It is just absolutely beautiful here.  We have seen several breeds of monkeys, a sloth, toucans, and parrots.    You just anchor in the river and the rainforest is on both sides of you, so you can watch the monkeys as they pass by, rustling through the trees.   The howler monkeys are very small, but make a very loud roar.   In the states, you are awaken by barking dogs, here is it howler monkeys.   But, when we hear them, we both jump out of bed and hit the deck running to see them.

We are a few miles downstream from the Gatun Dam, which supplies the water for the locks in the canal, and during rainy season, they have more water than the locks can use, so they let water out of the dam.   There is a constant one - two knot current  of fresh water running downstream in the river.    It is rainy season, so it rains often.

One of our favorite pastimes in the evening,  the cruisers in the river get together and meet upstream in dinghies at about 5:15 p.m.     We each bring drinks and snacks, and we tie all of the dinghies together and float down the peaceful river for several hours discussing what exciting things we saw today.  Gary, on Kaija Song, saw a big black cat, a panther?  John and Diana, on Dragonet, spotted a 12' crocodile in one of the creeks. 

Jeremy of S/V Max climbed  aboard his sailboat on top of his boom to capture this photo as we passed by.

Sailors from Max, Neos, Imagine, Dragonet, Queen Mary, Barefoot, Second Wind

and Valentina floating down the river.

We did a dinghy river float this evening, eight dinghies......fun.

I made banana pudding today with the rest of our bananas that we have carried around for weeks, waiting to get ripe.   When they get ripe, they all get ripe, so we are now banana-free.

Music on Queen Mary night, we joined Barefoot (Steve and Mary), Max (Jeremy and Crystal) and Gene and Brenda for some music.   They played about an hour, when some strange wasp with white bodies started flying around the boat.   There were more and more.    All of a sudden, Gene got stung by about 4 or 5 of them, so we all left the cockpit and started spraying them.   They left.

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   And the music resumed.

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It is so good to visit with old friends and ones who will be cruising on their boat in the near future.  We are glad they are staying on the boat so they can see what how rewarding the cruising lifestyle is.  

We showed them some of the small rivers off the Rio Chagres and saw a troop of howler monkeys.   We were in our dinghy in the river watching them crawl around, when, all of a sudden, Steve sneezed, and one monkey was startled, and fell down about 15 feet, only to grab another branch with his tail.   Wish we would have had the video camera on that one.  We went to the beautiful waterfall and played in the water. 

On the path, they saw lots of howler monkeys, an anteater, and a capincho.   The anteater stood up on his back hind legs and raised his arms at them, at about 10 feet away.

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Today, we explored more and played music on Queen Mary.   Gene and Brenda also had guests aboard, long-time friend Al and his new wife, Ophelia from Colombia.

We had the fishing line out the whole way and did not catch anything.  So about 3 miles out, Kay started to put it up and Sonny said, "No, let's leave it out....well, about one mile later, we caught a little tunny.   Steve and Colleen reeled him in.  He was a nice one.

 On the 21st of October, Portobelo celebrates the huge festival of the Black Christ.   We arrived at about 12:30 p.m. and went to town after a small rain shower.

Friends, Lyla, Kaija, Mary and Steve       Aaron and Gary

Aaron and Lyla on "Blow Me Away"

Kaija and Gary on "Kaija's Song"

Steve and Mary on "Barefoot"

Steve and Colleen left this evening for Panama City to prepare for their trip back to Kemah.   We sure enjoyed them on board and had a lot of fun with them.   We plan to meet up with them on their Tayana, Anchor Management, in the near future in the Caribbean.

One of the policemen told us that there would be 300 policemen in the village and over 200,000 people would come to Portobelo to participate in the annual Black Christ festival.   This is a very, very small village with only two streets. 200,000 people?   Many come on a bus, go to pay their tribute to the "Black Christ" and return.

This afternoon, when we were in town. people were already beginning to come into town.   It is told that people will walk for days, in the purple robes, to get to Portobelo to see the Black Christ and seek forgiveness of their sins.

 

		In the church, they brought the statue of the Black Christ from behind the glass into the sanctuary,  During the procession from 8 p.m. to midnight on the 21st, there are 80 men carrying it, and they take three steps forward and two steps backwards.  That must be why it takes four hours for the procession through town.
First, we saw this lady scooting to the church on her bottom, then she would turn around and crawl on her hands and knees.
		Then, we saw this man, further from the church, inching his way down the street on his back,  rolling from side to side.
These men said they walked for two days to get here.   They came from Panama City.

The Legend of the Black Christ Festival

El Cristo Negro

The most popular version of the Black Christ story says a ship left Portobelo for Cartagena, Colombia during the last half of the 17th Century.  It had in its cargo hold a religious article packed in a large crate, which was consigned to Cartagena.   As the ship left Portobelo, a terrible storm drove the vessel back into the harbor.   Five times - according to legend - the Captain tried to sail away' each time the tempest returned without warning causing the ship to be in great peril.  During the final attempt, the crew - fearing for their lives - lightened the ship by casting the heavy box overboard.

When fishermen from Portobelo discovered the box with the image of Jesus floating in the water, they were astonished at the lack of respect shown by the sailors and they carried the image to their church to give it a place of honor.   Now, he resides in Iglesia San Felipe.

The chicken bus is very crowded, with people standing the whole trip, very noisy, with the radio on as loud as possible and very decorated, with lights flashing and pictures painted on the outside and inside.

We had the joy of this young lady sharing our seat with us along the way.   She is on her way to school in the City and is studying English.   She was very pleasant and sweet.   When she got off the bus, she stood there, waving goodbye to us.

Happy 4th Anniversary today to Garrett and Madonna.

It is also....our 16th wedding anniversary.   We are hoping to pick up our bottom paint today.   It is amazing how your wants and needs change while cruising.   Bottom paint is one of our best anniversary gifts to each other.  Whatever it takes to stay cruising is worth it.   Life is good.

We are ready to head to our next port of call.....Isla Linton.  Hopefully, to a calm anchorage.

Exploring the sights and sounds at Isla Porta Linda and Isla Grande.		Each island and village we visit are different with its own culture.