Known to most people by their Spanish name of the San Blas, this costal land and string of islands is known to the native Kuna people as the Kuna Yala. It consists of around 350 islands (some sink or get lost through earthquakes almost every year). A primary source of income for the Kunas is a fabric panel known as a mola. To anchor in the Kuna Yala is to be offered a mola by the natives in their dugout canoe. Not just one mola, not just one canoe. Every anchoring is met by several canoes coming out in succession, each with buckets full of molas. They are beautiful, long on tedious hand stitching, and form panels on the dresses worn by the native women.

We took a tour of the village which they didn't seem to mind since every third hut tried to sell you a mola or beaded bracelets. To quote a fellow sailor from Scotland, "They are just like we were (pause) three thousand years ago"!