The Darien Gap and San Blas - Colombia to Panama via Turbo, Capurgana, Sapzurro, Puerto Obaldia.

*if you have found this blog looking for info on how to get to Panama from Colombia including the San Blas on the cheap, scroll to the bottom of the post for directions*

Another 6 unforgettable days of the time I have been away so far.  The Darien gap and San Blas Islands are mindblowing places, virtually untouched or traveled by tourists. Yeh - it's good to hang out in popular places where you can talk with other English speaking backpackers, go to nightclubs and shop in supermarkets etc, but I think that you only get to appreciate a country and culture when you get away from all ofg that and get to places that are not in the shitty Lonely Planet. To me, when i'm in places that have hoards of people trying to sell you tours, massages and sunglasses, and all you can hear is Aussies, Brits and Americans, talking about how good happy hour is in the Irish bar down the street it just seems like being on a big holiday to some resort town in the Med - not 'traveling'. Make the effort to get away from all of that once in a while and you will get to see things from a very different perspective. Anyway - enough of all this philosophical rambling - pictures below after a little bit of info about the
Darien Gap and why it is such an issue getting from Colombia to Panama.

The Darien Gap is a region of dense jungle between Colombia and Panama, and is the last stronghold of the FARC rebels and drug trafficers that gave Colombia such a bad reputation in the 80/90's. This area is the only obstacle preventing the Pan-American highway from stretching from Alaska to Argentina. Only a very small number of hardcore people have crossed it by land either by foot, scrambler motorbike or 4x4.  It is dangerous not only because of the FARC rebels, but because the jungle is so dense that navigation is almost impossible meaning getting lost is almost inevitable.  Because of this, there are 3 ways to get from Colombia to Panama (and vice versa).  These are: fly from a major Colombian City to Panama City - $400ish USD. Go on a tour on a yacht from Cartagena via the San Blas islands (5 days, $450-500USD) or take a bus to where the roads end, then speed or cargo boats along the coast, through the islands until where the roads begin again. This price and timescale of this depends on when and where there are boats going, the level of spanish you can speak, and your haggling skills. I chose the last option.

 An island just off the bay of Capurgana.  I took a photo of it because it was like a real 'desert island' in the Caribbean, just like in a film/book.  Since then, I have seen approximately 47564398 more and they are boring.

 Capurgana village.  Only accessible by boat or airstrip (a small prop plane comes in every few days).  Certainly no cars, no roads, and one motorbike.  Currently broken I was told. No backpackers, but a few Colombian tourists.  Great, unspoiled village feel to the place.

 I walked for an hour through the jungle out to some waterfalls a local guy told me about.  Turns out they were rubbish and about 8 foot tall.  Just outside the village I found the cemetery.  As you can see, they don't actually bury the coffins, just stack them up and concrete them over.  Nice.

 The taxi.  Horse and cart, plastic chairs with the legs cut of tied on the back.  No idea why they need a taxi as it cannot possibly take more than 10 minutes to walk from the last building on one side of the village, to the last on the opposite side.

 After spending a day and night and then the next morning in Capurgana, I took a lancha (small fishing boat/speedboat) over to the next bay/village - Sapzurro.  1.5 hour jungle walk through muddy tracks or 5 minutes, £1 boat.  Easy choice.

Sapzurro is even smaller, quieter and more unspoiled than Capurgana, which is hard to imagine.  No airstrip, no road, barely any facilities.  It is absolute paradise.

 The kid was riding the horse up and down the track in front of my hammock for a while, galloping and cantering, with no saddle, reigns, or stirrups.  Just this single piece of rope.  Hardcore.

 Homemade chili fire sauce.  Aparantly left to stew for a year before starting to get used.  Potent stuff.  I covered my rice and barracuda steak lunch with it, but luckily had some freshly squeezed pineapple juice to wash it down...

 Doubling up, this time with a folded sheet as a saddle and a proper pair or reigns.

 Local 'graffiti'

 More fire sauce to spice up the homemade bread and cheese Carlos gave me.

 Full moon (and a fishing boat coming in on the right) viewed from leaning outside the mosquito net over my hammock.

