The Archipielago de San Blas, Rat Eats My Backpack

• Inoursuitcase's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from San Blas Islands, Nalunega Island

Trip Start Sep 29, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Dec 20, 2010 Next
Entry

  San Blas Islands, Nalunega Island, Panama
Saturday, December 22, 2007

We are back in Panama City after spending three dream days in the Archipelago de San Blas in the Caribbean Sea. Many of the nearly 400 islands of San Blas are real Fantasy Island- type settings meaning un-inhabited islands covered by coconut trees and ringed by white sand beaches with the turquoise Caribbean lapping at their shores. The ones that aren´t un-inhabited contrast sharply with those that are, acre sized cays are packed with bamboo huts and people allowing barely enough room to maneuver among the pathways.

The islands are home to the Kuna who run San Blas as an autonomous region with minimal interference from the national government. What a fascinating people they are. They have their own system of governance, consultation and decision making while maintaining their own economic system, language, customs and culture. Given that the Kuna have been in contact with Europeans ever since Columbus sailed along here in 1502, this has been no small achievement. The distinctive dress of the women that i mentioned last blog is immediately recognizable and their traditions, legends, music and dance remains very much alive. While we were there a 15 year old girl from the village started menstruating and sent the village into a frenzy organizing a rites of passage fiesta for the girl who will be pronounced a woman at this 5 day, 24 hours a day party. The girl was in hiding and will be presented to the village with her hair cut short and dressed from head to toe in the elaborate garments with headscarf, mola blouse and sarong with the stranded beads wound all the way up her arms and legs in geometric patterns. The men are making chica beer from fermented corn and sugar cane and stock piling rum and seafood they catch in the abundant waters around the island. We would have loved to stay but also heard it gets fairly wild. The economy is based primarily on coconuts and fishing. Seafood caught includes fish, lobster, shrimp, king crab and octopus, these are not usually sold for cash but traded among the Kuna. Sometimes you would see naked children far out in the ocean in the dug out canoes fishing with nets. Other food crops including rice, yams, yucca, bananas and pineapples are grown in plots on the mainland a short distance away.

There are Kuna merchant ships and Colombian vessels that travel the Caribbean Sea picking up and dropping off people and goods. Some of these ships may be used for carrying contraband and / or for drug trafficking. While we were there two local men were arrested in possession of 60 kilograms of cocaine near our island.

The only practical way to visit the San Blas is to fly. We checked onto Panama Air at Albrook Airport with double the allowance of weight in our luggage. We paid for the excess and got on a noisy, 20 seater plane with an open view of the cockpit. The plane does a kind of milk run landing and taking off from airstrips on various islands with people and goods. The birds-eye view over the islands surrounded by the magnificent contrasting blue and turquoise hues was pleasing to the eye We had a relatively smooth flight in to land on the short palm tree lined runway of El Porvenir and checked in with the Kuna Yala police.

A Kuna guy who we referred to as ´Pixie, wearer of Monkey Tooth´ collected us in a lengthy, motorised dugout canoe and took us to Nalunega Island. Outsiders cannot buy land in Kuna Yala so the rustic accommodations are all owned by indigenous Indians, we stayed at The San Blas Hotel on Nalunega Island in a village. Nalunega is a small with many simple thatched huts with no electricity or running water. The village looks fragile, as though the whole island would be blown away in  a big bad wolf of a strong wind. The village surrounds a central, full-sized basketball court. They are very proud of their basketball team. There is 49 families and 200 people, so many children live there. The first time we ventured out for a walk around the village, a lady appeared with her five kids (one of the daughters pregnant), four new puppies and a few strands of the beading. The woman wrapped up my wrist in a beaded cuff using a long strand of beads coloured orange, green, black and brown, the whole piece completed in one minute flat. I am still ´kunified´as i like to call it and my arm now protects me from serpents, handy in the city of course. Other women rushed to hang their mola cloth. Most of the molas for sale now are modern designs and not the traditional patterns i preferred so i was glad i had purchased some vintage ones earlier in th city. The village had a medicine man who uses plants and herbs to heal the sick and injured. The Kunas use dug out canoes, make shift sails and carved paddles to transport themselves between islands and to fish.

