San Blas, Crocodiles and Fog
08 January 2008
San Blas, settled by the Spanish on Dec 21, 1537. That is a long time ago and even though there was a village here occupied by the native people for thousands of years, I use the un-pc date above. But since I am a Spainard I feel obligated to use the first date. San Blas sits at the bottom of thousands of square miles of swamp. The real estate time share people call them lagoons! There are however, no time share people here. This is a sleepy little town that lived its glory hundreds of years ago. There is a fort at the top of a hill overlooking the town. Much of the fort is gone but the cathederal built nearby still stands, proud and glorious even though it is merely a stone carcass with nothing but the walls. It is amazing how this building still stands and apparently the arches holding up the walls are "key stone" I think. It means the enter stone in the arch holds up the entire thing. Silent and just a empty hulk it still has a aura that makes you fall silent and whisper while inside. Think of all the people who worshipped there.
San Blas was virtually destroyed in 2003 by a hurricane. There are signs of destruction only in the jungles where trees bleached white in death still stand against the wind. It is like bones sticking up out of the ground surrounded by all the new vegetation. Swamps do not languish long and renew themselves quickly. The Centro (Plaza) of town is quite old with two cathederals. The old one not in use was the setting for Longfellows last poem "The bells of San Blas" The new one shares a wall. There are shops, restaurants, the mercado and a taxi stand surrounding the Plaza.
Crocodiles are for real here. They live throughout the state of Nyarit. We took a jungle trip with 8 other boaters in the anchorage with a side trip to a crocodile farm where they raise and introduce the endangered crocs into the wild. A young man who spoke English explained in detail the process of introducing this predator into the wild. He is from nearby and was passionate about his native lands and the wildlife that lives there. I was impressed, a doer not a talker.
The jungle trip. All nine of us and an infant boarded the large panga for the trip. But first we paid 11 dollars each which included a bottle of water or a Modelo beer. What a deal. Off we went up into a very narrow river enclosed by mangroves.
Just like the Disney Jungle trip. We stopped often while the guide pointed out birds, crocs, fish, trees, Mcdonalds . Whoops no Mcdonalds. The channel we were in stayed only about twenty feet wide all the way up to the natural springs. That was just enough room for two pangas to slide by side by side and in some areas they get up to full speed. You are sure a head on collision is upon you but a narrow miss and a splash from the wake and it is all over. There is another Croc! Big crocs, little crocs and a huge croc that was sunning so the panga driver went right up to him only 4 feet away from the tail. The business end was saddly hidden from sight. But it was big!
The natural fresh water springs were fenced off from and toothy reptiles that might like to take a bite and made the perfect swimming hole. What a delight to swim in that natural spring. I did not worry about crocs since there were lots of kids around that would be easier prey. After a great swim we had beers at the restaurant that overlooked the springs. Warm, sunny, fresh water and Modelo. Could this be the heaven preached about in the old Cathedral?
Fog. I read that it may be hard to see some landmarks when at sea because of fog. In the tropics? No way. Yes way. I awoke one morning to find nothing. I could not see 50 ft. Socked in by fog which did not clear until about 11 am. I guess it was the lagoon fog. Two days later after a glorious sunny day making power with my newly installed solar panels (more later) I awaited anther spectacular sunset. My plans were foiled however as a huge bank of fog rolled in at 3 pm and enveloped everything in sight for a couple of hours. Fog in the afternoon? I would have lost money if someone had bet me it could happen. I should know why this occurs what with hot water, cool air or cool water, hot air but I decided just to let it be what it was,,FOG