OUR FAVOURITE PLACE FROM ALL OUR TRAVELS IN 2022

As the year 2022 comes to a close, we find ourselves in the very quiet Vista Mar marina on the Pacific coast of Panama, reflecting on our favourite places in 2022, and excitedly planning our journey for 2023, which will include crossing the Pacific.  

There is plenty of space in this marina, no need to book

We have been in Panama for three months and have enjoyed the Caribbean side in the San Blas islands near to the Colombian border, and to a lesser extent in the Bocas del Toro islands to the North, near to border with Costa Rica.  Maybe it was the fact that we were there in rainy season, and boy was it rainy in Bocas, that meant we liked Bocas less. The San Blas islands are home to the Guna Yala people who live independently and are self governing.  They live a very simple life, mainly trading fish and embroidery, in particular their hand made molla designs. They come with items to sell each day.  We bought quite a lot of delicious lobster, a flag and a molla.

This is the flag of the Guna Yala territory 

A molla. 
I didn't have the heart to negotiate, and later discovered
that I  paid twice as much as anyone else 

The indigenous people live very simple lives

We met up with Darryl and Alicia on Medea and played shithead every night 

I didn't last long lying here... far too hot, but what a great idea and scene

Greg took this drone footage of Viridian at Gunboat Cays.  

Sadly many islands are disappearing in the San Blas due to rising sea levels

We then had a very entertaining weekend with Greg and Lilliana Sattell, who joined us on Viridian  to experience the Black Jesus festival in Portobello. Pilgrims arrive crawling on their knees into the town and up to the church, whilst their 'friends' pour boiling hot wax onto their bare flesh.   Purple is the respectful colour to wear.

A pilgrim arriving in the church after a gruelling journey

The evening procession with the pallbearers carrying the huge plinth
bearing the statue of  black Jesus The Nazarin

We all enjoyed our visit travelling up the Chagres river in a dug out canoe to see the way of life of the Embera people 

We were treated to a display of dancing and learned about basket weaving from grasses

We went to the Embera villages and a waterfall on  dugout canoe

After San Blas, we went to Shelter Bay and then embarked on an overnight sail to the Bocas del Toros islands.  In the late afternoon we hit something very hard, which we believed to be a massive piece of wood, which stopped us in our tracks.  We were motoring because of very light winds, but after the collision our engine wasn't working, so we returned under sail, very slowly, to Shelter Bay marina, arriving in the dark without an engine.  Greg skillfully got us moored up without further disaster, then in the morning he dived to look at the prop, hoping not to encounter the crocodile that lurks in the marina waters.  The culprit was a massive piece of industrial plastic, wrapped around the prop which had obviously stopped it from turning. Luckily, once removed, all was well and we set off again for an overnight sail to Bocas. 

Greg re-emerging with the offending plastic sheeting

Bocas is famous for its tiny poisonous red frogs and for partying. Alicia from the Netherlands who we met on Darryl's boat in San Blas and had experienced a few mad nights of drinking and playing Farkle with us, decided to join us on the trip to Bocas, in search of more partying.....

We found the frogs

and we found the parties

Sadly amongst the partying is some bad news.
Caranaro island Bocas is  being heavily eroded by rising sea levels - the palms are disappearing.  We are noticing a lot of worrying signs of climate change on our travels

Transiting the Panama canal in December was a bucket list activity for both of us, and we were excited to experience it.  We were buddied up with a massive container ship in each of the six locks, although thankfully not attached to them.  We were assisted in rope handling by our friend Richard, and two professional rope handlers as well as a transit adviser. It cost £2500 to transit and took two days, including an overnight stopover in Gatun Lake. 

Our lines and fenders arrived in advance

the lock gates were enormous

Our lock buddy

I think my most exciting moment was when I realised we were on the web cam at Miraflores lock and found out that people in England could actually see us going through the lock in real time.  We rang family to tell them to look at the web cams and had a crazy conversation with Ed while he was watching us on the web cam and he screenshotted us waving at the cameras.  The transit was strangely tiring because we had to cater for all of the handlers and advisers and had been told that they expected good cuisine.  Well those of you who know me will have realised that was not a challenge to be ignored.  Needless to say, we ate very well.

