San Blas Islands, Panama - Day 2

August 3, 2016

It had stormed all night and was still dark and rainy in the morning. We heard the plane arrive and then depart again. Greg did a bad imitation of the TV show “Fantasy Island” shouting “de plane, de plane”. We went to breakfast and watched the boat arrive waiting to see “the new people” that would join our group.

The rain didn’t let up all morning, so the A.M. excursion was canceled and I hung out in the hanging chair in the cabana & read. Greg sat out on the covered deck and watched the world go by. The conch blew for lunch and the rain had let up quite a bit. Lunch was a boring chicken soup and a fish filet with veggies with pineapple for dessert. (you know the drill….Oreos for dessert)

me reading waiting for the rain to stop

After lunch we walked around the small island and took photos. It was overcast, but at least it wasn't raining.

 our cabana on the left

 our cabana

 our cabana

 solar panels

 cabanas not over the water

 beach area

you could rent a kayak or their traditional canoe 

 their boat dock

 this little "creature" greets you when you get off the dock

 utility huts

 restaurant & bar area

 water tanks

 this is the area they are making into a bar

 view of the restaurant from the bar

 restaurant area

 cabanas over the water

 another utility hut

 snails

 chiton (there were lots of these on the old corals/rocks

 chiton

 sponge

 sponge

Greg hangin' until the afternoon excursion conch sounds

We were scheduled to do a hike to their farms, but Domi said it was too wet to do that and we had the visit to his community instead. You could take photos of the community, but if you wanted a photo of an individual you had to ask permission and then pay them a dollar. Of course besides learning about their ways of life from our guide Blanco, it was a shopping opportunity to buy the lovely molas the Kuna women make. I have not bought any since living in Panama as I was waiting to buy them here. No one in our group even looked at them, nor did they wish to pay to take any photos. Tourism really helps these communities. I wasn’t impressed with the first group of molas (though they are more their traditional ones with only 2 colors) and found the ones I really liked with the bright colors farther down the street. Domi beamed as he introduced his wife as the molas I chose were made by his family. We paid to have their photo taken and bought 2 pretty molas. Generally, they are framed or made into throw pillows. The Kuna women use them as part of their wardrobe.

 photos from the boat as we pass Playon Chico Community

 hard to see in the small photo, but the big yellow thing in the boat is a huge turtle

 They were crushing cans to be collected by this boat from Cartagena, Colombia

This little guy didn't even charge a dollar for his photo (pretty sure it asked if it could go live with Jim & Jennifer as the word is out they provide a "forever home")

there were quite a few new homes being built

 walkway between houses

 main street through the village

 molas for sale

 Domi and his wife and her molas

 Domi's wife

 the 2 molas I bought (a parrot and a toucan of course!)

 the name of their main street in Kuna

 girls playing volleyball - they participate in tournaments with other villages

men returning home after work

We also met their retired midwife and we paid to take her photo. I think she’s in her 90’s. Blanco explained their marriage rituals and burial rituals. Also about the ceremony when young girls become women. Like many cultures the men tend to dress western and the women maintain their native dress.

There ae around 3,000 people on the island and about 60% are children. Domi and his wife have 7 children. It really was the highlight of the trip to walk around their village.

Here are a couple of photos as we rode away in the boat to go back to Yandup:

The village was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Dinner was a lobster pasta dish. I don’t remember the soup, but I think it was root vegetables or squash. Yes, sliced cantaloupe for dessert. (Oreos were waiting in the cabana for us)

Showering today was harder since it had been so overcast all day that the water temperature was “cold”. They use solar power for electricity and the water is heated by the sun and perhaps a bit by the dedicated solar panel. For a while I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to tolerate washing my hair in the cold water. But, I powered through!

We again slept to the sounds of the ocean waves breaking and crashing to shore under and around the cabana.