Kuna Yala

The passage across the Caribbean sea is considered to be one of the
roughest in the world. Starting in St. Lucia we set a course for Kuna
Yala (formerly San Blas islands), a passage of 1100 miles that would
take 8 nights. This was my first blue water and overnight passage.
Off the coast of Colombia we encountered heavy weather with 45 knot
winds and 10-15 foot seas. Sailing in these conditions can be
considered uncomfortable at best. We fared far better than most boats
in the fleet however. Some boats arrived in Kuna Yala with damaged
masts, torn sails, and malfunctioning radio equipment.
Piracy is also alive and well in these waters, mostly along the
Venezuelan and Colombian coasts. Only a month ago a yacht was boarded
by armed pirates outside Cartagena's harbour and all their electronic
equipment was stollen.
At 1:00 am on the 14th (my birthday) we finally reached our
destination. Being a moonless night in an area known for multiple
reefs made our decision to drop our anchor a very dangerous one. This
was not made any better by all available charts of Kuna Yala being
extremely inaccurate. Some of our electronic charts even placed us
directly on land while our sounding instruments indicated 70 feet of
water.
We attempted to approach a cluster of islands at the western end of
Coco Bandero Cays, with my uncle and myself at the bow to watch for
reefs. I happened to look up to see a white sand beach about 100 feet
in front of us. Our depth had suddenly dropped from 60 feet to 20
feet, so we swung around and made our way back our into deeper water,
fearing running aground on jagged reefs that had already claimed large
cargo ships and fishing boats. Our only choice was to wait for the
sun and make our way east to a better anchorage.

Kuna Yala is unlike anywhere in the world. Pure white sands and tall
coconut palm trees with hundreds of small, uninhabited (and inhabited)
islands. Coconuts are off limits to non-Kuna however as every island
belongs to a family, meaning that taking some would equate stealing
veggies from the neighbors garden (and yes, this is taken seriously).
Coconuts are also one of their primary exports and their main sources
of income.
The populated islands are inhabited by the Kuna people. They are
considered to be one of the most intact indigenous cultures in the
world, and function independantly while observing Panamanian laws in
conjunction with their own laws. They subsist on cultivating fruit
and vegetables, and hunting in the mainland portion of Kuna Yala,
which lies within Panama.

They live in traditional houses built with
hardwood frames and thatched with palm leaf. Typically these last up
to 15 years and are very effective at keeping out rain. The general
layout is simple, a dirt floor with hammocks for sleeping. Belongings
and clothing hang from the rafters, so the floor is generally free of
clutter. Houses vary from family to family of course, so we saw some
very clean houses and some that were not, just as you would in any
society.

They are probably best known for their Molas, a traditional art they
make by sewing layers of fabric together to produce a variety of
patterns and images. Animal motifs are common, but we prefer the
geometric designs which are more traditional. They traditonally used
fabric made from natural materials, but with the introduction of
cotton fabric, and brightly coloured fabric available in Panama City,
this skill appears to have all but died out.





To move about their nation of islands they use finely made dugout
canoes propelled by either sail, outboard motor, or paddle. They are
remarkably fast and agile craft, regardless of how they are powered.
Even the children have small, but very functional, versions of their
parents canoes that are accurate down to the last detail. These
watercraft are roughed out in the mainland jungles, then finished in
their village. Some villages are known for exceptionaly high quality
canoes.

Canoes in Acuadup, facing the Panama coast

We have found it impossible to trade goods with them, because American
dollars are all they will accept for Molas, seafood, or fruit.
Transactions are conducted in broken Spanish, English, and Kuna. We
try to learn as many Kuna words as we can, such as nuedi (thank you),
teki malo (goodbye), and jagi (dolphin, pronounced ou-ah-gee). They
seen pleasantly surprised to hear a few white folks saying thank you
in their native tongue.
They are also accustomed to asking for a dollar for photographs, a
practice that stems from seeing pictures of Kuna selling for a dollar
in Panama City.

Our first major village we entered was on the island of Acuadup.
Located west of the Carti Islands, it is not nearly as crowded as the
Carti Islands, and has quite a lot of vegetation (mangos, bananas,
Noni fruit, and almonds on expanses of grass). The houses are also
spaced apart, compared to the cramped quarters of the more populated
islands. This island also doesn't seem to be as heavily visited, so
as we walked through the village we were greeted more with people
simply going about their business than selling molas. Apart from the
school, all the houses are traditional as well.
A good book for information on the Kuna is Eric Bauhaus' guide The
Panama Cruising Guide, which has also been an invaluable source of
information during our travels in Kuna Yala.