 The hammock.  Sunrise just before 6. £3 per night, I stayed 2.

 Lanches.  These are the type of boats you take all along the coast, used by fishermen.
 I went for a hike to some beaches the guys with the horse told me about. Left at 6.15am. 

 The village off-license (Alcohol shop for the non-Brits...)

 Larger fishing boat on the jetty about 7am.  The village is starting to wake up, with a few people milling around.

 The paved path through the village.

 The Colombian Army have a post here (about 15 soldiers), to ward off FARC rebels.  It must be the best posting in the world, as all they do is go swimming and snorkling, play football on the beach, chill out in hammocks, and stand around talking.  Also the 'base' looks like it has been made by school children.  You can get an idea of this by the sign above.  I went to Cabo Tiburon.  I tried to take a photo of the base, but a man with an assault rifle, and a grenade launcher slung over his back (no joke) told me not too.  I suppose that if they were not there and didn't have those weapons, there would be problems with rebels and drug traffickers as it is right on the Panama border.

 More paradise, deserted beaches.

 Cheesy self timer picture

 Looking back to the village

 Breakfast.  You can get these homemade battered, deep fried snacks anywhere in Colombia.  They are similar to 'salgados' in Brazil.  Usually contain a ball of mashed potato and mince/ground beef, some shredded chicken and veg, or an egg.  I like the mash and beef with some hot sauce on top, but went for the egg this morning.  Battered, deep fried, hard boiled egg with Tobasco at 7.15am.  Someone needs to introduce these people to granola or something...

 I walked over a hill to the Panama border.  Once you get into La Miel, the little village that is owned by Panama, there is nowhere to go except back to Sapzurro by boat of the same steep, muddy track.  Or, head off into the unknown depths of the Darien jungle with no paths...  It would be far easier if they just gave the place to Colombia and saved on the admin.

 Panama left, Colombia right.

Here I am in the Darien Gap.  Lonely planet, British Foreign Office and other pussies need to get out of their offices before advising against travel here.

 Big, barefooted woman with a bowl of fruit on her head.  This look could take off in London I think.

 More paradise blah blah blah

 Maybe this is why Panama want to hang on to their village.

 Cool off with a few coconut juices on the beach.  This was about 9am.

 Wanted poster.

 Carlos getting my lunch ready which he just bought from the fishermen.  Cheers

 Not had a sunset picture in a while so here we go.

I left Sapzurro the next day, headed back to Capurgana to get my proper Colombia exit stamp, and meet the boat I had arranged to get to Puerto Obaldia, Panama.  Sapzurro is a beautiful, chilled out village. Get there if you can...

 From Puerto Obaldia, I was lucky.  I got my entry stamp to Panama and had my bag searched for 15 minutes, then ran back to the jetty to get the last space on a lancha heading to Panama mainland via the San Blas islands, dropping off various packages at different islands, and transporting local people between them.  Puerto Obaldia is a village built around a Panamanian military base.  It's rubbish and I was glad I didn't have to stay there any longer than an hour.

 The first sight of the indigenous way of life in the San Blas islands.  I was not expecting it to be like this and was amazed.

 I heard a slow drumbeat and followed it to find the island 'school' practicing some sort of tribal dance ceremony.  Some proper Bruce Parry shit.

 I stayed on an island for the afternoon/night called Caledonia.  The little huts went right to the water, (where the pig was) and covered the island.  It took under 10 minutes to walk from one side to the other through all the little maze like pathways.  The San Blas islands rise no more than 1 meter out of the water, meaning they will be gone with much more sea level rise.

Fascinated by the notepad with English writing.

I got stuck in the middle of a blow pipe war, luckily the ammo was balls of mud rather than poison darts.  I asked to have a go, and they laughed hysterically when I couldn't shoot it half as far as them.  Stupid game anyway.. go and play Xbox or something...

The guy with the boat showed me where I could sleep for the night.  He woke me up to leave at 5.30am the next morning.
We went and had a huge dinner in one of the little huts.  As much fresh fish, lobster, rice, salad and patacones I could eat and a beer for about £5.  That is probably cheaper than a scraggy 2 week old kebab from Romsey kebab shop.