Me watching Ed, watching us live on my phone and the web cam

Here we are on the web cam ahead of the ship we were sharing the lock with.  We went behind her on the upward locks, and in front on the downward locks

We had been advised to go through the canal early and not miss out Las Perlas islands on the Pacific side of Panama, so we came through before Christmas and headed for Las Perlas. Strangely, we didn't really feel excited by them; they reminded us of the Rosario islands off Colombia which are not as fabulous as the Caribbean islands or San Blas and the snorkelling is very limited.  Maybe we are just getting too spoiled by the beauty and breath taking places we have seen in the last 6 years and our expectations are now hard to meet. However our experience of the Pacific so far, is that it is absolutely teeming with large shoals of fish and we have friends ahead of us who have encountered numerous whales.  We are hoping to see some stunning marine life and to catch some fish to supplement our diet enroute to French Polynesia. If we can't catch anything here, Greg should hang up his rod. 

Almost everyone we meet is keen to leave Panama.  Mind you, some of them have been here for years but even those that have been here for a few months seem very keen to get going.  It feels like Crewe station -  a place to pass through, but not necessarily stay for a long time. 

Considering Panama is at a major crossing point for the world's shipping, its hard to understand why everything boat related seems so difficult to source here and why everything is so expensive. Many people have been stuck here waiting months and months for parts, and have missed their weather windows for onward travel.  Our advice would be to pick up as many spares as you can in the Caribbean and get as much technical work done there before you get down to Colombia and Panama.  If you need work with cheap labour that doesn't require a lot of spare parts or high level skills, Colombia is your place, but if you need any technical parts they are very very hard to source and take an eternity to arrive.  That problem seems even worse in Panama.  This is especially the case if you have a European boat rather than one splashed in the USA. We are now almost entirely reliant on bringing spare parts back with us from UK, and its important to have spares of spares for the Pacific.

So, in 2022, we have spent time in Antigua, Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Carriacou, Bequia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Bonaire, Colombia, Peru and Panama and hands down the stand out place to visit and spend time was Colombia.  If you have never been, add it to your list.  It is surprisingly fabulous and all the stories we heard about it being dangerous. proved to be unfounded from our experience. 

We stayed for over four months and in that time met a lot of people, sailors, people who had retired to Colombia and Colombians.  It became clear why its a place of choice for retirement for many American citizens, a bit in the same way that Spain has been from Brits for many years.  What a vibrant, colourful and friendly place it is. Here are the main reasons why Colombia is our favourite place of 2022;

1. Its interesting

There is nothing boring about Colombia.  Every day is interesting and for those of us lucky enough to be travelling with funds from our home country, it is possible to choose what you do every day.  There is a blend of city buzz as well as opportunities to spend time in remote areas of mountains, lakes, coastal waters, and rainforest.

The old and the new in the city of Cartagena

Rainforest and mountains in Minca

Wildlife 

2. Its cheap

The average wages here are about a third of the UK and prices reflect that across the board, in shops, restaurants and when paying for work to be done on the boat.  We have had deck caulking, new cockpit cushions, new curtains, boat bottom cleaned, boat stainless steel and gelcoat cleaned, and sails repaired all at very good prices.  

 

New curtains being fitted 

New cockpit cushions are a big improvement

Yellow taxis are everywhere and are strictly regulated for price.  a normal ride costs approx £2 anywhere in the city. 

3. Retirement made easy apparently.  It is apparently easy to be granted a retirement visa in Colombia if you have proof of pension and the tax burden is negligible. If you are land based rather that boat living, property is cheap to rent and buy. We met quite a few people enjoying their later years here. 

4 . It is not in the hurricane zone which is a major plus for those of us travelling by boat.  It means you can spend time here at any point in the year, although the humidity is pretty bad in the wet season. 

5. Its colourful - we have been struck by the vibrant colours of everything from the street art, the clothes, the buildings everything feels very alive. 

Typical restaurant with colourful furniture and staff wearing traditional colourful clothing 

The Sheesha tourist buses are all very colourful day and night 

The street art is spectacular 

Umbrella street in Getsemane

Guatape is a very colourful town 

6. The dancing and nightlife.  If you like dancing, this is a great place to spend time. everybody seems to love dancing and they don't need a designated dance floor to do it.  Spontaneous dancing often breaks out in bars and on the streets. 

