Surrender to the Storm

by Louisa Rodriguez (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

I didn't expect to find Panama

I had heard the stories of these paradise islands in the Caribbean sea, in Panama. It was a bumpy two hour drive from Panama City, to the pick up our boats to take us out to the San Blas islands. I arrived at the river where we would take our small river boat out to the sea. I was grateful to only have brought a small rucksack as we squeezed into the boat. I set off across the river lagoon, sailing away from the relentless pace of civilisation to the unknown the sea. The colour of the water changed as we left the river lagoon and entered the sea, it was magic, crossing the sea I could see tiny islands in the distance, I wondered where I would find myself. Arriving on Guandelope, it felt like I had landed on a Robinson Crusoe Island, just 9 tiny huts, a communal area and a long table where I would eat dinner. I was well and truly off the grid, no wi-fi here and no electricity. The sand was white, clear blue sea, another island in the distance, other than that it was just us on the island in the middle of the sea. There was a Guna Yala family living on the island, as the islands guardians, a lady appeared she was wearing the traditonal Mola, the tribal wear for the Guna Yala. I explored my hut, simple, sand for floor, a matress with a mosquito net, the best sea view from my bed through open door way. The toilet facilities were simple, pour a bucket of water for a flush. We were stripped of western luxuries, pure simplicity. A swing on the beach, would become my favourite spot to reflect, to wonder in awe at the sea, a space I could just be a human being without any doing. We had an hour of sunshine before the rain came, once the rain came it wouldn’t end, we were in San Blas in rainy season! That evening I shared dinner with fellow travellers who would become my San Blas family – two Aussie girls, an Argentinian, a German couple, a Spanish couple and myself. A simple but delicious dinner of fresh fish, rice, beans and great conversation, we discussed travel, our countries, world politics, we played Uno and I was thrilled to be introduced to the game “Dobble.” We all retired to bed, we laughed and screamed like children as the storm was still raining down on us and we dashed to our huts with head torches. That first night was an experience of itself, with our huts so close to the sea, a storm raged through the night, cackling thunder, lightening that awoke the whole sky, the rain poured! We all emerged at breakfast sharing our lack of sleep stories and comparing whose huts was the most wet, as we all realised that we had rain pouring into our huts through the night. That day the rain continued to fall, we became more of a family as we chatted and shared stories, went swimming in the sea because we were all continuously wet anyway, we went out to find the star fish fighting the strong currents of the sea. Yet despite the storms there was a beauty to the wildness of being out in the middle of the sea, being left with nothing left to do but surrender to each moment, embrace the company of each other and allow ourselves to just be present in the moment. I had never been so consistently wet in my life with no way to get dry because everything was wet, getting into my bed that evening it the bed was wet from the rain and humidity throughout the day. I laughed at it all. After two nights of lying in a wet bed, hearing nature rage through its storms, sharing so many conversations, swimming in the sea. It was time to return to civilisation. Through the rain I had found new friends, surrendered to the beauty and wildness of mother nature and in doing so I found what I didn’t expect to find, a sense of peace and friends for life.