KILLING SOME TIME IN COLON, PANAMA

PADDLES WITH SPEAR-SHAPED BLADES, SHARP-EDGED

PADDLES WITH SPEAR-SHAPED BLADES, SHARP-EDGED

December 8, 1991 (cont'd)

We're pulling into a little beach. I search my map to see where we are – Playa de Muerte (the Beach of Death). I see a couple of thatched huts to the left (port side that is), then we pass another, and a canal.

We nose in, turn counter-clockwise, reverse direction, Now I see what I'd missed, a small canoe with two paddlers between us and the surf. Sid and Hilary? Nope, don't think so. Two kids.

Further in we proceed, and spot a long dugout arriving with four people, half a kilometer away. We approach, at half speed. No outboard motor, just the four paddlers.

Anadelfia has left me, fortunately, I can save her Mother's Day greeting till later. She doesn't know it yet, but she'll be doing the writing.

Death Beach? Maybe because there are rocks at the west end of the beach/ The paddlers are aboriginal.

Moved. Dropped my pen into the hold where the men are working - twice.

Two little dugouts, polished smooth, ten feet long. Boy and girl in the first, two girls in the second. Girls twelve or thirteen. Short paddles, with blades carefully shaped, almost like spears, sharp-edged.

The paddles on the larger dugout were very long; the butt end protrudes from the paddler's top hand. Now we can see a lot more palm thatched buildings, back among the coconut palms – I count twelve.

Our women passengers send the two small canoes to shore for something (wasn't listening), and encourage the kids to paddle faster.

Meanwhile down in the forward deck, the supplies for the settlement have been found and transferred. Hatch covered again. The sun is already hot. Guess I'll move out of the sun. 9:10 AM.

The young paddlers didn't come back. Seems our passengers just wanted to see a canoe race. The larger dugout looked some 32 feet long, with the widest part maybe four or five feet back. The two 'paddlers' in the front had oars, with oarlocks made from a forked branch. The two paddlers aft had short paddles. The dugout at its widest was about forty inches.

I have two little cartons of juice, give one to the Ecuadoran (still don't know his name.), and the other to Anadelfia; I know she'll take hers to the little girl and leave me in peace for a while. (Actually, I kind of enjoy her hounding- heh).

We have one more stopover before her village of Jaqué, so there's time.

11:15 – Well, that's Anadelfia out of the way. Shaved without a mirror. My tiny cheap tin can camera and film aren't in my shopping bag naturally. Don't think I transferred them to the packsack. Maybe.

We must be close to Puerto Piña. A small outboard launch is just off to our left – oops, port side. Fishing off a small rocky point are four men aboard a maybe 35 foot boat. Treed hills down to the shore. Solid jungle.

6 PM – Written in Hospedaje (hostel), Jaqué, Panama.

A long stop in Puerto Piña, where we discharged much cargo and lost many Colombian passengers who boarded a launch going directly to Jurado, Colombia.

A fellow passenger, Maximiliano Ocosta , Odontologo (denturist) offered to take us in tow. A tiny canoe made two trips to carry our baggage and us – on its second trip it held three passengers, Franklin's bag, and the 16-year-old paddler. The gunwales were close to the water; at times one gunwale would dip under.

We checked most of our luggage, had chicken soup and walked to this little hotel. Our new friend, a dental technician, shares a room with someone else. We have two cots in an open room on the second floor.