Subsistance fishing and Marine life

Cruisers live a unique life off the grid, sailing from country to
country, often crossing large expanses of ocean to arrive at remote
locations that are far off most tourist maps. Living aboard an ocean
going vessel demands a certain amount of survival skills, since many
of the places they visit are far beyond even basic search and rescue.
Even in the Caribbean islands I have witnessed first hand how being in
a well populated area does not guarantee safety, when two fishermen
perished 16 miles from two well populated islands that are also very
popular tourist destinations.
Fishing is an excelent way to add to provisions taken on at port as
well as providing food when provisions run dry. Generally yachts take
on enough provisions for their journey or until the next port of call
they expect to be able to replenish at, which in some cases could be a
few months.
During our passage we were able to hook two good sized fish. In these
deep waters there are a lot of very large pelagic species that are
both abundant and generally Ciguatera free, such as Mahi-Mahi, Wahoo,
and Yellowfin Tuna. They are however very powerful so good tackle is
necessary or you will loose your gear. Even on 100 pound line we lost
2 lures and bent a hook. There are obviously some fish in the sea
that you would just as rather let get away then bring onboard.

This Wahoo was the biggest of the two fish, weighing in at
approximately 30 pounds. We use rum to kill fish we catch, this one
took quite a bit. You do have to be careful bringing big fish on
board. I've heard stories of people being hit in the head by tails,
and even a man who earned 30 stitches from a Spanish Marckarel that
sliced his leg with it's teeth.
It is prohibited for foreigners to collect sealife from the reefs
around the islands. Lobsters, crab, and even octopus are available
from the Kuna fishermen however. We avoid buying the lobsters now,
after seeing undersized ones being brought to us, but the Channel
Cling Crab is excelent eating that provides more meat than the
lobsters. Just like Blue Crabs in Maryland, the males are far better
eating, which fits in nicely with our prefured practic of leaving the
females alone.
They seem to be more available closer to the mainland though, since we
didn't see any until reaching the Carti Islands. They are found in
relatively shallow water, about 10 feet or so, and can be caught with
the help of a spear.


Snorkeling in Kuna Yala is quite good. Large fish can be hard to find
and are skittish. The reefs we explored had a number of brittle coral
that we have not seen elsewhere. Some interesting species we have
seen are Parrotfish with a Cleaner Wrasse and a Nurse Shark.
The Dog island wreck is an excelent snorkeling site. It was
intentially run aground in the 1950's while transporting rum. For it's
age it is in exceptional condition, with much of the weck's parts
easily recognizable. It's forward winches are above the water and are
the only parts visible from the surface. The stern lies in 15 feet of
water with her twin rudders visible at the bottom. Her aft hold is
easily accessible, sheltering a variety of species including a very
large snapper. Amidships you can find one of her two engines as well
as some tanks. Her forward hold is very open with the port side of
the hull missing.















Our travels will take us next to Las Perlas islands, the origin of
Queen Mary Tudor's "peregrina" pearl and site of the TV show Survivor.

All photographs credited to Trish Budd, reef photographs credited to
Elliot Budd

Carriacou Island

We arrived in Carriacou yesterday. It's a relatively small island compared to Grenada, but was apparently heavily settled by the Arawak and later Carib natives. In one guide book I read that there are places on this island where ancient pottery literally covers the ground, and "tumbles over the cliffs into the sea". The museum in Hillsborough has a decent collection of artifacts from these groups, which gave me a pretty good idea of what resources they were using, and how they made their tools.
Local stone appears to be Quartz, Jasper, and a dense stone called Ironstone. They make celts here out of Ironstone as well as Conch Shells. The Conch shell (called Lambi here) celts look identical to their stone counterparts
Cordage has been very difficult to find in these islands, and after asking at the museum it seems that the Arawak used a native cotton and some other plant which the museum interpreter didn't have a name for. It almost sounded like she was describing yucca or agave, which they have both of here. I'm just not sure if its native or an introduced species.
Turtles are protected here, but they were once a staple of the island cultures. In the museum they had a number of pottery artifacts with turtle effigies on them, as well as turtle bone pendants.
I am yet to see any stone projectile points, and the only artifacts that show any working are actually shell that have been knapped into serated blades.
I made my first bowdrill fire in the islands 2 days ago on Isle De Rhonde. It's a very scrubby island with a few palm trees, the rest of the vegetation being cactus, a variety of toxic tree related to poison ivy, and some kind of very spikey acacia.
Elliot and I picked up Machettes, which they call Cutlasses, in St. George so we can cut up coconuts, and explore some of the denser parts of the islands here. As we enter the Pacific, uninhabited islands will become more plentiful and the chance to make overnight survival camps on them will be more frequent.

