Laundry Day up the Yala River

 

Just a Few of the Visitors at Islas Robeson

 

KUNA YALA

 

 

 

Dave & Marian's Visit

MAMITUPU & ACHUTUPU, SAN BLAS ISLANDS

 

 

 

It is February 25th & we are now in Mamitupu, a small island with 1200 residents. It's a very pretty island because a portion of it has not been developed as it is considered to be posessed by bad spirits "espiritu malo". The people are very friendly & this is once again one of the more traditional pueblos. There are 20 ulus at a time coming from the mainland to the village with their ulus chock-full of coconuts. (They're also full of 20 different kinds of bananas) There's a coconut press here on the island & I bought some pure coconut oil from Pablo who also speaks quite proficient English. He had once lived in England for several years, but has come back to Kuna Yala. He's been telling us quite a bit of history & has serious misgivings as to the future of the Kunas. The younger generations don't want to farm the plantations - they want to move to Panama City & not have to work as hard as their parents with all the amenities of running water, electricity, Tv, etc. Pablo has 5 children & 3 of them live in the city. He says it is the way of the future & the Kunas will have to change. Very sad for these people who are trying to hold onto their heritage. We've booked a lobster dinner at Pablos restaurant for tonight ($6.00) & Peter had gone out earlier with "Al" to help catch 3 more. Looking forward to that!
We took a side trip in the dinghy to Achutupu today which is just a couple of miles away. Bought a very authentic mola today - I know it's authentic because it's been worn! The Kuna women have a tendancy to rip their blouses off standing there in bra only trying to sell their molas. Gives new meaning to "giving their shirts off their back" to you.

ISTUPU, SAN BLAS ISLANDS

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February 24 - Istupu & its the Independance Day Celebration, which of course starts 4 days previous to the actual date (Feb. 25), but no matter, the Kunas aren't nearly as noisy as the Eastern Caribes. The music consists of flutes & chanting, but because the big thing here is the re-enactment of the Kunas overtaking the Panamanians, there's a lot of "gunshots" going off at 3 & 4 o'clock in the morning. All very interesting. This is the largest village in all of San Blas. I'm finding the people extremely friendly here, especially the kids & there are thousands of kids. I think half the population here is under 6 years old. All the kids come running out of their homes so excited to see us. They're yelling, "Hola, hola, hola" & wanting to shake hands or give high fives. Wearing nothing (literally), but great big smiles on their faces! They are so cute & it's back to feeling like your famous again. We've been able to actually find some chicken here & the veggie boat came in last night - that's the first time I've gotten verduras since the 4 carrots in Sapzurro. One has to ask - what the heck do these guys eat? They look healthy enough, but there's only so much rice & yucca one can eat. We have found a great restaurant here. $3.25 will buy you the meal of the day which is either pollo or carne, plus a beer for $.85! We come out of there for under $10. for the 2 of us, including the propina. I wasn't looking forward to this place when we first pulled in, but I'm finding the people so very friendly, that Peter & I will be sorry to go. There was also the river run yesterday which was enchanting. The bird song was wonderful & we found the whole journey up the river to be quite enthralling. There's always something special about a place even if it looks pretty rough on the outside. The Kunas are a very gentle people & we're thoroughly enjoying that trait of theirs. We bought a beautiful painting from the local artist, Aleck. He's an extremely nice person & his work is incredibly detailed & truly reflects the lifestyle of the Kunas.

LOS PINOS

 

What is that yellow ball in the sky? It has been about 2 weeks since we have had to seek the shady side of the cockpit for coffee; today the clouds were sparse and the sun was up. David came by about 830 to collect the local anchoring fee, $8, but good for a month. No one would ever stay a month but that was their selling point. David was very nice and spoke a modicum of English. He said he would get us a coconut and some yucca (a tuber which tastes a bit like papa fritas when cooked). He also said if we wanted to see the village we should ask for him and after he introduced us to the Salais (chief) we could tour to our heart’s content. Next week is a national holiday in Kuna Yale and everyone is flying the national flag which the chief kind of pressured us into buying. A little bit of misfortune with its design especially for our Jewish friends, is the swastika in the centre…no relationship to Nazi Germany but awkward none the less. With David’s guidance we bought some eggs and bananas and later more of the national breakfast, corn flakes. At the third tienda we bought some tomato paste, canned pineapple and onions…a pretty exciting shopping day all in all. We hiked up to the top of the island, a 45 minute walk to the radio antenna. I think if you climbed up the 30m tower the view would have been spectacular; but we kind of just stood in the jungle, shrugged and headed back to the village. Well that kind of took most of the day. Back at the boat we chatted with our neighbour from Celtic Dancer, had a swim and dinner including yucca (which I think requires more spices or something and an acquired taste).

SULUDUP, PANAMA

 

 

Suludup - Our second stop in the San Blas Islands chain. We are tucked away all by ourselves in a stunning locale. Very, very tranquil...until the first ulu appears banging beside our boat. He's looking for a pair of pants, Yes, you heard right, he wants a pair of Peter's shorts. Pete just happens to have a nicely mildewed-way-too-big-for-him-pair which we offer up. I mean, these Kunas are little people (second in stature to pygmies). They would've been hysterical on him, but he was thrilled, so away he went. Chalk up a point for the gringos!. The next morning was busy with all sorts of locals going past the boat on their way to work in the fields. There's cocos, sugar cane, mangos - all to be harvested & taken back to the village. We had a couple of women & a young boy come by looking for a cup of coffee & some sweets. After that, Mateo, the "official" came by requesting our $5.00 anchoring fee. We agreed we would come into the pueblo at 1pm & he would give us a tour of the village (for an additional $3/ea. of course) We met with Mateo & he showed us the typical, traditional Kuna village. We had a nice visit with Mateo & his family & ended up buying our first mola - nothing special, but very colorful & made up like a placemat. ($8.00) Awoke to another cloudy, windy day - it just won't clear up. Today's visitors were an older fellow just wanting to check us out. They are a very curious race. Every one of these visitors comes by & peers into the cockpit as if their staking us out. I don't think that's the case at all, they're just curious. They ask all sorts of questions of which I don't have any responses, but we fake it! They desperately want our snorkeling gear & one lady even offered her dress for it!!! We had alot of the fishermen come by today, selling, pescado (fish), langustas (lobster), even octopus. We bought some fish which we had tonight. It was a red snapper of some sort & it was very good. I feel like we're really eating like the locals. We had fried green bananas, plantains, local fish - but I have a feeling they didn't have the glass of vino blanco that we had with our dinner!