Taylor, a lovely friend of ours from SV Via, wrote the following. A longish read but it completely sums up our experience here in San Blas, and I could not possibly say it better myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moon is overhead. I don\u2019t really know what day of the week it is or what the date is or sometimes even what month or season it is, but I know the moon is waxing, about a quarter moon now, rising later and growing bigger every afternoon. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A soft background symphony of small waves lapping the white sand beach hushes along outside, against the more distant white noise of the wrath of the ocean crashing to a stop on the reef further out, which is all dampened slightly by the rattling of our seven fans that haven\u2019t been shut off in months. My neighbor\u2019s dog barks and gets lovingly shushed and I hear others laughing in the distance. The trade winds rush through the wide open window above and sweep around my face as I lie on my bed. It\u2019s 7pm. We\u2019ve already cooked and eaten and cleaned up, and it\u2019s dark now, so we turn off the power, which takes the internet and the portal to the rest of the world with it. Now we\u2019re just here, with the moon, with the sea, with the night. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We have been living in a remote archipelago for what is now approaching four months, in territory inhabited by the indigenous Guna people, far from the trappings of modern civilization. I haven\u2019t seen a grocery store or washing machine or a restaurant or a car or a road or even a proper building in nearly four months. When the clothes and towels and sheets need to be cleaned, I do it by hand, or really by foot, stomping and swishing the fabrics around in our collapsable bucket like Lucy making wine. It requires many small loads and many hours, washing and hanging and turning everything over periodically in the Caribbean sun until it\u2019s dry, or as dry as it can be with the sea hazily misting the air.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I haven\u2019t worn shoes in four months…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n