San Blas Islands - Blogabond

I had never heard of the San Blas Islands before. It was Christoffer’s mom who recommended us to go there.

A ghetto on water. That was our first impression. We couldn’t have been more wrong. We arrived to one of these amazing islands on a cloudy Sunday morning. An island as big as 3 or 4 football fields inhabited by 400 Kuna Indians.

Apparently, we were the only white people and no other tourists. I felt like Morgan Pålsson (utrikesreporter) when walking around there trying to talk Spanish with a heavy Swedish accent.

San Blas is a series of 365 islands of which only 49 are inhabited by the independent Kuna Indians. Some of the other islands are coconut islands where families takes turns in living on for 3 months selling coconuts to Colombian boats.

I have never seen a more crowded place but this wasn’t a negative thing here. It was rather the contrary. People helped each other and enjoyed being near one another.

These people live their whole lives with sand under their feet and in their hammocks. They are “produced” there and they eat, sleep, get married and are later buried in their lovable hammocks.

The Kunas hunt fish, collect cocunuts and make molas. A Mola, in the Kuna culture, is a traditional blouse worn by the Indian Women. It is made from two intricately appliquéd panels. These colorful graphic panels are collected as an art form.

The island was crowded with happy children playing and running around. When living like this I guess they have a lot of time “producing babies”.

The first day here they took us out to a tiny little island and it felt like me and Chris had skipped engagement, marriage and just fast forwarded to honey moon. Paradise is the only word I can describe this island with. At 12 o’clock they came back with the boat to give us a delicious meal of freshly caught fish with rice and vegetables. After a few hours we met a guy from the States who had decided to go travelling on his own. We had a really nice time together and hanged out again two days later.

There were many new experiences on Kuna Yala but the toilet was an experience I'll seldom forget. Imagine you have to do number two and you ask where the toilet is. They show you to a small little hut without roof out in the water, complete with plywood bench with a hole in the middle, topped with a plastic toilet seat. The so called “splash hut” is perched about 2 m right over the water so you know it will sound. You look down through the toilet seat and see the most beautiful schools of fish swimming below. You understand that you must do numero dos sooner or later. You take a seat and a splash later you have pooped right into what looks like a gigantic aquarium. The worst part is that it is only 5 meters from your neighbours' hut. So anything that happens to fall from the toilet is in plain sight of the neighbours. However, it is quite an experience going to the toilet under a starry Caribbean sky.

The following days we spent snorkeling at a wreck, sunbathing on different islands, drinking from coconuts, playing with children, going to the world’s smallest museum and just experiencing Kuna Yala. I got a lesson in how to make molas and bought a “real” mola as a souvenir.

There’s so much that I want to write about this experience but it’s a blog not a book :) Next stop Panama City.

Estefanie

written by

Steffi & Chris on November 2, 2009 from Carti Icotupo, Panama

from the travel blog: 212 days

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