was there, though, I did manage to get to the Panama Canal and see a couple of ships pass through the Miraflores locks. It´s kind of boring to actually watch that, but seeing the sped up version of a trip through the canal in the museum, along with all of the planning and construction that went into it, you can´t help but be impressed. Among the articles in the museum was the tally sheet used during the Senate roll call that okayed giving the Canal to Panama. So many of those dinosaurs are still in there, except now they´re trying to give the rest of America to the Muslims. Oh well.

The four days I spent in San Blas were amazing, though also two too many. The experience started at a small domestic airport from which the plane left at 6:00 a.m. Needless to say, this was not my choice, but that is the only flight that goes to the islands. One of the airport employees walked from the tarmac into the waiting area and called out the places to which the plane was going. We followed him out to a plane that had only 19 passenger seats and propellers on either wing. There was no door to the cockpit, so I could see straight ahead of us. Before taking off, they made sure that the weight was roughly evenly distributed. Once we started hopping from one island to the next - no circling necessary since no other planes used the airports, or, more accurately, runways - people started getting off. After the first two, they had those of us sitting in the back of the plane move to the front to balance out the luggage.

From the airport, I took a long canoe to the island of Carti Sugdub. There, I was taken to the dormitory, the only place on the island where outsiders could stay. The toilet consisted of a hole over the ocean; the "shower" was a tube that had water coming out of it about three feet off the ground a bowl I could use to pour the cold water over myself. The only light at night was a kerosine lamp. In the dormitory in which I stayed, I was the only one there, which meant that I was the only non-indigenous person on the island.

The community was commi, with communal ownership of pretty much everything. (this explained why many houses were essentially sticks tied together with thached rooves and without electricity.) There were two restaurants where I had all my meals. One was run by a member of the community but, as with the dorm, profits were shared by all. Fishing was the main source of food, though they also own some land on the mainland, which is their main source of fruit. While there, I witnessed centuries-old dancing and religious rituals. I also spent a day on what was essentially my own island. In the morning, I rowed out with one other person, a local, I would guesstimate about a mile and a half. Technically, there were three other people there at the time, but for the time I spent on the island, I didn´t see any of them. While I was very happy I hadn´t missed this often-skipped part of Central America, I also couldn´t wait to get back to Panama City, with televisions, showers, real food, etc.

Having unfortunately run low on time, I was unable to visit Columbia. Instead, I flew directly to Quito, where I did a bit of sightseeing and visited the equator - both the actual equator and the place that had at one time been miscalculated as the equator. Among the artifacts at the makeshift museum was a shrunken head. Apparently, the practice continues in the Amazon. I also used a blowgun for the first time. Sadly, I missed the target and hit an unwitting 70 year old woman in the toucas. (Just checking to see if you´re paying attention.)

Upon leaving Quito, once again after more time than I had planned, I had to hightail it down here to Lima. More about that another time, but at least now you´re more or less up to speed.