San Blas

On Tuesday morning I set off for a few days sailing in San Blas or Kuna Yala. This is a part of Panama on the Caribbean side that belongs to the indigenous tribe, the Kunas. It is an autonomous area that is governed by the Kunas under an agreement they have with the Panamanian government.

There are about 365 islands in the area, of which only about 30 are inhabited. Many of the others are used to grow coconuts and they are owned by different Kuna families.

The Kuna are an interesting lot. They have lived their lives quite peacefully there for generations, with the main trade being coconuts, fish and molas (the local handicraft). Apparently they only started dealing with money in the mid-nineties, prior to that trading using barter. Given the islands are pretty much at sea level, there is a program to relocate all of the island dwellers to the mainland in the next five years. These beautiful islands may not exist as they are for much longer if we keep killing our planet.

Many of the children are now growing up wanting a more modern life in the city and to get away from the simple island life. This is a big problem for the Kuna so now the chiefs are creating new rules on a regular basis to stem the flow of people. They need now a letter of permission from the chief to leave the area and this is not always granted.

To get to San Blas, there is a new road with a bridge that has only been completed in the past two months. Now it is really the beginning of the end of quiet, idyllic San Blas. With the bridge finished, they can start moving in the heavy equipment to build a huge marina and hotel complex and I'll bet it won't end there. This type of enterprise will help keep the young Kuna here but it won't be life as they know it.

On the boat we sailed around, visited a few of the islands and did some snorkelling. There was an eclectic group on the boat - a mixture of poms, Canadians, Guatemalans, an American captain and the token Aussie. The Guatemalans were a mother and her two children and I later learned that the mother is the daughter of a former Guatemalan president who now lives in exile in Panama. The kids, I've also learned, are convinced that I'm a writer since I spent so much time on the boat reading.

From Tuesday to Friday this week there were a series of national holidays so the islands got pretty crowded with rich city Panamanians coming out for a night or two of camping. I had planned to stay on an island for a couple of nights after the boat but changed my mind when I realised it might not be the relaxing time I had hoped. Luckily Captain Tony let me stay on the boat another night to get a bit more time there.