We have stumbled upon another paradise. Sapzurro is the closest village (if that is what it is to be defined as) to the Panamanian border (it is actually the most Northern city in South America come to find out). There are no cars, and therefore, no roads in this town, just meandering footpaths sometimes consisting of wood planks laid over puddles and streams. After hearing from many travelers along the way how amazing the San Blas Islands are we decided on this route into Panama. We were told that boats regularly leave from Cartagena (which we did not necessarily want to return to) and Sapzurro bound for the San Blas region and ending in Panama. Getting to Sapzurro was an adventure in and of itself. We could have spent a few hundred to fly from Medellin to Capurgana which is only a 10 minute boat ride from Sapzurro but we decided on the more economical and adventurous route consisting of a 9 hour ‘red eye’ bus ride from Medellin to Turbo then a 2 hour boat ride in the morning to Capurgana and a further, smaller boat to Sapzurro. While stopped in Capurgana we had a look around. There are a number of things I have noticed about Towe since we started travelling together (actually I think I have known these things all along but they became very apparent while on the road). For one, he walks very fast. I thought I was a fast walker but he walks with a mission that makes me struggle to keep up. The other, and more important thing while on the road, is that he has a knack for judging people. He seems to know, sometimes without even talking to a person, whether they are good or bad. More than once on this voyage he has gleened pertinent information from complete strangers that are to be trusted and steered us clear of others who would waste our time. In Capurgana, Towe used that sense and his friendly nature to make friends with a very cool and well connected man in town. He took us to the dive guy where we gathered details on our planned dive then showed us the best restaurants in town then offered us cheap rooms at his house. We had already decided that Sapzurro was our final destination, at least for the night, and he graciously recommended a place to stay there. How fortunate were we to have been pointed in the direction of Lucho ‘the chucero’ and Gloria.
We never would have found this amazing place had we not been told to go there. There is no sign signally a hotel within the gates, in fact there is no sign at all. Lucho and Gloria live slightly up the hill from the beach with a great view of the bay on an amazing piece of property. We are their only guests and they have been the most gracious hosts we could ask for. It is for that reason, and a few others, that we are still here 1 week later! There is one place in town that has the internet (which we have only used once to handle important business and let a few loved ones know we haven’t disappeared into the abyss), there is one pool hall (which seems to be the only place people congregate outside of church) and there are not really any ‘restaurants’ per say. The fact is that Gloria graciously offered to cook us any meals we wanted, using only the finest ingrediants. Nearly all the food we have eaten since arriving here is from their property, or from the ocean. Breakfast consists of fruit salad (mango, pineapple, banana and a few other fruits that only exist here in Colombia), half an avocado for each of us, eggs with amazing home-grown herbs and a homemade aripa (basically thick corn tortilla). Lunch and or dinner consists of soup then a plate consisting of coconut rice, patacones (think big potato chip made with unsweet banana), salad and fish. Oh yeah, and our half avocado. They have the largest avocado tree I have ever seen that is bursting with fruit. Actually all their fruit trees are bursting but this one is of special interest to Towe and I as we both have a huge crush on avocado. Our room is directly in front of the tree and on more than one occasion (actually a few times a day), we hear one detach from the tree and fall with a thud, proceeded by an applause by us for we know that avocado will be served with our next meal. They are the juicest, most delicious avocados that either of us have ever tasted which says a lot considering our affinity for these treats of nature.
All in all we will have spent just over a week here. Most days are spent lounging about with adventures mixed in along with meals. We have done hikes to the ridges surrounding the bay, runs along the beach for exercise and many walks through town just to see what we can find.
One day we went diving and had an amazing experience. It was only the two of us with the dive instructor and we mentioned our desire to see sharks. On our first dive he took us to a spot that always has sharks and led us on an amazing underwater voyage. The water is so warm that we were without wetsuits which made for an even ‘free-er’ experience. We saw a beautiful spotted ray gliding through the water then came upon two Nurse sharks. Towe and I were beside ourselves with excitement at being about 15 feet from them. The second dive did not reveal anything amazing although the first dive was practically impossible to top.
One night we went on an adventure to see the turtles lay their eggs on the beach. This happens only once a year in specific places, one of which happens to be a 45 minute boat ride from Sapzurro. Since the laying is all done at night our boat did not depart until 8PM. The ride was insane as the ocean was a super choppy and it started to rain. All we could do was sit there and patiently wait until we were told that we had arrived. Once there we unloaded and walked for about 30 minutes through town to the beach where the turtles were located. Now I didn’t know what to expect and thought that the beach would be lined with turtles but that was definetly not the case. We were lead along the beach for a bit then told to sit and wait (in the rain as it had began again) while our guides went in search of them. It wasn’t until we saw flashes down the beach that we realized one had been sighted. It was amazing. It was beautiful. It was actually worth the horrible boat ride and drenching water to see (but Towe might disagree). The turtle was at least 5 feet long and huge. It looked like a dinosaur and we all crowded around to watch it. After about 20 minutes of watching, the turtle made its way back to the ocean and we continued our walk for more. Exhausted, and mostly satisfied, we went back to the boat for our long and wet ride home.
We finally found a boat that could take us through the San Blas islands but it wasn’t leaving for another few days so we stayed in Sapzurro for longer than expected but had no problems with that. We planned a triathlon one day and spent a whole afternoon trying to figure out which order and which route would be best. We started with a run then kayaked to a beach from which we swam a whole-hell-of-a lot further than I expected then got back on the kayak and rolled out to the center of the bay to relax and enjoy ourselves. Super chevere! Super chiba!!
Unfortunately we found out that the boat was delayed another few days so we took our hosts offer of a boat ride across the border and decided to island hop through the San Blas. We had a real problem getting the funds together as neither town has an atm. We found a hotel that would draw off our cards and pay us in pesos, after taking a hefty commission, then we had to change the pesos to dollars, another commission, at a restaurant, all resulting in us having little US dollars and an unknown route ahead of us.
We woke early on our last day, had our last breakfast, bid farewell to our amazing new Colombian mother and hopped on our boat bound for Puerto Obaldia in Panama where we would either just jump a plane to Panama City and save the islands for the next round or jump a boat and gitty-up.
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