Wander

Yesterday I went on a wander around the surrounding woods. It was a relatively warm day and I found many interesting things as well as seeing a deer with spots, Red Ear Slider, hawk (unsure what species), Red fox, squirrels, Great Blue Heron, rabbit, and several interesting plants including nightshade and Wild Comfrey. Here are some pictures I'd like to share from my wander.

This caught my eye the moment I saw it. It was on a slight hill on the edge of a large area of dirt in a construction site. I took the picture then decided to find out what whatever animal that made it was trying to bury. I found a strip of raw animal hide about 4 inchs wide and 6 inchs long. Almost looked to be untanned deer hide, no chew marks visible. My guess is its the work of a fox hiding its meal to allow it to break down a bit before eating it.

Squirrel tracks in mud.

I found this Red Ear Slider in a creek. He dove in from the bank where he was hiding under some grass. He wasn't too bitey which is how most of these water turtles can be.

Letting the turtle go

I'm not sure what kind of mushrooms these are but they were all over this small part of the creek. I was struck by how many there were and how much they contrasted with the leaf-litter and roofs.

Nightshade (Silverleaf?). It was all over a field behind the library. It has very distinct fruits (seen here in yellow) which look like little watermelons when they're younger.

Ancestral Knowledge and Living Earth School

Lately I have begun my work with Ancestral Knowledge Inc., based out of Mt Rainier, Maryland. We work mostly with providing summer camps and workshops for home schooled kids, at risk youth, as well as schools and boy scout troops to teach ancient life ways, wilderness awareness, and sustainable living skills. Above all, we like to get the kids out in the woods and streams, learning by doing, and experiencing nature the way their ancestors have for eons. We operate mostly in the Mid-Atlantic area.

I also work for Living Earth School based out of Charlottesville, Virginia. Living Earth runs weeklong overnight and day camps.

Ancestral Knowledge Inc.:
http://www.ancestralknowledge.org

Living Earth School:
http://www.circleofseeds.com/LES.html

Here are some pictures from past events and Camps:

Demonstrating the bow drill with an over-sized set.

Making cordage

Oneof my favorite parts of spending time in the woods is discovering new and interesting places. This is an old Limestone Quarry, potentially over 100 deep.

Eastern Box Turtle

This is a print I am trying to identify. I could only find one. 5 toes, no claws visible. Don't tell me what it is if you know, simply give me a hint in the comment section or email it to me.

Improvised Bow Drill

Yesterday my friend and I were hiking in the nearby woods, and we decided to test her bow drill skills. It seems that everything that could pose a problem, did. First, finding adequate tinder, then her soapstone handhold was too soft, so the spindle had drilled almost all the way through at this point, then we realized the bow (with buckskin string) had been dropped somewhere in our travels. So we had to come up with some solutions to fix these problems and ultimately achieve fire.
First, a string for the bow. While I had a backup bow, we were testing her skills, not mine, as well as her equipment on hand. I was merely an observer in this. So after a moments thought, she produced a fine shoelace from her shoe, which served perfectly.
Next, tinder. We managed to locate a piece of bark with somewhat fibrous inner layer.
After giving the set a go, we found problems with the spindle, and realized the wooden spindle had actually bored deep enough into the stone that it was not spinning as freely as one would like, so we needed to find something to replace it, preferably without too much time needed. We weren't the first to visit this spot, and some others had seen this area as a good place to consume alcohol. As such, there was a few beer cans around, so why not try the bottom of a beer can? This worked rather well, surprisingly.
And so we were able to achieve an ember, and with some coaxing, a flame.

Above you can see the shoelace, beer can, and set used. The green coloured stone is the soapstone handhold.

Bamboo Fire Saw

I recently tried the Bamboo Fire Saw method of producing fire. I have not been instructed in this method, though I have seen pictures, videos, and read about the process.
There is a large stand of Bamboo next to a creek near here, so I made my way there to gather the necessary materials. I wanted to go into this endevour with the assumption that I did not have my bow drill set with me, nor tinder, so I gathered tinder along the way. I did have my stone knife, but I was reluctant to use it, since I was trying to produce and ember without the usual tools I have with me, or with no tools at all.
I hadn't been in this patch of Bamboo in quite awhile, and so I spent a bit of time exploring while I gathered materials I would need. There was a faint smell of skunk, as well as a pile of bird feathers (unsure what kind, they're grey and very common to find around here).

