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20th Jan 2009 - 2nd Mar 2009
Kuna Yala - the National Geographic Tour
We sailed from Cartagena, Colombia on February 4 after a wonderful 7 weeks there. Our first stop was the beautiful Rosario Islands which are just 24 miles away, but a whole other world! After spending a short week there we made the passage west to Panama, Central America. That passage can be a very rough one but we picked our weather well and arrived in 26 hours at the San Blas Islands of Panama! Or as the Kuna Indians call it – Kuna Yala. So far we have visited 5 islands in Kuna Yala: Isla Pinos, Mamiatupu, Tupile, Tigre, and Yandup. Every island is unique and we have loved getting to know the Kuna people and their culture. Be sure to check out the Movie section for two slides shows from the island of Mamitupu.
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Diary Photos
| 20th Jan 2009 |
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| Can you Toucan? |
| The Rosario Islands of Colombia are a popular tourist destination. Boats carry the visitors the 24 miles from Cartagena where they spend the day enjoying the beautiful clear water and then return them to the mainland at sundown. It was a perfect place for us to spend a few days and get back into the cruising lifestyle. We found a wonderful surprise with an awesome bird sanctuary that is privately owned but allows visitors. They must have had hundreds of birds of every kind imaginable: toucans, macaws, parrots, ostrich, peacocks, owls, emus. You get the idea! |
| 21st Jan 2009 |
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| Laughter |
| Steve and two friends pulled out their guitars for happy hour one night at the beach bar. These parrots came to enjoy the show. Every time Lili laughed, they would laugh back. We just weren’t sure if they were laughing with us or at us! |
| 22nd Jan 2009 |
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| A little scratch! |
| While we were in the Rosarios the seas were too large for the tourists boats to come out so we had the place to ourselves. We tried to visit the local aquarium but it was closed. At first we were disappointed but they said we could walk around. So we stopped to watch the dolphins…….before we knew it Lili was laying on the dock scratching their bellies. Much better than the standard dolphin show. |
| 23rd Jan 2009 |
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| Flashback! |
| From our last update you can see that we had a blast in Cartagena. We just couldn’t resist including this photo from one of our last days there. We often ate from the street vendors where the food was great and the prices really cheap. One of our favorites was the shrimp cocktail for $6 which would feed two. On this night Steve wanted to buy an avocado to have with our shrimp, but sometimes the vendors would charge us “gringo” prices. So he asked a street mime performer to help negotiate the avocado sale! |
| 24th Jan 2009 |
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| Isla Pinos - first encounter with the Kuna |
| Our introduction to Kuna Yala was Isla Pinos, the prefect place. Kuna Yala is the home to the Kuna Indians who have preserved their culture and way of living. They are a very small people, the next smallest race to the pygmy. There are about 55, 000 which is about 10% of what existed before the Spanish conquistadors. The women dress very traditionally with colorful mola blouses, glass beads on their legs and nose rings. Most do not like to be photographed. Whenever we arrived at a village the first stop is always to see the chief or in Kuna, “the Sila”. He welcomes you and tells you the rules of the village. Which are very simple: Ask permission and every coconut belongs to someone! |
| 25th Jan 2009 |
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| The village |
| The village is very neat and clean with the homes built of the natural resources with no modern nails. The roofs are made of special palm leaves and keep everything dry with a life expectancy of 15 years. |
| 26th Jan 2009 |
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| Kids, Kids, Kids |
| The Kuna children were very friendly and very curious. It was obvious that they did not have many visitors. These kids just followed us until we decided it was time for play. We taught them ring-around-the-rosy, hopscotch, and the hokey pokey! |
| 27th Jan 2009 |
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| Photo Op! |
| The children just loved to have their picture taken and crowded around to see the display on the camera. It didn’t seem to matter that they didn’t get a print, they were just happy to look at the screen for a few seconds. |
| 28th Jan 2009 |
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| Shore Excursion |
| It was time for a little adult fun so three other boats joined us for a hot dog roast on the beach. After getting permission from the Sila of course! |
| 29th Jan 2009 |
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| Camp IPYC |
| Some of the former boyscouts went ashore, cleared an area, and built a perfect bonfire, complete with a lean-to. We named the camp IPYC, Isla Pinos Yacht Club, and even had a flag pole for the burgees. |