View from my window: more tiny islands, crystal clear turquoise water all the way to the bottom (about 5 meters), with big fat multicoloured fish swimming around below.

Struggling with the lines on his kite... Luckily, with me being a professional kitesurfer, climber, mountaineer, and soon to be sailor, I helped him out and made his day....

The finished product.  He ran off in between all the huts with his kite flapping about a meter behind him.

I had heard that you were really lucky if you could find any sort of boat going from Puerto Obaldia (which is a tiny village built around a large Panamanian military base, rubbish place), and you would probably have to wait at least 3 or 4 days, so take the first boat you can be it lancha or cargo.  I'm glad I didn't need to take a cargo boat as this is what they look like, and they take 5 days.  That would have been a nasty 5 days.

The Kuna Yala (indigenous people of the San Blas) women wear these brightly coloured traditional clothes, and a napkin over their short boys haircuts.

I arrived on the mainland opposite Carti (an island 200 meters from the mainland) where I got in a jeep.  We drove for about an hour through the jungle before reaching the main road network and heading for civilization in Panama City, a few hours away.

I made it in 6 days.  Back to the real world, Panama City.

How to do it
I'll list prices in USD for ease.  $1USD = approx 2000 Colombian pesos. Most prices will be about 20% higher until you haggle.

- Bus from Cartagena to Monteria - $10, 4 hours. Arrived Monteria 2.30pm
- Minivan Monteria to Turbo - $15, 4 hours.  Arrived Turbo 7.30pm
-Stayed the night at 'Hotel Florida' in Turbo - $7 for a crap room with fan and shower.  *despite what other things say on the internet and what people had emailed me, Turbo is not a 'really dangerous complete shithole'. There are far worse places you could be.  I wandered around the town and the port to check out where the boats leave from and get some food at about 10pm and surprise surprise, didn't get mugged.
- 'Lancha' speedboat from Turbo to Capurgana $27.50 fixed price, left at 7.30am, get there for 6.30. 2.5 uncomfortable hours. You will have to pay $1 for every pound your bags weigh (approx. 500g) over 20 pounds (10kg). I was lucky, and the woman who owned the hotel in turbo had a friend with a boat going who didn't charge me extra.
- 'Lancha' Capurgana to Puerto Obaldia - $10, half hour. If you have to stay in Puerto Obaldia a night - unlucky. Hotel/hospedaje $5 if you need it.
- 'Lancha' Puerto Obaldia - Carti (Panama mainland) $43, 10 hours. You can stop at one of the islands if you want and get a boat the next day, or a few days later as I did if you want to break the ride up and enjoy the San Blas islands.
- 'Jeep/pick up truck Carti - Panama City - $20, 3 hours.

*Can be done in 3-4 days, Cartagena to Panama City, $130.
*I spent a few nights in Capurgana and Sapzurro.  Well worth it. (5 minute $1.50 boat ride around the bay from Capurgana, see above).  Sleeping in hammocks is $2-5 depending where you stay.
*I also spent a night on Isla Caledonia in the San Blas, gave them $5.
*I would avoid the 'cargo boat' option if possible.  The boats look awful and it is incredibly slow. You have much more flexibility doing what I have outlined above.
*You can fly from Puerto Obaldia to Panama City for $97 all inc. making it slightly cheaper, unless you have lots of baggage like me (kitesurf board and bag, plus my main duffel bag).  Extra charges mean it is cheaper to go by boat.  Taking the boat is so much better due to what you get to see. You will probably get wet and uncomfortable, but its worth it. 
*on all the boats, sit as close to the back and the middle as you can. Waaaay more comfortable as you will soon find out...
*good luck.

