Walidup Island – Guna Yala

I think we were all afraid of missing our alarm as everyone said they were up before the alarm went off. I was out of bed and in the shower by 4:20. Our ride was prompt and picked us up right at 5:00. We began the journey to the other side of the country to San Blas Islands, also known as Guna Yala. I couldn’t believe how much traffic there was even at that early hour. Most of the traffic was going in the opposite direction towards the city, but I still thought it was pretty heavy for that early hour.

All was going smooth until we heard the thump, thump, thump of a flat tire. We pulled over and saw that the rear passenger tire was not only flat, but shredded. Our driver began working on changing the tire as we we stood along side the road. Several kind strangers stopped to help and one even had a power tool to help get the lug nuts off. In all, I think it took about 25 minutes to get it changed and get us back on the road. We got to the dock where the boat was going to take us to our island around 8:05. At 9:00 we boarded our small boat for the 30 minute or so ride to Walidup Island.

We are staying at over the water cabins that have 3 double beds, and a small bathroom. The island is quite small, and we tried to walk around the whole thing, but unfortunately there is not a good path all the way around either by beach or land. What was most disappointing was all the garbage that had washed ashore. I was not expecting that at all because everything I had read about the San Blas Islands was how well protected they are by the Guna Yala indigenous people. I was expecting pristine nature and beaches.

I sat under a palm tree and called and talked to Tom for awhile and when we were done I continued to relax under the tree. Lunch was served for everyone staying on the island (7 over the water cabins and 4 on land, but not all cabins are occupied). Lunch was fresh caught fish and rice (3 meals are included with our stay). I thought it was pretty good. At lunch Laurie and I had discussed asking for garbage bags to pick up some of the garbage on the beach. I asked our host for the garbage bags and he told me that they have people that do that (by the looks of it, I would say that is not true). I insisted on getting bags and he brought back 1 telling me it was pretty large and that was probably all we needed. I asked for a second bag and he told me that he was only giving me the second because he could tell I wasn’t going to back down.

Pete, Laurie, and I waded in the warm waters of the Caribbean a bit before Laurie and I set out on our garbage duty. It didn’t take long to fill both our bags and we only went a short way on the beach. It’s so sad the amount of garbage that gets washed ashore. Even more sad was the amount of garbage I saw in the shallow water of where we were walking.

Upon feeling like we did our part to help mother earth just a bit, we got back in the water and was enjoying the swimming when all of a sudden I felt stinging and was squirming around in pain to find that I had encountered a small jellyfish. That bad boy got me on my back, right elbow, stomach, and left wrist and hand. It stung so bad. Immediately I got out and we Googled how to treat a jellyfish sting because my first inclination was to get in the shower and wash it off, but Google actually said to wash it off with salt water. The areas that the tentacles got immediately began to swell. We went and found our host and he said he would get his first aid kit. He came back with aspirin and some isopropyl wipes. It was the best he could do and told me that the stinging and swelling should subside in a couple of hours. It looked pretty bad, and was certainly stinging, but I just sat on our back deck over the ocean and tried to relax. Eventually the swelling an stinging did go away, but even as I type this 4 hours layer the place where I was stung on my hand still stings and throb. Everywhere else is feeling ok. Never have I ever experienced the torture of a jellyfish before, and I would prefer to avoid it in the future.

We made a makeshift table so we could play Swoop and played 3 games. I won one game, but I can’t remember who won the other two. By the time the third game was over the sun was beginning to set. I was hoping to see an amazing sunset, but the clouds prevailed. We headed up to the restaurant for dinner. Laurie and I once again had the fresh caught fish while Pete and Laurie went with the chicken. Before the meal was served one of the other guests said something about seeing the sharks. There are several nurse sharks that hang around the dock because the workers throw the leftover food and scraps into the water for them. It was neat to see. One of the couples staying a couple of cabins down from us said they could see a bunch of colorful fish and a stingray off their deck. Unfortunately we don’t have anything hanging around ours.

With not having much to do it was an early night. It’s 8:30 and I can already hear that Pete is fast asleep. Tomorrow will be early as well as breakfast is served at 7:00 and we get picked up by boat at 8:00 for our tour around the other islands before we head back to Panama City.

So far it has been an interesting stay on this little island. I’m curious to see how I sleep tonight with no air conditioning, a mosquito net around my bed, and for the first time in a very long time not having my own pillow. I’m sure it will be amazing.

Stats of the Day

Steps: Don’t know. Took off my watch and haven’t put it back on since the jellyfish wrapped itself around it.
How many different jellyfish stings I have: At least 10
Chance I’ll Ever Swim In The Ocean Again: 99% – I really do like the ocean. I don’t know why it tried to hurt me today after I tried to clean it.