| 30th Jan 2009 |
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| Nice Camp |
| After the hard work of camp building the perfect bonfire complex, Steve got some hammock time. |
| 31st Jan 2009 |
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| What's Cookin? |
| The hot dogs were wonderful and later the guitars all came out for great singing around the campfire |
| 2nd Feb 2009 |
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| Neon Frog |
| In Isla Pinos, we took a hike up the mountain and found these neon spotted frogs, along with white faced monkeys, and a red/yellow/black striped snake. We still can’t remember if its Red and Yellow “friendly fellow or Red and Black, “can hurt” Jack! |
| 3rd Feb 2009 |
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| Mamiatupu |
| Next stop was the island of Mamitupu which quickly became one of our favorites. The eastern islands are the more traditional. Mamitupu has no electricity but does have running water from a PVC pipe from a river in the nearby mountains on the mainland. |
| 4th Feb 2009 |
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| A nice commute |
| The Kuna live on the palm tree lined islands which are just offshore the mainland. Every day the men paddle their ulus across to the mainland where they tend their small “farms”. Which are just natural areas with banana, coconut, mango, yucca, pineapple and wild cane. There is no large clearing of the land so the forest has remained intact. As a result this is just a beautiful natural area to visit. |
| 5th Feb 2009 |
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| A pretty picture |
| The ulus are made of one large tree trunk which is roughly carved on the mainland and then brought to the island for the finishing touches. Some of the Kuna add a sail to their ulu and they are fast little boats. It was not unusual to see one 4 miles offshore in pretty rough seas. |
| 6th Feb 2009 |
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| The Parking Garage |
| Some ulus even have a garage! |
| 7th Feb 2009 |
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| The folks |
| Just a classic photo of the Kuna. The men dress regularly while the woman wear the traditional mola blouse. The Kuna are a matriarchal society with the women controlling the money and the man moves into her house. The men are the farmers and fishermen. |
| 8th Feb 2009 |
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| Curious |
| Parents and children would paddle out to Liward in their ulu’s just to look. Some sold bananas, coconuts, or lobster. Some asked for magazines, one of the few words they knew in English. We gave a few of the kids one crayon with a piece of paper. They were so excited you would have thought it was an electronic gameboy. |
| 9th Feb 2009 |
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| Attention all Shoppers! |
| On Mamitupu, the Sila did not want the cruisers to be bothered on their boats by locals trying to sell things. So one afternoon, they organized a display of all the “molas” on the basketball court. Molas are beautiful appliqué shirts with intricate sewing and cutting of different colors of cloth. They were beautiful and it was hard to choose from the thousands of molas. |
| 9th Feb 2009 |
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| Beautiful Purchase |
| Lili made her purchase and then we were allowed to take a photo of the seamstress. We felt badly that there were so many beautiful pieces with only a few shoppers |
| 10th Feb 2009 |
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| Los Gringos |
| New friends Jeff and Hutch play guitar also, so the group Los Gringos was formed. The guys did a concert on Mamiatupu which was a big hit. |
| 12th Feb 2009 |
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| A special audience |
| Word spread quickly and the kids as well as adults arrived. These kids are very well behaved and just sat fascinated! There must have been over 125! |
| 13th Feb 2009 |
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| Conch Chowder |
| One of our Kuna friends took us out to the offshore reef to gather conch. So the girls on four boats got together and made two big pots of Bahamian Conch chowder which we brought to shore to share. We had fun cooking together…..it was kind of like stone soup with everyone bringing whatever they had extra of! And of course there was a bottle of champagne corked to inspire the cooks. So after the concert we all sat down with our new Kuna friends to great chowder and fresh Kuna bread. |
| 14th Feb 2009 |
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| Asciento |
| We found out that our conch guide also played guitar so next it was his turn! |
| 15th Feb 2009 |
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| San Lorenzo |
| A Picture of San Lorenzo |
| 15th Feb 2009 |
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| Ulu Lessons! |
| We were so impressed with the ulu’s that we decided to ask for ulu paddling lessons. The ulus are actually much more stable than you would expect. And once you get them going they are pretty fast. |
| 16th Feb 2009 |
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| And they're off! |