Getting sweaty in Panama City

I'm sat in the hostel, stuck to a fake leather sofa, sorting through another bizillion photos.  It's hot and muggy, surprisingly not raining for the first time in 3 days, and I've packed up all my stuff ready to head over to Colon tomorrow.
The last 3 days = unlimited pancakes, syrup and banana for breakfast - until 12pm.  This means I can get 2 sittings in, one for breakfast when I wake up and then another at 11.55 for early lunch.  Then off to wander around the city, or shop for stuff I will need in the next 6 weeks. Then head to taco bell for lunch/dinner at about 5pm when I am not still full of pancakes.  Back to hostel, have a few 50cent beers in happy hour, then go and buy a chocolate doughnut from the minimart around the corner for 30 cents and eat it while watching a film like a fat girl.
In an unexpected bombshell, apparently my yacht will not have fishing licenses for where we are going which means no harpoon gun.  I'm devastated.  I'll find out more tomorrow.

View from my the balcony in my room in Panama.

Uribia and Cabo de la Vela, La Guijera, Colombia. Incredible.

This is the second time I have written all of this after my computer crashed.

La Guijera is the north eastern most state in Colombia, sometimes described as the wild west of South America. It is super hot, mostly desert, and sparsely inhabited. It is also the northern most part of South America, meaning after 9.5 months I had reached a landmark by traveling the entire length of the continent from southern Argentina. It borders Venezuela, and the Caribbean coast.  The people who live there are indigenous, called the Wayuu.  They speak their own language primarily but also Spanish, although the Spanish they speak is a dialect with a strong accent.  I found it almost impossible to understand anything.
There are not many backpackers in Colombia in comparison to other places I have been, and out of the small amount that make it here, even fewer head up to La Guijera because of how remote it is.  Those who do, usually pay a couple of hundred dollars and go on a 2 day tour in a jeep from Santa Marta. I had heard it was an amazing region, but also that Cabo de la Vela, a tiny village on the beach in the desert, had solid strong winds year round, and warm, flat, turqouise water meaning it was good for kiteboarding. Because of the lack of any sort of tourists, the food (fresh fish and lobster) and the sleeping (hammocks in a shack) are supposed to be dirt cheap. Some basic directions and this infomation was all I could find, and decided to chance it and head out there.

Without wanting to get too deep and hippy-ish, the 4 days or so I spent in the region were some of the most unforgettable of my time away so far.  Unfortunately, my words and pictures will not be able to describe how amazing these places were, and how different it is from life in England.  Hopefully this post will be a snapshot of what it was like and provide me with something to look back on in  a few months.

I left from Taganga at about 8am.  I decided to go about half an hour earlier whilst sat on the beach with some friends after watching the sun come up and going for a swim after the Isreali's afterparty.  This led to an utterly horrendous day of travel.   Off I set in the sun and heat on my own again after traveling with a few other people for the previous 3 weeks, drunk, with my kite bag and board with a few extras like sunglasses suncream and water stuffed in at the last minute, directions (3 names of towns and villages I needed to reach) written on my hand, my ipod, camera and $200,000 Colombian Pesos.  I left my proper bag full of everything else at my hostel.

A one hour collectivo/combi van trip to Santa Marta, 2.5 hour minibus ride to Riohacha, and 2 hour car ride to Uribia later and I got stuck.  I had been told this may happen as the last leg of the journey needs a 4x4 through the desert, and these have usually left by 9am.  I arrived at 2.30pm, horribly tired (couldn't sleep because it was so bumpy, dirt roads most of the way), hot, dehydrated, hungover and hungry, wondering where the hell I was and what I was doing there on my own when my friends were back in Taganga drinking fresh juices on the beach...

Goats and chickens are one of the main things traded in the street here.  They are live (just), tied together at the feet, and chucked around like a bag of potatoes.  The buyer  then puts them in their 4x4, pedal tuk-tuk or on the back of their bike like this.  The goats go for £20ish.  (I had to steal this photo from google as I just deleted my one of my harddrive)

Pedal tuk-tuks.  These are everywhere, with anyone from kids of about 10 years old 'driving' them to men of about 100.  They are pretty unnecessary considering it only takes about 8 minutes to walk anywhere here because its so small.   I took this photo sat outside the house I was staying in.  I was feeling a little more human after a nice goat dinner and a bottle of coke, waiting for it to be an acceptable time to go to sleep. (7pm)

Wayuu graffiti

I was told by a local that the 4x4s went to Cabo de la Vela at 6.30 in the morning, so I got up and walked down the street to where he had pointed and got in the back of one.  I don't think I understood properly what he had said because it didn't leave until about 10 in the end when it was full. When I asked the driver how long until we left, he said 45 minutes a few times, before the last time saying 5 minutes. Maybe the guy before said they get there at 6.30? Never mind.  This bloke wandered past and filled it up with diesel.

