Puerto Obaldia and immigration. Shower, washing, and a bed for the night. Ah, clean clothes. A lancha in the morning to Colombia. Capurgana, Colombia. South America. It’s been a long time coming. Still a prisoner of the ocean and dependent on water transport. First boat to Turbo not until the morning. I want to be […]
Also tagged border crossings, colombiaMiramar, a tiny ragged port town, is even smaller and more tawdry than Portobello. I make straight for the dock where I am immediately accosted by a man who hurries me to meet Angel, the captain of a cargo boat heading for Colombia. Angel names his price and the deal is done. We leave early […]
Also tagged friends, leaving, people, the seaI thought I had cleverly planned my departure to avoid wet season rain but in the end Panama bid me a soggy and unglamourous farewell. Once over the bridge and on the east of the Canal my task is to find a yacht, cargo boat or motor launch to take me through the San Blas […]
Also tagged leaving, on the highwayIt’s official. I’m on the road again. This is it. Heat and dust. Black tarmac. Snacks wolfed down standing by the road. Afternoon rain. Smiles and cold water in a village shop. Aching shaky legs. The search for a place to spend the night. A map hinting at endless possibilities. A track leading into the […]
Also tagged on the highwaySanta Catalina is not, in general, a village where relationships between the resident expats and the locals run particularly deep or warm so I was touched when Leonida invited me to her home. * A finca is a plot of land, generally with a garden and some livestock, where people eke out a semi subsistence […]
Also tagged friends, santa catalinaThere are a lot of dogs in Santa Catalina. Rowdy canine congregations hang about on the beach digging up crabs, playing, fighting and, very often, breeding. Even the dogs with owners are an independent lot that spend a much of their time doing their own thing. Most people don’t feed their dogs anything other than […]
Also tagged community, dogs, santa catalinaHaving a house has made me extremely domestic and one of my favourite activities right now is baking bread. I quickly got a basic loaf dialled with the addition of a few ingredients that, in the absence of wholemeal flour, add a bit of substance and interest – oatmeal is readily available and ground linseed, […]
Also tagged food, santa catalina…
Also tagged santa catalinaSanta Catalina, for all practical purposes has no shops. At frequent, but entirely random, intervals a small fleet of fruit and vegetable trucks arrives in town. Santa Catalina is a fishing village but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s always simple to buy fish. You can hang out on the beach waiting for a boat […]
Also tagged santa catalinaThere is a Canadian girl in Santa Cataliana at the moment doing research for her Masters. Her topic is sustainable tourism. She is interviewing as many people in the village as she can. I only had one thing to say to her. SUSTAINABLE TOURISM = OXYMORON Check this video out for a plastic beach story. […]
Also tagged community, santa catalina, tourism