SAN BLAS ARCHIPELAGO

KUNA YALA

February 27th, 2004 - march 21st, 2004

San Blas, Kunas , Molas …

500 years agom kunas indians used to peint their ba very geometrical and colorouful way as a kind of clothing. In the midle of the 18 century when the first europeans showed up, kunas started to dress up and women to sew molas which were at this time as long as reaching calves. Today the dress has shortened and is just a top with baggy sleeves ornated with two mola, one at the front the other one at the back, and is colled saboured.

Molas are sewed using an "applique" technic. Stiching must be nearly invisible on one side and appeared tiny and regulars on the other side. Earlier a good mola was supposed to have 5 layers of material but nowaday layers seems to disapear as weel as the quality and it even becomes pretty rare to find some with 4 layers. A few weeks of work are needed to end one of a good quality but some molas for tourists made up with just 2 layers are done in just two days work. Molas are very colourfull and as traditionnal geometricals design tends to disappear new stylished design appear with animals, artifacts of the daily life, or even sometimes Superman redesigned by the kunas artists!!!

Women also wear very long pearls strands enrolled around their forearms and their legs. They are supposed to keep them on all their life and removes them sometimes when its needed to repair them. They are pretty tight and thoses bracelets sometimes really disform the ladies body.

kunas indians own the San Blas Archipelago which is spread onto 320 000 hectares and 230 Km long on the panamean continent including 350 isles. The Kunas are gathered into a community the Kuna Yala also named in sanish "commarca de san blas", leaded and managed by themselves and not depending from the Panamean government. The Kunas are autonomous people, able to be self sufficient, they respest wildlife where from they pick up their food to live on, the sea and the fishes, the land where they all own a garden. Today, rules changes as trading brings them another means of support. They also produced 20 millions of coco per year mainly sold to the colombians, women sell their mola to tourists which also brings money

Chichime

Great cool and quiet sail to get to Chichime our first San Blas stop!

Very similar to the french Tuamotu's, with little white sandy atolls, a little less elevated than sea level, coverered with coconuts and inhabited with kunas indians.

Just have time to drop the anchor and kunas indians are already into their canoe and holding to our boat to sell their prodigious molas. On both side of the boat they are standing with molas! difficult to resist!!!

Mens speak a little of spanish as well as kids, but women only speak the kuna dialect, unable for us to understand and far away from anything heard before! Fortunately the smile is here and as Greenland it is another kingdom of smile. These Indians are very nice people, smiling and not showing andy sort of agressivity or violence.

Their Ulu is a canoe made up into a very heavy wood and women are often alone with kids on board to paddle to get to sail boats to trade their molas..

Mens are true sailors, and their job is to feed the families, to fish and bring back food, coco, platanos, bananas, etc... the canoe is often carrying a mast and put to sail for longer destinations to go.

In small islands like Chichime, drinkable water comes from a hole diged in the middle of the island where water arrived after being filterd through the coral and sand having for result a nearly unsalty water. Around each hole, kunas gather for laundry or showerin

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Some of them live here more or less than 3 months and then go back to bigger island like Carti ou Nargana where kids can be at school.

Nuinudupp

Quite close to Chichime is Nuinudupp, a little bigger and having several isles but some already covered by sea, inevitable issue to most of these dream atolls. Several families lives there with their kids, one can even buy a delicious bread made by the kunas.

Fishing is so good here except than to catch something you need to dive deeper as clever fishes stands at 15 meters to be quiet. Visibility is rather murky but when jean luc wants to catch something he can even see in the dark! Hog fish, makrel and an enormous snapper make a delicious aioli we share with Massimo an italien and Gitana of course!

The wind blows and nice waves break on the reef which protect us.

Sangtupu

Sangtupu, an island who became too small for its 1000 inhabitants living there where building keeps going on for generation but onto the water. To do so they use their canoe to bring back everykind of rubble they are able to find to be able to build on. Sangtupu is a very traditionnal island where it is pretty difficult to move as houses are all stuck one to the other. Every kuna getting married receive a house on the island as well as a garden ashore.

Today is the puberty ceremony at Sangtupu and the island is transformed into a drinking island. La chicha is a drink made up with fermented sugar cane is in great part replaced with rum. Women are busy preparing some food to sponge their drunken husband. Almost every women here is wearing a mola and it is really somptuous to look at, but once you try to take a picture you are then asked a dollar...

