Monday, August 14, 2006

Holandes

We are still in the San Blas, but we have left Coco Banderos. At first we
went to one of the San Blas's biggest towns, Nargana. Even though this is
one of the biggest towns there is still no running water. The houses were an
assortment of tin roofs, and thatched roofs made from palm fronds. Many of
the house's walls are made from cane. There was one store we bought from
that even had a baby fawn wandering around the store. The fawn was the
perfect likeness of Bambi. We only stayed in Nargana about one day, until we
left for the Holandes. The Holandes took only two hours by boat to get to.
The Holandes is more sheltered from wind than Coco Banderos where we had a
few storms. During one storm six of the eight boats' anchors let go, and
they had to struggle to re-anchor or get their engine started before they
blowed onto a reef. Lucky for us we were one of the boats that stayed still
We have been in the Holandes for about a day, and have already gone
snorkeling. The reef we went snorkeling on had a variety of fish in all
shapes and sizes. The fish ranged from small triangular yellow fish to a
nurse shark. I myself didn't see the nurse shark here, but I did see one in
the Coco Banderos. Another neat fish was the jewel fish, which was a small
black fish with purple spots that appeared to glow like jewels. The coral
wasn't colorful, but was often large and reached out across the reef.
Unfortunately we don't have a underwater camera case so we won't have any
photos of the reef from below the sea. We may be able to get one when we
leave the San Blas. Where we are now is peaceful if you consider the number
of Kunas we have had trying to sell us molas. Molas are embroidary with
multiple layers, that are created by the Kuna Indians. Most other places we
would have women come out in conoes at least two times a day attempting to
sell us there work. Here we have only had men trying to sell us crab and
lobster. We will continue to explore the San Blas once we leave the
Holandes.