Tucandella doesn't let the lack of space stop the DJ 

We just came upon this crowd of people dancing spontaneously in the middle of the day, outside the metro in Medellin

Its easy to find classes for Rumba, Zumba and Salsa. The gym also does classes which are excellent. 

We also frequented some good night clubs including Tucandela, Sirena and the best of the best in the old town was Cruz Cruscada.

Roof top club at Sirena had a good DJ 

Roof top nightclub in Cartagena old town opposite the clock tower - pricey drinks

Some people have a nightclub experience being driven around the town dancing to
very loud music on the Sheesha buses 

7. The food

We love South American food.  The supermarkets are well stocked and extremely cheap and restaurants have a great range of healthy and tasty food, also at 'silly not to' prices, which makes a nice change after the eye watering prices in the supermarkets and restaurants in the Caribbean.  

People eat a lot of fruit.  There are fruit sellers pushing their barrows of prepared fruit on every street and many people even eat fruit in the evening when out on the town, rather than buying a bag of chips after the pub.  

Mr Miyagi -my  favourite restaurant for sushi

Greg's favourite lunch restaurant - Maria Benito

Greg made this Pisco sour after a cooking lesson 

There are exotic cocktails galore, some taste better than others, but the price makes them worth trying.  This one looked better than it tasted at Celele

The meat counter in the supermarket - note the price - about 65c per 1lb

Colombia is THE place to provision big time if you can

8. Safety 

Its possible to anchor safely in Cartagena for free but pay for docking the dinghy at either Club Nautica or Club de Pesca.  There is no dinghy dock where you can safely leave a dinghy otherwise. The dinghy docking fee also gets you access to showers and laundry and the marina restaurant at Club de Pesca.  

The marinas have great security and we felt very safe at all times.  Out and about in the towns there is a strong police presence and things felt under control, certainly in the central, business and tourist areas where we spent most of our time. We walked everywhere and didn't encounter a single problem. Colombian people seem very friendly, willing to help and keen to make sure you like and have a positive experience in their country .

Our very safe marina in Cartagena, Club de Pesca was right in the city centre
- you could not have asked for a better location 

9. Medical treatment is good quality and inexpensive

I have taken advantage of some of the services rather than wait to get back to UK.  Firstly I went to an optician and got new prescription sunglasses for reading  I had excellent service from the Visionarios, the glasses (Raybans) arrived promptly and were half the price of Vision Express.

Inspired by my optical success, I decided that after over 5 years in the sun, I should find a specialist dermatologist and get all of my freckly, vulnerable skin checked for any signs of damage.  The optician helped with translation and made an appointment for me for the next day!  I had a full skin check, seven moles removed, four sent off for biopsy which came back all clear thank goodness and follow up appointments.  All very efficient and total cost less than £100.  I have been prescribed factor 99 sun cream now though.

Next stop the dentist.  If only I had discovered Maria Arriez sooner.  In the same specialist centre as Dr Nancy, the dermatologist, Maria did some cosmetic work on my teeth which is a big improvement.  She speaks perfect English! If I had more time I could have had a new bridge to replace the one I've had for almost 50 years and is in need of upgrading.   The costs are tiny compared to UK.  So, if any of you are travelling this way, I recommend giving her a call.  

10. Fitness

There is a good attitude to fitness in Colombia, with many outdoor gyms provided for free and outdoor fitness classes run in the early morning or evening when the temperatures are cooler. There are modern gyms with air con as well.  We joined the SmartFit gym in the mall in Cartagena for £13 per month and went virtually every day.   

Orlando at SmartFit, causing me pain on a daily basis

11.  It is easy to travel to access to other places.  Air travel is easy and also not too expensive, so we took the opportunity to visit other places while we were based in Cartagena.  

Greg enjoying the view of the lakes at Guatape and testing a Margherita

We took trips to Medellin 

View of part of Medellin from the cable car

Too much graffiti to take in at Comuna 13

and to Cusco and Machu Pichu in Peru from here which are easy hops by plane.  

