Panama - The much anticipated San Blas Islands & the KunaYala. Our first encounter with the Kuna Indians was a welcoming ulu shortly followed by a couple of Kunas looking for a $10.00 fee (everything is in U.S. dollars now) to anchor in their waters & the priviledge of visiting their pueblo. Pretty pricey if you ask me, since there are over 200 islands in the San Blas chain - I think the math speaks for itself! I guess we're going to really have to pick & choose which islands we want to visit. It's really too bad because they want you to come to the pueblos to buy their molas, so it all kind of adds up. Anyway, this particular village is a very traditional one (the further east you are, the more traditional they are & this is the easternmost of all) They live in huts & have only their ulus (dugout canoes). The huts have nothing in them except maybe a couple of plastic chairs & hammocks for sleeping. They are a very simple people, but very happy. Always smiling & welcoming. Of course, they always wave you over to look at their molas. We are still very much an oddity here. The children run out to stare & giggle when we try to speak Spanish. (The Kunas have their own language, but they also speak Spanish.) There is no TV or radio in the most traditional of the villages.The Kunas don't like to have their pictures taken because they feel it steals part of their spirit, so you have to be most respectful of that. Some of the villagers come by in their ulus with their entire family & bring about "regalo" (gifts) which consist of coconuts, plantains, bananas. In return, they want to come on board to see what the boat looks like. They are very curious & want to see everything. I gave out a number of little gifts to the 5 children who were on board with Andres & his espousa. Even after doing that though, The wife wanted more. She asked me if she could have some of my "ropas" clothes, but I wasn't going to go there. Lo siento, necisito" (sorry, I need). She did take off one of her bracelets off & tied it onto my arm, which I was very honored.
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