Big Hearts in Blue Fields

I’m on the Dutch tall ship Regina Maris in northwest Panama to work with students and staff of Students without Borders Academy on behalf of Seas Your Future. Yesterday we set sail towards the bay of Blue Fields, where we were welcomed by a mixture of curiosity, entrepreneurship and generosity.

Leaving Isla Colon and Bocas del Toro behind, the Canadian students apply yesterday’s sail training and set the three gaff sails under the supervision of first mate Jacob.

No roads lead into the three communities living around Blue Fields Bay. Transport is by Cayucos, narrow canoes dug out of the trunks of Mayo trees, weather that’s for the school run, seeing friends and family, getting to your fields in the forest, or for fishing and trading.

Ngäbe paddling across Blue Fields Bay in the evening sunlight on his Cayuco.

Subsistence farming and fishing provide sustenance to the families of the local tribe, the Ngäbe. Although perhaps considered backwards, subsistence farming produces around 70% of foods globally, using only 3% of the energy. That makes subsistence farming important at local and global scales, as well as sustainable.

For the Ngäbe tribe, this lifestyle doesn’t provide much income and certainly no access to luxury goods. This is where entrepreneurship comes in: local people see visiting yachts as a potential source of income and barter. Maya, her nice Marina and nephew Michal reach Regina Maris by cayuco in the late afternoon and offer a bunch of plantains for sale. I pay the asking price and Maya commences to ask whether we can spare some toiletries. One of the Canadian students speaks excellent Spanish, and while making conversation, she also initiates a collection of soap, shampoo and lotion and passes over some apples for the kids and we learn a little about their lives.

Maya, Marina and Michael in their Cayuco.

Meanwhile, Canadian team leader David Fehr is visiting acquaintances from last year, the local police assistant and landowner. For a small fee, they agree to guide us on an adventure into the mangroves, leading us up a creek and river bed to a waterfall on their land. We pass some banana trees in the forest, a typical example of subsistence agroforestry, see exotic flowers and insects, hear and see unfamiliar birds, including a black hawk, blue herons, collared and green kingfishers. We even spot the egg cluster of a glass frog clinging to the underside of a leaf as we wade up the river, but sadly the parent is nowhere to be seen.

Impressions of Blue Fields.

These are magic moments made possible by people with big hearts and smiles, prepared to share their world with us for a while, and I feel very privileged to make the experience.

Featured Image: All photos and video (c) C Braungardt 2024.