Just a little teaser from the last week of Jigarai doings... cruising in the San Bass islands, of the Kuna people who live in their own little kingdom, administering their own affairs and operating fairly autonomously from the rest of Panama. The Scenery there was really unbelievable. Definitive paradise lifestyle. The Island in the Chichime Cays where we spent some time has five families living on it. Heritages are coconut trees, which until two years ago were the official currency! The people fish and collect coconuts for a living, as well as sewing beautiful Molas for sale to the tourists. I ripped my shirt and the wife of our friend Señor Colman sewed on one as a repair. Its an angel fish in the stylized reverse aplique that they use. The Island in the top picture is one of the main centres of population and government, where for example the system of punishment and fines is administered. I heared of one guy wqho was sentenced to collect ten barrels of broken coral to use as landfill for hitting his wife. When he complained that she had provoked him, she was made to collect ten barrels too! The whole experience has been intense, as inbetween that we have been at sea in a 52 foot yacht, fully equipped with modern navigation equipment and shiny bits, but no amount of technology can make a small boat comfortable in the heavy seas we have been through, never mind one with fourteen landlubber backpackers, the captain and his Venezuelan girlfriend crowding every available inch of space. Against the trade winds all the way we had to battle, hitting an uncharted reef during our first night at sea. I thought that was it. Seasickness was rife. I was only one of two who didnt throw up, though thats not to say I felt good at all! I will update a little more soon.

At the moment I am an illegal immigrant in Colombia, until the pert authority turn up to stamp our passports, so head down, and look inconspicuous! When that is sorted its off to find a hostel and see whether the rumours of a bohemian restaurant with six courses and all the Chilean wine you can drink for a tenner are true.