Our next stop after isla Pinos was Ustupu. Inhabited by about 10,000 Kunas, Ustupu is the largest of the Kuna Yala islands. It is also a traditional island, with some infrastructure -there were a few brick buildings most of which seemed abandoned and a very nice school which is the largest school in the islands.

Along with Optimus, we met with cruisers from s/v Queen Mary (Gene & Brenda) and s/v Island Dream (Andrea & Lee). Queen Mary has been sailing to these islands for a few years and knew many residents of Ustupo, one of their favorite islands. They introduced us to a very nice Kuna Family (Parents: Romulo & Mesalina, Kids: Kenny, Michael and Cooly) with whom we shared many good times and through whom we learned more about the culture of the islands and how Molas are made. Kenny, 14-years-old, is a short kid and a very smart and wholesome boy. Though Kenny did not seem to speak Spanish and it was difficult to communicate with him, Daniel took him under his wing and spent quite a bit of time walking around the island, swimming, watching movies and playing games.

We spent 5 days in Ustupu mostly walking around the island, meeting some of the locals, distributing more of the eyeglasses that Optimus brought. One special event was going up a river which emptied on the bay from mainland Panama. Seven of us got into Queen Mary's dingy, motored where we could and pulled the dingy up the river in shallow parts until we arrived to a nice pool of water and took a fresh-water swim. It felt like heaven as we had been sailing for over 2 weeks and taking short showers in the boat spending little fresh water to preserve it. Mainland Panama is just off to the west of Kuna Yala and is mostly uninhabited. Kunas often use the mainland to grow their crops and sometimes build their homes there as well.

When we left Ustupu, Kenny's parents sent him off with Queen Mary to spend several weeks with them sailing to Colon and visiting Panama by car. This was to be the second time Kenny had been out of Ustupu.