The San Blas Hotel  was simple but adequate and the staff were awesome fun. You fall instantly under the island time spell as soon as you hit a hammock swinging anywhere in the San Blas. Each day the staff would take us to two different un-inhabited islands for playing, swimming, snorkelling and harpooning fish. The coral reefs were great and one day we did a ship wreck snorkel. We visited the islands of Diablo, Pelican, Dog and Grass (no marijuana there) where you would pay the chief of the island $US 1 for the day. The islands were surreal and ridiculously beautiful. The shores were lined with white washed coral, shells and empty sea urchins . Grass Island looked like the perfect place for an outdoor psytrance party and would have been if it wasn´t for the danger of coconuts falling on your head. On arriving on Grass Island, the very old traditional Kuna woman took our $US 1 then asked us if we had a cell phone she could use. Grass Island has an odd shoe collection better than Wicksys. You kind of wished you had brought all things to the island you would say you would bring if someone asks you what three things you would take with you to a deserted island. Pirate´s rum is one, as is music and we were lucky enough to have the ipod along for the ride. Smooth and funky house music was the perfect soundtrack for the islands. We also did a trip to another village to visit a museum and to meet and photograph some women and children. Even though the people are used to some foreigners from cruise ships that pass through, they were still shy and we felt very intrusive traipsing around their homes. The museum had some shaman´s tools and other artifacts like instruments that were fascinating. The dugout canoe was a rough ride across the sea at times. We saw  a porpoise jump high out of the ocean in front of us. One afternoon there was a giant, pirate ship anchored out the front of the hotel and it was rumoured to have a grumpy captain on board with the beard and mustache in true pirate style. One night we had some visitors from a yacht join us for dinner. They owned a kite surfing business and were more good company for us.  

There are no restaurants, each hotel provides all the meals for it´s guests. We had three meals a day. The dinner usually consisted of fish or calamari, conch or even lobster that the staff and guests had caught. The chef was an albino Kuna woman living as a man and dating a man who is a pre-op woman and owns a cold beer shop behind the hotel. A very confusing partnership is that. Sometimes the Kuna people would blow on a helmet shell to signify different events happening in the village at different times. There is a resident dog at the hotel and it´s name is ´No Important´.

Another highlight of this little vacation within the travelling lifestyle was meeting Tom and Tania. Tom, from London and Tania, a Kiwi living in London. Great company and loads of fun they were. Tania gifted me with a bikini (not the Brazilian style). As a bonus it was Tom´s birthday on one of the days and Nadine arranged for a cake to be made. We had a corker of a rum party with all the staff and other guests (only 4 others) and presented Tom with ´Tiny Tom´, a replica of Tom made out of a seed pod, coral, shells, duct the miracle tape and two tubes of super glue. Tom adored the gesture and everyone loved monkey. When i requested rum for the party, the boys took off in the dugout canoe to get some from another island..... service. There was also a movie guy from Los Angeles who we called ´Hollywood´, a girl named Jessica from New Jersey and a couple from Argentina who were jewellery makers. We bought some gorgeous pieces from them and Adriane the guy went all the way through our South America guidebook marking all the insiders tips with notes, a saint. I found a blemish free piece of clear quartz from Venezuela amongst their collection. A good bunch of people. ´Hollywood´caught a shark on one of the days with a traditional Kuna harpoon. Friendly fact for the day, your Spanish gets better, the more rum you drink. Nadine´s Spanish is on fire! We had loads of fun. Silly photos involved me dressing up in bikini, boardies, snorkel fins, Paris Hilton big white sunglasses, inflatable moose head pool tube around my waist and white umbrella. Classic photos.

We were sad to leave at 6:00am back to the city to wait for our Brazil flight. We saw some acquaintances on the flight home who didn´t seem to have the same experiences we did but good all the same. We got a good deal from The San Blas Hotel. On the flight home i noticed what i thought to be a knife stab attack to my day pack. On closer inspection, i realised a rat or mouse had chewed it´s way through the bag and nibbled on some granola muesli i had stashed there for emergencies. Jessica  shared a taxi with us to the Voyager Backpackers and we scored the private room. We had a lazy few drinks for the Friday night and met Eric who is a sweet, hilarious guy who wears two hearing aids and collects the joker cards he steals from decks of playing cards (eerily a habit i also have). Nadine cooked a lush dinner for everyone. Another hilarious night with the backpacker crowd. We´ll just make the most of the slow time here by tying up loose ends like laundry and buying any supplies we need.

Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas) to all for the silly season. xxx

Slideshow Share

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

13	21	15	22
8	23	59	7
46	18	5	17
35	20	38	19
10	54	9	101
4	37	34	42
12	14	47	16
24	36	26	27
28	29	33	30
31	25	32	41
45	39	40	100
44	48	49	50
51	43	52	58
53	55	56	57
60

Previous Entry Next Entry