We asked our friends that visited us, Steve & Rena to download to YouTube some videos for me so I could post them on the blog. Thanks so much for doing that!

Here is some history:

The San Blas Islands are a vast archipelago on Panama's Caribbean coast composed of over 340 islands. Worldwide they are unique in many ways, home to the indigenous Kuna Indians, who have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas, yet being reachable by small airstrips built by the North Americans during the Second World War. At the same time you have one of the most untouched stretches of virgin rainforest and a cruising ground of incredible beauty, all in the same place.

The San Blas Islands and the associated mainland territory are called Kuna Yala by the autonomous Kuna Indians who effectively control this quarter of Panama. The land is not divided into individual properties and fences are absent. Kunas treat their forests as we treat an anchorage. Tribe members can pass through and benefit, but do not claim possession by industrial development. That is why the landscape still looks much the same. The Kunas are physically small, well proportioned, healthy and have boundless energy. They are peaceful, non-aggressive and crime of any form is extremely rate in Kuna Yala. The mainstay of the Kuna economy is coconuts which grow en masse on the outlying islands.



The Kuna women make money selling "molas".



These beautiful appliqué are intricately made by sewing and cutting different layers of colorful cloth. Each mola is unique, and they usually show abstracted forms of birds, animals, or marine life.

There are two famous mola makers. Vernancio and Lisa (who is a transvestite). Here is a photo of Vernancio:



Here is a video of Lisa explaining the story behind one of the molas we bought:



The Kuna men's day starts early, shortly before sunrise. They get into their dugout "ulus" and paddle the half-mile or so to the mainland, arriving at first light. Some have an additional hour's walk inland to begin harvesting bananas, fruits, firewood and sugarcane. Around one o'clock they head back to the island. The remainder of the day is spent resting, fishing or taking a sail with the family. In the evening they hang out in the "congreso" and retire to their hammocks early.