True KUNA Love

Erin Says:

We woke up at 4am to take a 3 hour 4X4 ride from Panama City ..most of it through the jungle, fishtailing up and down muddy slopes. A bit of a bumpy ride to say the least. We arrived at a clearing and all of the sudden were being ushered to a small, wooden boat on a river where we loaded our stuff in and hoped in...not really sure where we were going. San Blas is an archipelago of 365 islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama. The majority of these islands are uninhabited, but the ones that are are solely inhabited by the Kuna people. (With a couple small islands that Kuna people have established for tourists to stay at). The Kuna people are crazy proud because they are the only one of the 7 tribes in Panama who have maintained their independence. They are self-governing, have their own language and keep most of their traditional customs, relatively untouched. Needless to say, we were all pretty excited to be visiting the area.

We were told to go to Franklin´s Island....and this is actually an old Kuna man named Franklin's island! (Only the Kuna people can buy any of these islands...they can be as cheap at 300 or 400 dollars.)

(Proof that we were actually there....)

We were taken along a chain of small islands. The inhabited islands where the Kuna had their villages were tightly packed with thatched huts and buildings, and other islands were soley white sand and palm trees. For the majority of the hour boat ride we were soaking wet and swallowing salt water like crazy. We seemed to forget about this instantly when we pulled up to Franklin´s. The place was (as you can see) AMAZING. The definition of paradise: the whole island was made up of white sand, palm trees, and turquoise crystalline water... and it was very small. It took about a minute and a half to run the perimiter of the island (we know this from actually timing people during drinking games). All that was really on the island was a few thatched huts for guests to sleep in, one common area for meals, a volleyball court, and some hammocks. Our hut was pretty wicked!

Despite quite a few crabs digging their way into our floor at night, and a few, always welcomed, cockroach friends, we were loving our little hut. Franklin and the staff were amazing. Whatever you wanted or needed they would make it happen. One of our boys forgot his cigarettes and Franklin had a couple of his hospital Kuna guys to take a boat out to get him some. They made us three meals a day (fish and rice mostly), which they actually called us to by blowing a conch shell. And if we were thirsty (apart from the beer, water, etc they had) one of the little Kuna men would run up a tree and get us a coconut!Another cool thing about the food situation was that when the Kuna people went spear fishing for dinner, they used no gear at all. The Kuna people believe that if they are going to hunt the sea life, they should try and keep the playing field even, so to speak. They train themselves at a very young age to be able to free dive without gear. One man on the island (we were told) could dive over 20 feet with no gear at all. They believe if they are going to hunt and kill, they should be risking their lives, too.(Alyece and the Kuna man that had a TINY bit of a crush on me - too bad I was a giant compared to him)

I´d like to say we did a lot of crazy cool stuff on the island....but we pretty much spent three days, lying in the sun, reading,snorkeling, swimming, lying in the sun, sipping on a coconut, playing cards, watching the many pelicans dive for fish,playing volleyball, and lying in the sun. The place was pretty much paradise. And we didn't wear any kind of shoes for 4 days straight.About day two into our stay was when we met the beautiful Jolanda and Claudia from Switzerland, (because when you're on an island where you could probably throw a football from one end to the other, it's kind of hard NOT to meet everyone)along with the half Kuna, half Panamanian, Tony (and Tony Dos, the baby squirrel they were keeping until it grew big enough to protect itself from all the birds). We spent a lot of time just goofing around, (Gates back flipping off the dock)

(note the Kuna man in the background doing a handstand)

and hanging out being photographers. (the Kuna men, unloading the daily supply of fresh water) (Gates and Tony getting some air) (Tony trying to show us how to jump like him....not possible ha ha) (The whole crew joins in)

We were told when we left for San Blas, that everyday someone would boat us to a different island to either see a Kuna village, or hang out on an uninhabited beach; However, we had seen no such boats for a couple days and couldn´t figure out why. Turns out we were right in the middle of a huge 5 day Kuna celebration that happens of the end of December every year, in honor of the girls of that year that had reached puberty. Apparently all of the Kuna people were too drunk and high to boat us anywhere.