My ride.  Because of the delay, I had plenty of time to wander around, buy some shoes made out of car tires for £1.50, and eat some chicken rice and soggy battered eggs for breakfast.  I sat in the back amongst all the other junk with some people who lived out in the desert.

Driver.

All the stuff loaded into/onto the pickup truck is dropped off to these random shacks in the middle of the desert.  I have no idea how the driver knows where they are because there is nothing else around.  Also no idea where these people get their drinking water from? This is a typical little hut that a family live in. There is another identical one to the right out of the photo which has their hammocks in where they sleep.  The little fire in the bottom right is the kitchen.

Despite it being a desert, there must occasionally be storms and downpours because when it was not loose sand we were driving across, it was very deeply rutted tracks.  The people who live out here had some of the most primitive conditions that I have seen in South America, even more so than Bolivia.  Unlike Bolivia where the cold is a problem, the heat here is unavoidable.  At least in Bolivia they can get in their stone huts with a fire and put some more clothes on.

We drove along the beach for a while at insane speeds.  Seeing the color of the water here and in Taganga was when it really felt like I was finally in the Caribbean.

Nothing for miles.

Kitesurfing
I finally made it to Cabo de la Vela after about 2.5 hours in the truck.  Not another kite in site, and barely any people.  Absolute ghost town (village).  Probably about 200 inhabitants in total judging by the number of shacks.

The wind was strong, possibly too strong for my 10m kite but I could have given it a go on full de-power. However, I then discovered that the wind was blowing fully offshore (out to sea).  This meant that if I crashed my kite when I was out there and I couldn't relaunch (snapped line, tangled lines, deflated leading edge etc) then I would get blown out to sea (you are attached to the kite by your harness - you can eject, but then you will lose £500ish of equipment) ending up in Cuba with no other kiters to help, or anyone in a boat to rescue me.

The boat in the picture above which was anchored in front of where I slept was called 'Captain Peligro' which means 'Captain Danger', and as you can see, it has a skull and crossbones on it. 

I decided kiting was a bad idea and that I will save it for Dominican Rep., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Lobster, salad, rice and chips - £6.

My accommodation - £2. All the shacks are made from dried cactus.  Got a pretty decent sunrise to wake me up here.  Paradise?

The high street.

Local kids playing football on the beach.  Penalty - saved.

 Evening beers after a tough day in the office

Kids playing in the fishing boats

Captain Peligro at sunset.

 

As I was not going to kite and there was nothing else to do, I decided to head back to Taganga.  I reckoned I could do it in one day.  I saw the guy who brought me turn up again the next afternoon, so asked him when he was going back to Uribia the next day - he said i'll come and wake you up.  Perfect.  At 3.30 I nearly filled my shorts when I was woken up by 2 men in the complete darkness shaking my hammock with the engine on the pick up running behind my shack.  30 seconds later I was in the truck.  We picked up another guy about 100 meters away, then set off into the desert in the darkness at a crazy speed.  I tried to get a look at the speedo and think it was on 140km.  It was definitely the top end of the dial...  About an hour in to the drive, a woman appeared on the track in her robe, with 2 goats tied together.  She threw them in next to me and off we went again.

  

 I got back to Uribia at about 6am, had some more chicken rice and soggy battered eggs and found a car going back to Riohacha.  We stopped at the petrol station before leaving as you can see here... Because it costs less than a dollar to fill a pick up truck with fuel in Venezuela, and Uribia is a couple of hours across the desert from Venezuela, all the fuel is brought over from there.  I thought Ecuador was cheap at about 15p a litre but Venezuela is beyond a joke.  

I finally made it back to Taganga at about 4pm, dead.

Sorry for the long rambling post.