Up the Ruver Without a Paddle
02 February 2016
Yesterday's grand wheeze was to join the World ARC tour to see the native Embra Indians in their huts a 45 minute ride up the Chagres Rivet by Yamaha powered dugout.
The Embra were originally Colombian but the FARC guerrillas and drug activity made life intolerable so they moved to due town Colon.
The poor folk couldn't settle into city life so......
Story A
They returned to the rain forest and today, 141 of them live in their huts making a living by giving tours to Muppets like us and selling their hand craft
Story B
They still live in downtown Colon and take it in shifts to man the encampment and do the tourist thing.
Think A is the more likely as they looked genuine.
A really nice afternoon seeing them and the environment.
As previous, we depart for the canal transit in a couple of hours.
We had to remove our solar panel and fold in our davits to get us under the 50 foot break point, or pay an extra $500.
I've been under the hull ensuring no barnacles hitching a ride. We've also been fumigated. No, nothing about personal hygiene although it won't do any harm. It's for Galapagos but it all seems a nonsense when there's 9 flights of tourists a day and a population of 30,000. Not sure a couple of barnacles is going to make a huge difference but it keeps the coffers full.
Off for a final swim before we go. Look for us on the webcam if you've nought better to do!