May 29th-30th
I have seen many gorgeous beaches and
numerous islands on this trip but I think Sunidup in the San Blas
archipelago off the eastern coast of Panama has to top them all: a
small desert island in the rawest of forms; an island you can walk
around in about ten minutes (going slowly), carpeted in yellow, soft
sand and covered with palm trees between which the odd hammock hangs.
Crystal clear shallow water with coral reefs and other
idyllic-looking islands surround Sunidup (I think “Sun and Dip”,
after the island's main attractions, would be a more appropriate
name) and its backdrop is the Caribbean framed by mountains on the
shore of mainland Panama. Accommodation is in the form of wooden huts
with sand floors and there are no other man-made features apart from
a volley ball net, a rubber dingy and a couple of overturned canoe
boats for that picture postcard, “Bounty” advert, image of
perfection. Electricity is by generator only and switches off at 10pm
leaving the island to be lit by candlelight, if tourists remember to
bring candles, or illuminated by the the moon. On top of this natural
beauty, there is also history and culture connected to Sunidup as,
like most islands in the San Blas archipelago, it is run by Kuna
Indians whose ancestors were driven off mainland Panama during the
Spanish invasion. So how much does it cost to stay there I hear you
cry? Well, the grand sum of $17.50, price including breakfast, lunch
and dinner. I think I have come across the Seychelles all-inclusive
of the backpacking world.
As is usually the case with isolated,
tranquil, unique places, it takes a little effort to get to the San
Blas Islands. Some travellers arrive by boat from Cartagena in
Colombia (takes about 3 days). I had heard mix reviews about the
journey but most of them involved a large number of passengers being
sick for many days so, knowing how my body reacts when there's motion
in the ocean, I chose to fly to Panama ($210) and then booked a trip
from the Lunar Castle Hostel. Consequently I found myself dragging my
body out of bed at 4.15am (after going to bed at 12:30am) to join
other people with bags, under their eyes and on their backs, waiting
for a jeep to arrive and take us to paradise. There was still no sign
of Mily, my new Panamanian friend who I'd persuaded to do the trip
with me, by the time the jeep was loaded at 5am so I got the driver
to phone her and discovered she had slept through her alarm. The poor
thing must have had quite a shock but the driver was a friendly guy
and told her we could pick her up from her home en route out of the
city. Despite the early hour and sleep-in stress, Mily still looked
about five times more stylish than I did and was wearing a wonderful
smile.
It was a muddy and bumpy three hour
ride across to the other side of Panama as we ascended and descended
dirt tracks with jungle on either side. Once on the eastern coast, we
boarded a motorised canoe and were transported along a river and then
out into the Caribbean Sea. As soon as we were into the open water,
the images of dense vegetation were replaced with ones of wide
expanses of water with dozens of small islands dotted all around. I have never seen so many islands at once like that. One of
the islands we passed was only big enough for one wooden hut. I asked
the boatman who would possibly live there and he told me that was
where they kept chickens. Fancy that! Chickens having their own
desert island in the Caribbean!
Activity wise, there is not much to
report on my stay on Sunidup Island. On the first morning I swam
around the island, scratching my stomach on the rocky corals as I
went. The rest of my time was spent snorkelling, paddling in the
dingy, reading in hammocks, eating (mainly chicken, beans and rice),
drinking, playing cards and chatting to other travellers. As it was,
we were on the island with some 20 Israelis, a couple of Americans
and a girl from England, Anita, who has been living in the States the
last ten years. When I found out on the first night that Anita had
studied singing, I suggested we all move from the dining hut to the
beach and have a bit of a sing along. She sang beautifully, a juke
box on legs, and the night only ended when our inspiration for songs
did.
The second night I chatted a bit with
one of the chefs on the island and then with an Israeli guy, Tal. We
swapped riddles and then got onto talking about the history of Israel
so it was little wonder that we ended up going to bed at 4.00am, just
as a mighty storm started to kick in. The following morning, Mily and
I were meant to be leaving on an 8am boat back to the mainland. It
was therefore somewhat disconcerting when I was tugged at 6am, after
just a couple of hours' sleep, and told that we had to leave straight
away ... apparently the boatman was worried about the storm getting
worse. I grunted, quickly packed my things and before my eyelids were
fully open, found myself sat on a motorised canoe in the rain. Out of
a boat of about 10 people, I was the only one without a rain jacket,
I guess the booby prize for being the last on board. As we zoomed
off, I looked back at Sunidup sitting under thick black clouds and
realised the bad weather was really a blessing – it would have been
much more difficult to leave an island basked in sunshine. The
Weather Gods were helping me keep to schedule: I still had to see
Panama Canal (Mily and I had never quite made it during our three
days together in the city) and leave that night on a bus to Bocas del
Toro, another island off the north eastern coast of Panama. San Blas
had been an incredible experience, a real “blast”, but it was time to move on if I want to make my flight from Guatemala to New Orleans in three weeks' time - there are still four countries to pass through by then!
