Riding the Spine

Here is a little vignette of our kayaking trip from Panama to Colombia. The music in the background is from a Kuna Villager who invited us to stay in his house. Enjoy.

Click Here To Download the Video in better quality

We have arrived in Turbo, Colombia.  Somebody offered to buy our kayaks and so we are now busy building our bikes so we can continue our journey. 

I´m working on a video and a few entries to post.  Until then, I got a bunch of new photos posted check them out.

Our excursion has proven quite the adventure.  Starting in the tranquil clear waters of the San Blas Islands we worked our way into the open ocean without the protective islands and have been staying in indigenous communities along the way.

One morning we were ambushed by a Kuna police squad, complete with a guy in a ski mask and a semi-automatic rifle jumping out of the bushes.   Another day, after a long paddle, Goat and Sean somehow got separated from J and I we lost sight of them before reaching Island Mosquito just after it got dark.    We waited most of the next day for them to show, but saw nothing.  Apparently an airplane was even out searching for us.  Eventually we ran into them at a nearby community.ç

Anyways, the paddling has been exceptionally challenging, but the experience traveling through the Kuna Comarca has been unforgettable.

We have been busy rigging up our kayaks to support our bikes. We have permission to enter the Comarca tomorrow and expect to begin our kayak expedition to Colombia. With up to 500 nautical miles to cover, we’re looking at a good month+ of kayaking and are hoping for calm seas and good weather. There more than likely isn’t any internet access along the coast until we reach Cartagena, but you can follow our progress with our

SPOT Messenger Tracking Page.

Yes.  Any donations/support you can offer makes us about as happy as this dancing skeleton.  We do our best with our dirtbag budget, but with drivetrain replacements/tires/etc, food costs for hungry cyclists and extraneous adventures like paddling kayaks (with our bikes strapped on) to Colombia, we come up short. Any help will be appreciated as we continue our journey into South America.

Before setting out on our kayak expedition to circumvent the Darien Gap, it was necessary for us to receive the blessings of the Kuna Yala congress. We would have to meet with the Central Indigenous leadership that presides over Tourist activity in the Kuna Territory – a section of Panamanian Caribbean Coast that stretches from the San Blas Island chain to the Frontier of Colombia.

Luckily we had befriended Nemesio: a native of the Kuna Yala, a veteran Kayak guide of the San Blas Islands, and a businessman accustomed to negotiating with the Kuna General Congress. Nemesio already had scheduled an appointment with the Congress to discuss matters relating to his Solar-panel installation business, and had no trouble coupling our petition onto the same visit.  

Our appointment was for one-o’clock sharp but we rolled into the secretarial offices a little after two.

“The Congress is at lunch.� Asserted a grave faced secretary.

I assumed from her tone that the legislative body suffered the burden of a bloated agenda and wouldn’t have time to reschedule. And yet within seconds we were summoned into an upstairs office to present our case.

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