After a couple of days sailing around various of the San Blas islands, we are back in Corazon de Jesus. As this is where the only airport in the region is. We will be in and out of here a few times while crew changes are being made. Jerry, a Corkman living inFlorida, joined Sapphire inSt. Luciaand leaves tomorrow. In honour of his departure we decided to do a trip up the Rio Diablo river, on the mainland, to where John had read about a 3 mile long trail through the jungle leading to a lake and waterfall. So, in good Irish fashion, we packed some sambos and the 6 of us set off in the RIB.

Trying to find the mouth of the river Diablo

Entrance to a Kuna graveyard. The canoe is left to bring the deceased to meet their ancestors.

Fetching pails of water

The trip up river (after we eventually found the mouth) took 45 minutes.  It looked like a cross between Deliverance and Apocalypse Now. It is a busy spot too as this river is the only source of fresh water for many of the islanders.  They paddle up in their canoes and fill enough containers to do them a couple of days. Eventually, we came to a dam across the river and were unable to go any further. So we figured this must be the start of the trail.

Baobab tree - distinguishable by its roots being above ground

The path here was promising looking - it wasn't to last !

Yes, I did cross without incident but thought Alex made a better picture !!

It was an amazing trip. We followed a Wavin-style pipe that was bringing water from the lake down to some small towns on the mainland. The trail started out fine but soon deteriorated. We crossed a number of ravines that were bridged by small tree trunks and all the while there were scurrying sounds in the undergrowth and screeching noises coming from the trees. But apart from a few iguanas and a million ants we couldn’t make out the wildlife. I was just as happy not to know too much of what was around us.  The trek to the lake was supposed to be 3 miles but after 1.5hrs of uphill struggle there was still sign of it.  We met some Kuna Indians on their way down and they told us it was 2 more hours to get to the lake.  Of course we assumed they, or we, had misunderstood and on we went.  However, having read lots of books on Everest and the importance of turning back, I managed to get a consensus on a give-up time.  So, after 2 hours walking we had our picnic and headed back down. Which was just as well because when we got back to the boat and re-read the book it turned out the trek up to the lake was 3 hours, not 3 miles!!

Heron - shot taken from the RIB so not great