In this photo you can see a dark groove in the bamboo, thats where I was sawing away to produce some dust to form the ember. I did produce some dust, but it didn't collect very well. I did have some help from my friend, but we were unable to sustain the necessary endurance to get an ember.
After this attempt I did some research on the topic, and I found some great information on producing an ember with Bamboo in Russel Cutts' book, Wildfire: Fire Making Art. The method he illustrates is designed so that one person can do it. I plan on demonstrating that in this blog soon.
The method I attempted can be seen here (with success!)

Spring is on the way

Yesterday we had amazing weather here in Maryland, you can feel spring on its way (not to mention hearing it, birds seem more active and I've heard frogs at the nearby pond). On days like yesterday there are a few local spots I like to go, so here are a few pictures of one of my favorite places. I've been coming to these woods for a number of years now, and I know it very well.

Some of the more prevalent trees in the area are Beech, Sycamore, and Tulip Poplar. When I make Poplar Bark buckets, this is the place I come to for the bark. Though it is bordered on all sides by housing developments, its remarkably clean of too much trash. Hawks, Owls, Box turtles, as well as very large deer herds can be found here. This is also where I harvested Japanese Wineberries in July.

I really like this particular bend in the creek (this is sort of behind and to the right of the previous picture). It seems these woods are almost characterized (especialy so as you head downstream) by steep sided valleys. I have picked up several deer trails in the area of these pictures where deer have been walking along these steep hills, almost like the Big Horn sheep in Montana.

Even on warm days I enjoy a nice fire. In fact it seems there are few times I don't enjoy having a fire around. The set I used for this one was Basswood on Boxelder, and I used local Tulip Poplar bark for tinder.

The creek can raise several feet when it rains heavily (evident from errosion along the banks as well as debris) and the ground was covered in Tulip Poplar seeds. On a warm, dry day these can ignite, so I brushed them away from the fireside. This also helped when it came time to leave, so once the coals and ash had been removed I could cover the spot. Something I've noticed is when you build a fire somewhere, and someone else comes along and sees the coals, they get the same idea, and suddenly it becomes the place to have bonfires.

Day in the woods

I filled up my gourd canteen and took it with me into the woods today. I've found it doesn't change the taste of the water and works quite well, though it still needs a stopper.
I've decided this summer is the time to make a good hunting bow. I've learned alot about what to do with an animal once you've taken it, and I hope to begin hunting my own animals. Up until now I have been relying on others to provide me with meat, hides, bones, sinew, etc.
There is a hickory tree I have been aware of for a number of years and it appears to be the perfect size for a bow. I want to get to know it before I cut it, so I'll visit it for a while until I feel its the right time to cut. For something like a bow, where so much goes into the making of the tools and hunting of the animals, I feel like this should be done right, and not rushed.

A Box Elder (Ash leaf Maple) fell near my old debris hut, which I am very grateful for since it it one of my favorite friction fire woods around here. I try not to ever cut live branches, and to come across an entire tree like this is an appreciated gift. Some of the upper branches are very straight so I've made a hand drill set. I tested it out but produced only white wood dust. I'll make a video so I can explain it easier. This is the first time I've made a handrill set with a wood other than yucca, cotton wood root or mullein.

General Update

I haven't really sat down to update in awhile, so I'll covered a few new things.
We got some nice snow accumulation about 2 weeks ago, which was also my first snow experience in Maryland for about 3 years. I've grown used to dry powdery snow in Montana, so the wet, icy snow of Maryland is quite different for me. We usually get at least one big snow storm a year in Maryland with significant accumulation (save my senior year of high school when we failed to accumulate any snow days), so I look forward to another big snowfall as Spring draws closer.

This picture doesn't really reflect how much actually fell, this was pretty early on when I was visiting my old debris hut.

This hut is in very poor condition, and I was going to tear it apart earlier and rebuild it so I could use it when snow came, but the snow beat me to the chase. I was looking through the contents of the shelter and found a bundle of milkweed stalks and some polypore fungus I had left last December. I also left an elk knuckle bone, however it appears the local animals have made off with that. It always amuses me to find things I've left from the previous year.

