Puerto Obaldia
Following a long rigmarole, Ernest and I were eventually stamped into Panama.
Hallelujah! Puerto Obaldia was a military post with very little happening.
Meeting Simon, who hailed from Italy, didn’t take long. Simon planned to travel by
50cc motorbike from Ushuaia to Alaska. He had already set a record for distance
travelled by a 50cc. We soon learned Simon had been stuck in Puerto Obaldia
searching for a boat around the impenetrable Darién Gap for several days.
Spotting a small wooden cargo boat (the Rey Emmanuel) anchored in the bay, we
searched for the captain, who, like any good captain, was found drinking in the
cantina. I didn’t know if this was a good time to negotiate. I didn’t have enough
money to pay for the trip and Ernest had no money, or so he said.
Captain Marseille was, nevertheless, in a good mood and offered Ernest and I a fair
price ($80 each) and agreed I could pay at the end of the trip. I understood an ATM
could be located approximately 50 kilometres from where the boat was to anchor.
However, the trip was to take between three and six days, cooking wasn’t allowed
on the boat, and no food was included in the price. Armed with this information, we
took off to the single shop to buy tinned food, bread and ingredients we assumed
one might be able to cook whenever the boat docked.
The only tinned food at the little shop was spam and pork & beans, which we
purchased, hoping we could stock up at some of the islands. The captain further
informed us he could take us to Miramar, a village along the Panama coast from
where a road ran to Panama City. The Rey Emmanuel delivered supplies to the San
Blas Islands. Outstanding monies, empty bottles, and gas cylinders were collected
on the return journey. I suspected the trip to be a slow one.