San Blas Islands

From Portebello we headed for the San Blas Islads. This is a chain islands of that belong to an indigenous people called the Kuna Indians. They revolted against the Panama government and won their Independence to govern themselves totally. Each island has a counsel that decides how they will live. Most of the Kuna have chosen to live traditionally They live in palm thatched houses. They are not allowed to marry outside of their race or they must leave. The family group is ruled by the women and they are the ones who decide who they want to marry. The men spend most of their time on the water fishing or collecting coconuts from the hundreds of islands. Everything on each island belongs to someone even a coconut that has fallen from a tree. Permission must be asked to gather anything. While we were there the kunas would come to our boat to trade. They are quite resourceful, they had fish ,lobster, crab,coconuts and a small variety of fruits and vegetables. One fellow even had a fuel delivery service. For a small fee he would bring you diesel or gas on the promise he would bring it the next day. Of course it came two days latter but it came. Almost every island we went to the village women would come out to us in their kayos(canoes) with hand stitched molas. These are intricately stitched layered embroidery of Kuna life. The best ones are made by men who are transvestites. The Kuna are very tolerant about about sexual preferences. Some of the islands have allowed the modern world to influence their way of life but the majority are only subsistence living and they seem to get along fine. They take care of their resources and do not like waste of any kind, for example If they need one fish for dinner that is all they catch.The water around each island is crystal clear you can see forty feet to the bottom. Our snorkeling trips were fantastic. There is an abundance of tropical fish and a great variety of coral and sea life. Our anchorages were idyllic almost every island had a very protected lagoon. Although the anchorages are great the thunderstorms here are awesome, during one at the swimming hole we witnessed a waterspout, and the dummies we are including the other sailboats that were there , we all got our cameras out instead of trying to get out of the way. Fortunately the spout past us on the other side of the island. Gil and I slowly made our way to Cartagena Columbia leaving the beautiful waters of the San Blas behind us. Our arrival into the harbor was uneventful. It is well a marked channel that is very large. the harbor itself is huge and takes some time to get to the anchorage. We arrived in the late afternoon to a sprawl ling cosmopolitan city and a huge Spanish fort wall surrounding the old part of the city. It was like seeing the past and the present at the same time.