I spent some time exploring the woods in the hills above Ellicott City this past week and found an exceptionally large deer rub. I'm no expert on deer rubs, though I enjoy finding them, but I'd say this is from a rather large buck, judging by its distance from the ground. My friend who hunts further west of Ellicott City agreed that a very large deer made this. It does seem unusual to me that it would be on such a thick tree. I see them on smaller saplings usually.

Camping the Rattlesnake

Jared, Mariah, and I camped up in the Rattlesnake Wilderness last night. We brought some elk meat, sweet potatoes, dough, onions, and a few other food stuffs for dinner and breakfast. We found that the bears are indeed still moving around. When we arrived at the Rattlesnake creek and got out of the car, we saw a bear cub (probably Black Bear), on the other side of the road. It apparently didn't like us much, because it started to climb a nearby tree.
We used the handrill to make the fire, since my bow drill wasn't working well. I'll be collecting new parts for it soon.
Dinner was excellent, of course, and we all slept well.
The next morning we explored the surroundings a bit, and I gathered some Kinnikinik berries and leaves. I plan to dry the leaves, and use the berries to make pemmican. The berries are very starchy and tend to keep rather well, not unlike a potato. It's also a medicinal plant, used in many places to treat or cure a variety of illnesses. It grows as a groundcover in patches.

Here are the berries, which I gathered using my new elk ear pouch, as well as the branches with leaves.

There are also these green fungi type things? It grows on dead pondarosa pine branches in the rattlesnake and its bright green. If anyone knows what this is, send me an email.

Old pictures

Still haven't bee able to upload my pictures yet, but I did come across an old album of mine that has some pictures from way back before I knew much at all (i.e. debris hut, tracking, etc.) Theres also some old MAPS Meet 2005 pictures in there among others.

This is me circa senior year of high school. I can remember walking down the road dressed like this to get to some woods that are pretty far from my house. Alot of strange looks. Anyway I have a whitetail deer hide cape with rabbit pelts lashed to my arms and hide wrapped around my legs to keep the snow out with buckskin moccasins. I have an Osage Orange sapling bow with arrow wood arrows (stone tipped), as well as my satchel and quiver behind me under the hide. Even though I have a shirt on I was quite warm and comfortable.

This is a debris hut I made also during my senior year. It's mostly pine boughs from discarded Christmas trees and branches from the surrounding area. Key things that are wrong with this shelter (yes, I froze in this shelter), too many open areas to let heat escape, too big, no leaves. If I had made it smaller and used more leaves, I would have been warmer I'm sure. I did have a small fire in there, but it was placed off to the side and provided little to no heat.

Fast forward to this past winter break. This is me approaching a debris hut made by my brother and I the previous summer. I had been told they had severe flooding in the area while I was away, but surprisingly it was relatively intact and required only minimal repair to be usable. It showed no sign of other human habitation, everything was as we had left it 5 months or so earlier. This means to me that the area is relatively safe from most flooding in the area, and not many people go here. The cool thing about this shelter is that one side of it is a large boulder. I plan to rebuild it, possibly take advantage of the boulder to use it as a heat reflector (possible lean-to style shelter?)

Close view of the shelter showing the framework, severe lack of leaves and me removing various gear. Theres also an Ironwood sapling in the foreground, theres quite a few of them around.

This is from the very first summer camp I taught. It was one I ran where I taught my mums friends children. Pretty basic stuff, some primitive bows, tracking, moving through the woods, making things out of tulip poplar, etc. Just a cool picture from the past.

Older beings and interesting finds

While traveling down a bike/walking trail through the woods, I stumbled upon a very old being. It's a very, very old Tulip Poplar tree. And being so old, it is also the largest Tulip Poplar I have ever seen. Its diameter is easily 10 foot, even with me and three friends we couldn't go completely around it. I'm not sure how long Tulip Poplars live, but I'd say it has been there for at least the last 50 years. There were no other trees nearby this large. Surprisingly it had no names or anything carved into the bark, or any visible serious damage, unlike some other old trees near here. The bark was actually looking rather decayed with age, but the upper branches looks alive and well, so I expect this tree to be around for many years to come.

Later on our way back home we stopped in a clearing near a creek. While exploring the creek a hawk (I'm not sure which species) flew in front of me and around to join up with its mate. I headed in their direction and found 2 feathers on the ground from them, in addition to a whitetail deer heading away from me. On the way back across the creek I found a large antler. Quite a rare find this late into summer, the squirrels usually get to them fairly early. This antler has no marks from squirrels or mice chewing on them.