| And once you know how to paddle an ulu, next its time for a relay race. There was even a trophy for the winning team…..one bar of coconut soap! |
| 17th Feb 2009 |
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| River Trip |
| We took a hike up the river on the mainland and through some of the small farms |
| 18th Feb 2009 |
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| Coconut Crop |
| The main crop for the Kuna is coconuts. They tend and gather the coconuts which they sell to the Colombian trading boats that stop at every island. Those boats fill up with 10’s of thousands of coconuts and carry them back to Colombia for processing. While we were there, the going price was 28 cents per coconut. Seems like a small amount of money for a lot of work. |
| 19th Feb 2009 |
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| Leaf Ants |
| While we were hiking we saw several trails of these leaf ants. Each ant carries a huge piece of leaf back to their nest where it ferments for eating. There were so many that they left very obvious trails in the woods. |
| 20th Feb 2009 |
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| Tupile |
| Our next stop was the island of San Ignacio Tupile. It was hard to decide which islands to visit because they are all so beautiful and very close together. Just a couple of hours sail. |
| 20th Feb 2009 |
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| Kuna revolution |
| On February 25th the Kuna celebrate their independence from Panama. In 1925, the Kuna rebelled against the Panamanian oppression and the lack of respect for their culture. The U.S.S. Cleveland was in the area when this happened and prevented a bloody retaliation from Panama. Now the Kuna enjoy almost autonomous rule and govern themselves. The land belongs to all Kuna and as a result they do not have a divided people and consider themselves blesses co-owners of a beautiful country. There is no development and they enjoy a very simple life. |
| 21st Feb 2009 |
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| Re-enactment |
| Then we were given the best seats in the house to watch the rest of the proceedings. In this photo the young men are dressed up as the evil Panamanians, complete with carved wooden rifles. Later that evening more men dressed in red played the revolutionaries. |
| 21st Feb 2009 |
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| Congresso |
| Their 3 day independence celebration includes re-enactments of events of the rebellion, a parade, dancing and music and an all day party of drinking a special spirit. When we arrived at the dock we quickly became part of the re-enactment! We were escorted to the Congresso which is the village meeting place where the Sila or Chief sits |
| 22nd Feb 2009 |
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| Los Gringos Amplified |
| The Sila of Tupile quickly asked if the musicians would perform as part of the celebration. He sure didn’t have to ask twice. They provided the sound system and for the first time the “Los Gringos” were amplified! |
| 23rd Feb 2009 |
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| A bigger audience! |
| The audiences are getting bigger! When they plugged in to the system to do a sound check, the kids all ran in. So the sound check quickly became the concert! |
| 24th Feb 2009 |
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| Chicha Fuerte |
| The last day of the celebration culminates with serving the fermented sugar cane based drink, called Chicha Fuerte. It takes a month to make this stuff and here it is staying cool in the clay pots in the ground. |
| 25th Feb 2009 |
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| This isn't an afternoon tea! |
| There is even a special building where this takes places just on this one day per year! The men pretty much drank too much, and the ladies who are normally quiet, sedate and extremely shy even enjoyed the liquor. Some Kuna smoking cigarettes that day, which you never see! We even learned some of the dance steps! |
| 26th Feb 2009 |
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| Hoops - Yandup Champions |
| This website update is brought to you from the island of Yandup. This is the first place we have stopped that has internet access. It is in the school and we can use it for $1 per hour. We arrived in Yandup just in time for the annual basketball tournament, so we got to watch a great game. Yandup won with a score of 68 to 64. You gotta wonder about the Kuna’s choice of basketball as their sport……the tallest player must only be about 5’5”. Of course the celebration was another chance for the “Los Gringos” to play at the Sila’s request. |
| 2nd Mar 2009 |
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| Next stop |
| There are over 300 islands in the San Blas, so there’s lots to see! We just might be here a while! We kind of feel like we are living the pages of a National Geographic magazine. Tomorrow we plan to sail for Coco Bandero Keys just a short distance away. We’ll be there by lunchtime. Here’s our next location if anyone wants to see it on Google Earth.
Latitude 09degrees 30.612minutes North
Longitude 78degrees37.012minutes West |
Diary Movies
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