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13.10.2015

San Blas: Mit der Stahlratte nach Kolumbien

San Blas: On the «Stahlratte» to Colombia

San Blas, a group of islands in the Caribbean off the coast of Panama, is as beautiful as you can imagine: Hundreds of small islands, white sand, coconut palms, pristine turquoise waters, friendly locals. We are excited about this trip on an old rattling sailing ship.

Leaving Panama City poses a challenge: the wretched motorway junctions are difficult to navigate. The exits are not marked - or in any case not with meaningful information. We do a lap of honor through the bus station, it gets too confusing for us and finally we get to the right road, albeit over gravel and a little meadow.

Our boat is anchored in a small fishing village called Carti. Even the drive there is exciting. As soon as we leave the Pan-American Highway the adventure begins. A narrow road goes steeply up into the hills, steeper than the Weissenstein in Switzerland and probably also steeper than we have driven anywhere so far. Tight turns, up and down, it's a formidable challenge. The worst, namely that a car brakes in front of us in a curve, can be avoided in taking short breaks in between, otherwise falling over would be inevitable. We take our time.

The Kuna Yala are the local ethnic group of this area. They fought for an autonomous region shortly after the turn of the century. For us this means that we have to pay a Kuna tax at a street post in order to be allowed in. We do that. In principle, we support independence movements. At the top of a hill, the view extends so far that we can already see the sailing ship in a bay about 15km away.

We enjoy the water, the sun and the community.

On the way we already meet several motorcycle travelers who all want to get on the same boat. In the harbor they are already standing on the pier. At the end of the day, 19 motorcycles are moored on the deck of the Stahlratte, as the sailboat is called, and we, 23 travelers, spend the night on a nearby island in a local guesthouse. We enjoy the water, the sun and the community. All travelers have a similar basic attitude towards life, which is probably also necessary to be on the road for months on a motorcycle. We all get along very well immediately. In the group there are Americans, Canadians, British, Germans, Swiss, Italians, French, Spaniards, a Romanian and a Turk. The next morning the motorboat comes back and takes us to the Stahlratte, our home for the next few days.

The authorities stamp our passports, take care of the formalities for the motorcycle export while we are comfortably sunbathing on the ship. The only thing missing is the wind. In the end, we meander through the islands with the engine on, each of the islands more beautiful than the other. A surprisingly large number of them are inhabited, densely populated with simple huts, canoes made from tree trunks are the means of transport of choice. We anchor at a particularly beautiful group of islands. In the evening there is BBQ on the beach. The next day we spend at anchor. Swimming, snorkeling, eating and sleeping are the main activities of the day. Fresh lobster, barracuda, the crew love good food as much as we all do. The view from the Crowsnest is particularly beautiful. From almost the top of the largest mast, 25m above sea level, you can see how clear and how beautifully colored the water really is. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to just jump down ... It is a very special experience when a whole group of stingrays and several giant turtles gather around the ship in the evening.

The real crossing starts on Sunday. At dawn, the anchor is lifted and we chug east. The boat rocks, some feed the fish with their last supper (i.e. lobster and barracuda) fortunately the both of us do not get sick and we only suffer of a lack of appetite. But this does not diminish the beauty of nature. Dolphins play in the spray, birds accompany us, a considerable thunderstorm cell moves across the water in front of our ship. The appetite comes back around lunch. Other than watching the sea there is not much else to do: when you focus on a book or a display, the queasy feeling of seasickness comes back immediately. But never mind, time goes by way too fast anyway. We drive north-west all day and all night. The next morning we see Colombia appear on the horizon. Adventurous unloading of the ship and lengthy customs processes await us. A new country, a new continent, we are halfway through our journey.

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