|
SAN BLAS ISLANDS
January 29 – February 5, 2010
For centuries the Kuna Indians have lived on the thousands of coral islands that stretch from the border of Costa Rica to the border of Columbia barely off the shore of mainland Panama. Basically a peaceful, matriarchal society they have a ban on marriage outside of the Kuna nation. This has lead to a higher number of albinos but has preserved the culture.
The women are the breadwinners sewing molas and selling them from the family ulu.
Their homes are made from sugar cane sides with a special palm roof. Able to withstand very strong winds and rainstorms the roofs can last 15 years - far longer than the tin roofs that you will see on some of the islands. There are no bugs, snakes, or electricity in the average home with hammocks strung from a center pole the only furniture in the home. The ‘congreso’ hut, or community hut, has electricity and every evening is spent with the chiefs swinging from hammocks and listening to the community. Punishment for any “crime” is to gather coral into barrels. If you hit your wife your fine is 10 barrels. If your wife provokes her husband her fine is 10 barrels too. The coral is used to heighten the floors of the huts. Global warming is real and several islands have had to be abandoned as the water rises over the lowlands. Kuna day starts an hour before dawn and work is finished by 1pm they spend most of the day playing with their children and fishing from the ulu.
Another item I found interesting is that it is illegal to wear, buy, or sell camouflage clothing.
ISLA PORVENIR
This is the check in point for customs and immigration.
A tiny island I was surprised that it had an airport considering there is no real town but it has a small restaurant (you need to call ahead and find out what is available on the menu) and
a loose term for a hotel. A cruise ship occasionally stops here but looks so out of place considering the ship is larger than the island and everyone cannot disembark at once because the island is too small to accommodate everyone. Never the less a helicopter landed and off loaded 4 people who spent the day lounging around the beach watching the local 6 young people frolic in the water.
Upon checking on the boat and drying out my cabin we found that the wind vane has bent making it unusable. Two other boats have the same make and the same problem. We also have no autopilot so will be hand steering our way through the islands till we get to Shelter Bay or possibly through the Canal and to Balboa. The parts are being hand delivered from the UK by crew coming to join the yachts.
CHICHIME
This was a 4.3 mile motor NE from Porvenir and took us about an hour. I was thinking I would want to travel further but even the mild rock and roll reminded me too much of the trip to get here and had me wanting to stop sooner than later.
On our way I counted 21 islands, most of them uninhabited, very small and covered in palm trees.
It was mildly amusing to see an anchorage with no land to protect it. You usually think of an anchorage as a bay on the lee side of the island but this one has reefs to protect it from any angle. The winds could blow from any direction (and they did) but the reefs stop the waves and it is much calmer in the interior. I went for a snorkel but the overcast skies did not give the distinctive colouring to the reef.
We were not more than 25 feet from the shore and a Kuna home site. At night several of these home sites had no lighting but at the end of the island there was lighting – and singing – coming from the ‘congreso’. Singing is how they preserve their history and several of the songs still boast of defeating the Spanish conquistadors. I spent the afternoon and the next morning observing two young boys playing around the family compound. Obviously best friends they were well entertained with a Frisbee and sticks, swimming and throwing stones into the water. These Indians live so close to western civilization and yet prefer their innocent way of life. I envied them.
The next day we set off for more adventure and threaded our way between the reefs, shoals, and islands to catch up with several yachts at Holandes Cay.
EASTERN HOLANDES CAYS –Kaimou (Kuna) or
Mauki (Colombian traders)
According to the pilot this is a favourite cruising cay (key). Consisting of 21 mostly uninhabited islands they are furthest from the mainland so doesn’t get the residue from rivers coming from the mainland. The waters are clear year around. The day was very windy with overcast skies so the snorkeling wasn’t as good as it could be. There was a party on Miss Tippy, The next day we sailed and motored for 20 hours to moor at Porvenir to check out before we could sail to Panama. I can see how yatchies can stay in these islands for years; I was not ready to head back to Porvenir to check out of the San Blas Islands, Kuna Yala and the home of the Kuna Indians. High winds continue to plague us and we ended up staying two days because of high winds.
That’s OK because it gave us time to go to the village on the next island. Actually it was two islands with
the first one having the only provisioning store and the second
Island was hosting a basketball tournament. These are the second shortest people in the world and they are really good players…go figure.
Early the next morning we left the harbour at 5 am with the fishermen for the 55 mile sail to Portabela on the mainland. Because we are the slowest boat everyone left later and passed us on the way. It was fun talking and joking to everyone on the VHF. We only had to motor the last 10 miles and entered the port of Portabela an hour early.
|
