JOURNEY TO LAND OF THE KUNA
Cultural discovery off Panama
A 90-minute flight northeast from Panama City takes you to the land of the Kuna people (also spelled Guna or Cuna) and the beauty and isolation of the San Blas Islands on Panama’s Caribbean coastline.
Some cruise ships will stop at an island inhabited by the Kuna, but if you have a sense of adventure and want a more authentic experience, take a commuter flight in a 12-seater prop plane, via El Porvenir, to Achutupu.
The first stop at El Porvenir is a major part of the experience. As you descend from above the clouds, you know you are about to land, but all you see is water.
Then, off in the distance, a tiny island appears with a runway that spans the island from edge to edge.
If the pilot misses by a few inches, you would land in water. The landing experience was heartpounding and exhilarating — it was like landing a plane on a toothpick in the middle of the ocean!
When you later land at Achutupu, you know immediately you have left the modern world. The rough landing strip is cut out of the jungle and the airport consists of a small cinder block building with a picnic table as the administrative centre and check-in counter.
Women, dressed in traditional clothing with arms and legs wrapped in beads, meet passengers, help unload the plane and direct we few tourists to various small motor boats, waiting to take us to our respective island retreats.
Our room was a small, very basic, one-room over-water cabin on stilts with electricity (supplied by the island’s only generator) from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The entire island was about the size of a city block, with a permanent population of six people who run the accommodation. Besides us, there were two other guests staying at this lodge.
Day trips are taken by boat to various islands, some big enough for a Kuna village, some so small that a half-dozen palm trees take up most of the island.
The San Blas Islands are an autonomous region and have been since the 1930s.
They consist of about 365 islands. The Kuna live on about 50 islands and have some mainland settlements from Panama to Colombia.
As with most cultures that still wear traditional clothing, it is mostly the women who carry on the tradition; the men generally wearing western clothing. And we were told that a Kuna woman must continue to wear traditional clothing unless she gets higher education. If a woman gets a university education, she may choose to wear western clothing. Most of the women we encountered had Grade 3 to Grade 6 education. These women will wear a Mola (brightly coloured blouse consisting of several hand cut-out layers), beads on the arms and legs, sometimes a gold nose ring, and red head scarf.
The Kuna live off the land and water. They hunt and fish and grow crops of plantain, avocados and a variety of other fruits and vegetables. Coconuts are a cash crop and are traded heavily with Colombian buyers who tie up at village piers and buy directly from the locals.
If you wish to visit the islands, you will need to pack lightly — a small knapsack for a three-day trip. Leave your big suitcase in Panama City.
You and your luggage are both weighed, as the small planes can only handle a light load.
The Kuna control tourism to their islands and the numbers that visit are low. Because of this, the scenery is still pristine and you will experience another world — if only a short flight from the Panama Canal.