We treated ourselves to the Vistadome train to get to Machu Pichu from Cusco
well worth it - the scenery was spectacular 

Literally achieving a lifetime ambition on my 68th birthday 

Interesting to learn how the shape of the windows protect from earthquakes

Our new pal - baby alpaca clothing on sale everywhere 

12. Sewing services

Like everything else, clothes and shoes are inexpensive in Colombia.  I bought quite a few new items and also used the services of a dress maker.  I bought an outfit which I absolutely loved, so I took it into a recommended dress maker and asked if they could make a replica in a different colour and fabric.  I chose and provided the fabric which cost me £3.50 per metre.  There are loads of fabric shops here.  Hey presto, took it in on Friday, got a WhatsApp to say it was ready on Tuesday.  It fits perfectly.  I am so pleased.  l also discovered they can make fitted sheets and mattress protectors for weird shaped beds on boats, so I got a mattress cover and fitted sheet for our guest cabin in the forepeak which is a trapezoid shape I  believe.  

So all in all,  Colombia was definitely the experience to beat in 2022 and its pretty high on the list of best places we have been since we set off six years ago.  If 2023 is half as good a year, we will count ourselves very lucky.   

Wishing a happy and healthy new year to you all.

A day in our life in Colombia

 

We set sail for Colombia on the 13th May, exactly 5 years from when we set off from Port Solent, so it was an auspicious day. We had a great sail down over a couple of nights and were excited to experience a new country and culture.

We have now been in Colombia for almost three months and we are loving it.  What a lush, vibrant and colourful country.  The people are very friendly, the food is delicious, the scenery stunning and its bloody inexpensive.  What’s not to love?

We arrived in Santa Marta and stayed in the very well-equipped marina there for a couple of weeks, with a foray into the mountains to visit Minca in the rainforest. It certainly rained a lot while we were there.  

 

Never seen a dog wearing a nappy before.  Marina Santa Marta

Greg can't believe the beer prices - one of our favourite bars - Mienpras

Empanadas

Great views from the balcony of Siembra - our hotel in Minca 

Did I mention it rains a lot in Minca?

High in the beautiful rainforest outside Minca

Sadly the coffee picking season isn't until September so we just learned about the process rather than seeing it in action at The Finca Victoria coffee plantation 

We then moved to Cartagena and we have settled into living here for a few months, so that it now feels very much like home.

A typical day starts about 6am with us glued to our phones over a cup of tea.  Everyone in the UK has been up for 6 hours already and Twitter is busy reporting the latest disasters from the morning news round.  We like to annoy each other by reading out astonishing bits of news that the other has already discovered. 

Then we get ready to go to the gym.  We have discovered a great, well equipped gym called SmartFit in the shopping mall which is less than 20 minutes walk away from the marina.  Not only does it have masses of up to date equipment, but also offers classes as part of the £17 a month package.

Our daily journey there and back has developed into a routine and as a result we are now part of the community along the route.  There are endless cheery smiles along with 'Hola', 'Buenos Dias', 'Buen Dia' and  'Buenas', to exchange with our regular acquaintances.

First we leave the marina and greet the security staff.  Security is taken seriously in the Club de Pesca marina.  There are always guards on duty, the gates are manned and there is CCTV everywhere.  We feel very safe, but then again we feel very safe walking around town too.

Security is good at Club de Pesca

Colombia is a country that thrives on recycling and repairing things.  Nothing is rubbish. There are numerous people pushing carts around and they collect plastic and cardboard, presumably to trade in for a few COP (Columbian pesos). Anything being thrown out, disappears immediately.  

This guy spends all day collecting up plastic and cardboard

Every morning we see this guy with his trolley in the road by the marina, loaded up with cardboard and plastic bottles. We assume he gets some small payment for delivering it somewhere.  If so, it seems like a good scheme to encourage recycling and keep the streets clean.

The streets here are very colourful, with extravagant murals everywhere.  this one is in the road by our marina

One of the many fabulous murals in the city

Next we walk by the park where there is often an outside gym set up.  We could probably join this, but its already too hot for us, I need aircon for exercise, otherwise I give it 5 minutes before collapsing in a listless heap.  We are very impressed with the outdoor exercise that goes on here though, with Zumba classes and team games taking place everywhere in the mornings and evenings.

