So our choices were: 1) To take a sailboat for 5 days from Cartagena, Columbia to Panama - given that it was the windy season this option did not appeal, particularly after having taken some scary boat trips as a child in 9 force gales! 2) Fly from a Columbian city to Panama - way too expensive! or 3) Take the cheapest and longest option involving mutliple buses, ridiculous boat journeys and a light aircraft via small Caribbean beach towns located next to the Darien. So given our budget and lack of time constraints option number 3 was the winner and we headed off on (what turned out to be) an absolute mission....
The crazy harbour at Turbo
The adventure started when we tried to leave Cartagena; we were hassled by bus touts as soon as we entered the terminal and rushed on to a bus only to sit there in stifling heat for 2 hours before we actually left the city. When we finally got going, the trip involved a 7 hour ride on a bumpy overheated and packed out bus, followed by a 5 hour journey in a pick up truck where we were thrown into the front seat. Being 'pequena' (small) I was given the 'half seat'. With hardly any room for my legs - I ended up with a gearstick between them and somehow managed to get some sleep as we bumped around the potholes!
On the boat before hitting the open sea
We didn't get to the dodgy port town of Turbo (most suitably named - you seriously want to get in and out of there as soon as possible) until 11pm and we were swamped by scary moto-taxis to take us to our accommodation. Next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to purchase our boat tickets, only to find that there were only a few tickets left at 6 in the morning! So reluctantly we were seated in the front of the speed boat, well placed to experience the most severe body jarring bumps as the boat tackled 5 metre swells over a 3 hour period. Our bags were placed in front of us, and piled high. Not being tied down, we spent most of the journey trying to catch them before they ended up in the sea. One guy luckily caught my massive backpack before it went right over the edge, we quite literally spent as much time in the air on this journey as we did on the sea. The relief we felt when we got off the boat in Capurgana is difficult to put into words. Despite feeling whinded and whiplashed with multiple bruises to the back and arms we were so glad to have gotten the worst part of the journey over with (or so we thought..)
The ridiculously small speed boat with 3 massive engines!
Capurgana is a bustling little Caribbean town, but with no roads, no cars and blinking on and off electricity it feels a million miles from the rest of the world. We spent one night there before heading to the even more chilled town of Sapzurro just around the corner by boat. Sapzurro fulfilled our vision of a quiet local place where the sun shines, the sands are white and Caribbean music can be heard from every corner of town. We slept in a tent across from the beach, cooking for ourselves and generally relaxing.
We were surrounded by the Military and Paramilitary
Ingenious local transport in Capurgana
Coconuts everywhere!
Kids preparing their stuffed mannequins in preparation for burning on NYE. Signifying the end of the old year.
The people of this town LOVE music, signified by their enormous sound systems. Every home has one!
We saw in the New Year in this Caribbean town, and partied with the locals until the 'wee' hours in a bar playing a mixture of merengue, salsa and reggaeton music. Needless to say, we did not join in with the locals to the reggaeton and left them to it - I think the video says it all. The dancing was straight from Jamiaca - the whole family got involved from kids to oldies and was something that neither of us had ever seen before. A great way to see in 2012.
Beautiful photos! Here is another account of the Darien Gap: Crossing the Darién Gap (2013).
ReplyDeleteThat documentary was filmed on March 2013.
Happy travels!