On the last day of the 5 day party, super lucky for us, Tony offered to take us to the last dance. Unfortunately, we got their a little late and all that was left was a couple of men chanting, thanking the gods for the party, and a bunch of Kuna kids running around. Thankfully I charmed one 10 year old into teaching me the traditional Kuna dance...or he charmed me, I´m not sure. Alyece, Claudia, and Jolanda were taken by the hand and shown the Kuna moves from some old men.Returning that night was a SLIGHT safety hazard. About 12 of us piled into the tiny wooden boat at about 10pm at night in darkness after our boat driver had slammed a few back. We cruised full speed, soaking wet, with no form of navigational tools, that I was aware of...besides maybe the stars ha ha. At times I was pretty sure the boat was going to flip, but for some reason Alyece and I couldn´t stop laughing as we were getting face-fulls of water while we were also in charge of bailing out the bottom of the boat.

Anyway, the next day Tony offered again to take us to another village where a different festival was just beginning, (this time a celebration of the tribe's freedom) but this time he offered to have us sleep there with a family he knew and he would get us back to Panama city the next day. Obviously we were in. We decided to head over while it was still light out this time - good decision.We pulled up to the little Kuna village/island at about 4. The first thing we got a kick out of was their toilets - which were literally little boxes with holes, over the ocean. (The upgrade)

There were definitely no tourists hanging out here...except for us, of course. We were super lucky, yet again, to have a special Kuna connection, and that the boat driver gave up his house for us that evening. AND his family cooked us dinner. And they somehow had a series of hammocks hung up in his one room thatched hut.

(Tony being the photographer)

(They don´t celebrate Christmas...but they did have some decoration just for fun...this is Alyece and I´s Christmas tree this year)

To get into the village there was a little bridge that was pretty hilarious. It couldn´t support more than two people at one time without collapsing, and even then it was pretty sketchy.

After being fed by the family that gave up their house for us, we went to go check out the celebration. The whole experience was one of the coolest things either of us has ever been able to see, but unfortunately we have only our memories because we were not allowed to take any pictures of the sacred ceremony. (Tony giving us the strict ´NO PICTURES ALLOWED´)

The celebration was also in honor of the king. The festival will last five days and there are dancers who dance for five days straight and drinking excessively and smoking excessively with only one hour time slots of sleep. After seeing day one, I´m not sure how they were even still standing, let alone able to go for 4 more days.

Everyone was in traditional clothing. All the women were smoking out of big pipes a combination of marijuana and some other plant. They were all red eyed and wobbly, most of them with children in their arms. Upon arriving in the afternoon, one Kuna woman in full traditional dress walked up to us and said "estoy baracho" (I'm drunk), which set the tone for the rest of the night. The men involved were also in traditional dress. Black fedoras, bright maroon shirts and black ties, and black pants. The beginning of the dancing was outside where the men would periodically strip naked, jump in the ocean for a makeshift shower and hop back out only to dance again. Later, the ceremony moved inside to what looked like a long house and was their place for worship. At one point of the ceremony, they made the fathers drink (a disgusting KUNA alcohol made from fermented coffee beans, drank out of wooden bowls) until they vomited, to illustrate their daughters´ purity. Alyece and I had to take 5 and go for a walk at this point. In between dances in the big hut, we joined some very drunk Kuna men doing merengue dancing in a clearning. The traditional dancers continued to dance long into the night (and many of them stop to vomit during) Later, Tony took me for a walk around the tiny island to check out, one of the most clear views of the stars I have ever seen and Luckily, we were still awake at about 4am. (the others had fallen asleep in the various hammocks back at the house) This is when they did the water dance and basically just drenched themselves in water while doing a sacred dance for the king and the gods. For the entire 5 day ceremony the chiefs of the villages in the islands surrounding would sit and observe.

The whole thing felt like one of the most authentic experiences I have had. People were extremely friendly and welcoming and graciously allowed us to view their sacred ceremony, although it felt more like we were plucked up and dropped in to observe the environment, rather than actually being a part of it.

Either way, it was a truly amazing night. After pretty much no sleep for me, we packed up for the boat ride back to the mainland, and Panama City.

When we sadly returned, Alyece and I, completely exhausted, went straight to the grocery store to grab some food for dinner. Luckily, they were serving fresh mojitos for free in the grocery store and we got just the little wake up we needed. (Alyece with her child´s cart, mojito and bag of chocolate)

When we returned to the hostel we were all ready for a little power nap!!! Until Next Time.....