Crossing the road is like playing chicken.  Its an adrenaline rush.  There are endless streams of cars, motor bikes and yellow taxis, constantly zooming along bleeping their horns.  Taxis are very cheap here.  It costs 8,000 COP or about £2 to go anywhere in the centre of the city.  Confusingly constant horn beeping seems to be associated with numerous attempts at communication….

•  Get out of the way, you are in the road
•  Coming through, not stopping for anything
•  Watch out, I’m about to spray this massive puddle onto you
•  Do you want a lift, I’m available?
•  Looking sexy today girl, (oops, perhaps not, on closer inspection 😊)

On our route there is a very busy junction with a bank and cash machines on the corner.  Cars and motorbikes are constantly stopping to get cash or go in the bank, but have difficulty reversing out into traffic on the main road. One man has created his own job there.  He stops the traffic and then waves cars out into the road, and he also has a stash of cardboard which he puts on customer's bike seats so they aren't too hot to sit on when they come out of the bank, all for a small donation of course.  The Colombians without paid employment have to be very entrepreneurial to survive here.

The man running his bike seat cooling business is about to guide a car out into traffic. 
He stores his valuable cardboard behind this grill, otherwise it might be taken by one of the recycling guys

Within a few hundred metres we have passed numerous stalls selling what seems to be breakfast here.  Coffee in flasks and baked arepas and empanadas.  These are like little pies made of mainly corn/maize dough then deep fried, with different fillings, especially cheese.  The vendors are along all of the streets but have the same pitches every day and their regular clientele.  Greg is trying them all before settling on his favourite. I haven't tried them, it feels a bit like having a 'Greggs' for breakfast and I'm allergic to cheese.  

 

This guy has a very popular stall in the mornings

The pavements are shocking.  You often have to walk in the road because lampposts are blocking the pavement and there are numerous holes and other pitfalls to catch you out.  It’s a miracle my step counter on my phone doesn’t suggest that I have a balance issue, because the number of trip hazards is staggering. Its impossible to manage here with a pushchair or for someone with mobility problems.

lamp posts are usually in the
middle of the pavement

We have a favourite bit of pavement.  It's been broken ever since we arrived.  Someone chucked a couple of old tiles in it to try to help navigate it.  Then about three weeks ago the workmen arrived to fix it.  ‘Oh good,’ we thought.  They started by making the hole much bigger, including digging up a bit of the road.  Then they must have got bored or pulled off the job because they just abandoned it.  The cordoning off posts are just lying forlornly in the hole.  The situation is worse than before.  We are bemused. Can’t imagine you would have much luck suing for any trips you might have.

Before the work started - some tiles added to help when it rains.
Notice the road is in OK condition

 

After the improvement works!
Now apparently abandoned with a massive hole in the road that fills up with water

Further along the route we will pass Maria. She is homeless and very thin.  She sleeps in the same spot on the street every day and I have seen her washing herself in a puddle on the roadside after it rained.  At first, I thought she was an old lady, but I’m not so sure.  Anyway, I have adopted her in a manner of speaking.  I bring food, sometimes clean clothes, and money on a regular basis.  Understandably she is always very happy to see me, but now I am worried about whether I have created a problem for when we leave.  We have made enquiries and there is no social security system to take care of old people who are homeless.  In fact, there is no social security system that we would recognise. There are a lot of very poor people here and all are constantly looking for money and food. 

 

Maria lives here.  She washes in that puddle 

Along the same stretch we say hello to Jose the fruit seller, the newspaper seller and a guy selling cold water from a polystyrene box.  We try to buy freshly prepared pineapple from Jose every day on our way back from the gym and we sometimes buy water on our way to the gym, just to be helpful although we would prefer to refill our bottles with tap water.  I explained to the newspaper seller that I don’t speak Spanish, so he has stopped trying to get me to buy a paper every day, but shouts 'Good Morning!' very loudly and proudly in English when I say 'Buenas'.  

 

Jose preparing pineapple to sell in individual slices 

His fruit is always very good quality

Now we are at the traffic lights.  The man with the dancing life sized puppets on a frame dashes out into the stopped traffic and presents his little show then rushes around hoping for some tips before the three lanes of traffic roars off around him when the lights change.

Standing on the roadside waiting for the lights to change we are bombarded with motorbikes beeping their horns to offer a ride to anyone who wants to be a pillion passenger and go anywhere, and the bus services which tout for trade anywhere along the route, not just at bus stops.