Eulogio a kuna teacher on the island once studied in Panama and in United States, and he takesus through the island and to a kuna yala museum, where ancient molas can be seen. The next morning we join him for a walk ahsore in the kuna yala garden. The sangtupu canoes keeps running from island to land to bring fresh water as sangtupu can not furnish anymore water for so many people.

We have to depart from Sangtupu and Gitana as we got news from jeanluc's dad. He finally decided to meet us in Nargana located down east of the san blas. We sail back to Nuinudupp for a night and the next morning we are off to Nargana.

Nargana

Nargana is a rather big island where tradition seems to be abandonned and replaced by modern technologies. Here houses are concret buildings and rare are the palm trees huts, electricity is omnipresent and works with a non stop power generator on, allowing the people to even wwatch tv, have fridge. Gas cooker are seen here and the bread they sell do not have the good taste of wood fire.

Colombian trade boats supply Nargana's little groceries with fresh vegetables and other goods which is a good way for charter sail boat supplies. Sailing in the san blas can be really tough if you do not have enough supply with you.

René arrives in Corazon de Jésus, the airport islot. he arrives from san sebastian, madrid in spain, then Miami and Panama city. A pretty long trip isnt'it! l'îlot où se trouve l'aéroport, après 24 heures de transport, via San Sebastian, Madrid, Miami, Panama city ! the airport tarmac is rather short and covered with grass tuft, surounded with coconut trees and blue water!

We dinghy up the " Rio Diablo ",which seems logical to us after being at " Corazon de Jésus " !! as the rio diablo runs fresh water, it is soon a great opportunity for showering, and laundry. We bath in the river just like a rejuvenating bath eventhough we do not expect to be younger after that! Further ahead the river is not allowed to power boats as the water is pumped through a pipe straight to the village where people have running water. To remain in Nargana you have to paye a little 5 USD and to get fresh water you pay another 2.50 usd and take as much as you need!

Green Cay

Back to sandy islands and blue water under Iritis hull and Rene do appreciate that above all. The magnificient Green cay is quiett and not too busy. Jean luc and rene goes fishing and come back with a stingray. To put the sting ray into pieces is certaintelly longer than the shot to kill it, thouht the spear ended the hunt folded into a concertina! From now we have stingray enough to feed an army! and to start we have sea urchins!

Hollandes Cayes East

A large group of islands where we meet again Gitana and a dozen of other sail boats. Several families of kunas live there and banana trees alleys. The village island is very clean as well as the hut. In the whole San Blas we have no right to collect fallen coconuts as they are considered the local currency. Victor who seems to be the leader of this islots informs us that if we need something, we just have to ask and he'll be happy to offer it to us. To anchor here is 5 usd, valid one month. To greet us we are offered an advocado each from Victor.

Some of the boaters here gather on the beach to prepare a barbecue, joined by two kunas and an anthropologue. Jean luc, Rene and the indians prepare a giant barbecue fire to cook the fishes caught, as well as the big wahoo a couple of swedish people brought along wih them. Gitana cook their own chicken on the gas barbecue they took ashore. The antropologue explains us he rented the banana boat to the kuna yala community for a 40 usd fee per day.

The islands around are pretty but all abandonned. The three of us go roundt the island enjoying nice refreshing swims as the weather is really hot.

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While free diving in the channel we bservee nurse sharks and discover a lobster of good size hidden behind a coral head which inevitably ends up in our plate. Rene find a triton but as we have no idea if it is eatable or not we let it free!

Morodup, Hollandes Cayes West

Iritis sail alone to Morodup. Trusquin told us it was an unhinabited island and it is. but in fact the island has nearly totally disappeared under water. Here we free dive and dive too. Rene and I tank dived there but visibility is really murky with pretty corals to observe anyway. We have a great time and surface in a burst of laugh, and find conches we cook in the evening.

Hollandes cayes East
Certainly a better drop of to dive and René and Jean luc enjoy a dive with a better visibility and managed to take pictures. The island we are anchored before is pretty nice and we have the feeling we are the only one in the world. Then a strange activity is occuring onto the island where kunas are cleaning up some little paths and seems to be pretty busy preparing something. We imagine it is a normal daily activity when we look right behind us and discover a cruise ship in coming in and expected to anchor. The kunas indians then attach lines in between trees thinking it is to play volley as we realiwe it is to show their mola to the cruise ship people! !