You will notice there is a lot of water on the roads.  It rains a lot and the drainage doesn't cope well at sea level.

Crossing the roads is a wet experience. I find flip flops are best, its like walking in hot bath water

Once we have crossed this major junction, we pass the spectacular Fort - Castillo San Felipe where the numerous hat sellers are preparing for the next onslaught of tourists.  Anyone without a hat is immediately approached to buy one from the selection balanced on their heads.

The hat sellers are ready for the tourists to arrive

We now weave through some back streets, saying hello to the guys who spend all day sitting under a tree outside the car repair shop, up a residential street, hopping around the numerous piles of dog shit left by the homeless dogs that roam the city overnight, and saying Bon Dias to the ladies who are busy sweeping their little bit of front pavement.

 

Now we are at the gym for a couple of hours, working hard and fruitlessly trying to defy gravity and time!

 

The journey home involves a trip via one of the supermarkets which are very good here.  There is an excellent range of fresh food which would undoubtedly be in the organic section in the UK, and you can get virtually anything else you want at very low prices. Our shopping bill is about a third of what we were used to in the UK.

Our afternoons and evenings are then spent doing either boat chores or wandering around the city, sightseeing and trying out bars and restaurants.  

We pass through Centenario Park on our walk into the old town. We were delighted to discover sloths living in the central park in the middle of the city, alongside monkeys and huge iguanas. We have never seen one so close up in the wild.  It was an absolute delight.

We were lucky to catch this sloth coming down one tree,
before crossing the path to climb another

The old part of the city is fabulous, with stunning architecture and interesting shops.  

Beautiful buildings 

       

Interesting shops 

The old bull ring has been turned into a shopping centre called Serrezuela, employing stunning architectural changes.  Every evening at 7pm there is a light and fountain show which comes from the central floor, which you can watch for free. It also has great air con and lots of bars and restaurants on the top floor, with views of the city.  Great if you need some respite from the heat!

The city is stunning and great fun at night.  Colombians love music, dancing and partying, so its not difficult to find places to join in.  

Roof top bars are fab here especially at night, as long as it doesn't rain 

Getsemene is a very colourful part of town, full of great bars and restaurants

 

Lunchtime tacos at Maria Benito

Best sushi at Mr Miyagi near the marina

We have met a few fellow sailors and liveaboards, although there are fewer people living aboard in the marina here than anywhere else we have been.  There are quite a lot of people on anchor.  We hadn’t realised it was possible to anchor here.  Everyone we have talked to says it is totally safe, they have had no problems and the anchorage is right in the centre of the city.  But we are finding it quite liberating being in the marina; we don't have to do everything together which tends to happen when dependent on the dinghy, so we are free to go out independently which is pretty much essential after 5.5 years of living aboard 24/7/365 

BBQ in the marina with friends from sailing yacht Anu on our 34th wedding anniversary

Labour is very inexpensive here, so it’s a good place to get labour intensive work done and we have had our decks re-caulked, our stairs re-varnished and our cockpit cushions remade since we arrived in Cartagena.  The only problem is that it is harder to source parts and materials here.  

Some things can be ordered on Amazon from the USA with no transport costs, but not everything is on Amazon and has to be ordered in.  We had a bit of a nightmare with our deck caulking.  We bought the caulk in one of the chandleries here.  The guys stripped out all the old caulk, taped up the teak and then discovered that the new caulk was dried up and presumably well out of date.  we ended up living under tent and netting for almost three weeks until the new caulk arrived and the rain stopped for long enough to finish the job.

We lived under this lot for three weeks!  It felt like a ghost pirate ship

Decks are much improved. 

We were recommended a good craftsman to make our cockpit cushions.  He brought lots of samples.  We chose the one we wanted and he telephoned in  our presence to make sure it was available. All good at this point.  Then the cushions arrived, not in the fabric and colour we had chosen, not even our second choice fabric and colour, but one that we had discarded.  Why? Apparently the others were not available, so he decided to go ahead rather than come back to us for approval.  

We were upset for a day or two, but now we have got used to them and to be fair, they are very well made and do look good.  It's just a really weird way of doing things but is apparently quite typical.  

Greg making sure his beer can matches the soft furnishings

And breathe!