We manage to go ashore before the tourists and to buy the mola at good prices. A walk through the island take us to the village and a kuna guy offers lobsters to cook for dinner and Rene buy them.

the 90 americans tourist are sailing on "le levant' flying a french flag ship from matu hutu (wallis and futuna) with french crew members and two colombian naturalist guides. Their stop is rather short and the mola trading did not seem to be so exceptionnal! but they all seems to enjoy the swiming! !

Nargana, again.

Gitana wants us to join them to go up the Rio Diablo, and wait for us in Nargana. We find here another great opporotunity to do the laundry in the river and to do more supply of fresh vegetables at Nargana.

While going up the river we keep pulling the dinghy or paddle as we are in the no engine zone, we find out a kuna cemetery. Each grave is showing some artifacts belonging to the deceased, as plate, mug, or a walking stick. On a kid's one who died recently, his favorite gamesm and his bottle and daily objects can be seen.

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AOn our first stop at Nargana to pick up René we discovered a local restaurant which becomes our little cantina, but each time we go there prices rise up! Here we meet Adolpho and Alicia an italian and american couple. They've been here for three month and have no idea yet what they want to do. A bit like us !

Coco Bandero

Getting to Coco Bandero we meet again Adolpho, Alicia and Massimo with a whole tribe of other italian fleet! A huge barbecue is organized by the italian team and we are invited to join them. Rene and Jean luc have to go fishing and good for them they catch the biggers! From that moment Adolpho and jean luc will compete for the biggest one each time they hunt together. It was a gorgeous barbec, all the italians speaking pretty fast but with hands luckily! Only Rene was able to have a discussion with them and he even had them singing. One of the italian interpretaded with a caruso voice the Ave Maria from Shubert. A unic moment in the middle of the coconut trees, onto an unhinabited island surrounded with blue water with just the wind and the crakling sound of the fire for music!

The next day the italian team left to Green cayes and only a few boats remains there. We have Adolpho and Alicia for dinner, rene join them for a fishing moment while jean luc goes aboard Contigo to help out Chris with a computer problem.

At last Gitana arrives find the island and we decide to do a big barbecue. René I are preparing the fire with what can be founded on to this island as everything comes from coconut trees! we even manage to have the remaining fire from the italians to start again after three days. Real boy scouts! We'll cook fishes of all kind. Maurizio a colombian guy owning a marina in Carthagina, living in Panama, bring a wonderful and delicious coco dessert. We enjoy a good time eventhough linguistic clans showed up, with the franco-italo-colombian on one side and the american onto the other.

It is time for us to get to Colon as Rene have a flight to take from Panama city on march 28th, and it is already march 21st. We leave Coco bandero and sell to Nuinudup.

René and I paddle ashore with the dinghy to buy the so good kuna bread cooked onto wood fire. That's it, San Blas time is over by now and it is a real magic time, with a little taste of pacific, a little paradise.

Linton 22 mars 2004 - Colon 25 mars 2004

We stop at linton but the monkeys will show up only when we are back aboard Iritis.

Portobello, where we arrive for lunch is still a lovely town and we guide rene through the fortifications. René and jean luc hike up the hill and bring back a load of sour oranges also named lemon-oranges. A guy with his canoe sell. He was right they were delicious.

We are back to Colon. The count down is on for rene. We decide to rent a car and drive to Panama city going through the locks and through the rainforest. After being stuck in a traffic jam due to an accident for more than an hour and a half we stop in he national parc and hike a bit of the camino de cruce, the old road taken to get from pacifi to atlantic. we can hear the monkeys in the trees, really fascinating noise. Glad they are high in the trees they sound enormous! We visited the Gatun locks as well as Miraflores ones, and we stand to the padific side and saw the famous bridge! !

René flies back to france with a huge mola collection, and we are back to Iritis which seams empty.

Right now we have decided not to transit the canal and remain more time in the atlantic. We are going to leave Panama for Providencia a colombian island not close to colombia, then Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, and Florida. Yes, we changed our mind!

A close look at the panama canal Locks

Gatun's locks

A transit aboard seabride going back to New Zealand.