San Blas And The Guna Yala
Surely Daniel Defoe must have seen the San Blas islands before creating Robinson Crusoe. Surely every cartoonist who ever drew a joke picture of a man stranded on a desert island saw some of these places before putting pencil to paper. These islands of various sizes are almost amusing, so like the stereotypical image of a desert island that they are virtually a self parody.
The San Blas islands and the neighbouring mainland territory is the preserve and the home of the Guna Yala, indigenous peoples of Central America with very distinctive looks and, for the women, equally distinctive clothing. After decades of poor treatment, modern times have seen the Guna Yala given more and more rights and more and more freedom. Passing from Panama into this territory is a full blown border crossing – passports for travellers, ID cards for Panamanians, and a 20USD entry fee for all, despite the fact that you’re not leaving Panama.
Once across the quasi border, we are inside a region self-governed by the Guna Yala, there is little input or influence from central Government here, either legally or financially, this is pretty much a self sufficient and independent race. The way these very traditional people of unusual beliefs and character have adopted tourism as a source of income has made visiting here a slightly strange experience – more of that later.
There is essentially only one way to get to the San Blas islands, which involves transport to and from Panama City. Hence we are collected at 5am in a smart 4×4, taken first on the toll road and then on to a 90-minute rally along an unmade track, through giant potholes, tight curves and roller coaster slopes; no wonder the “road ferries” are all 4x4s. The instructions for the trip include the line: “Do not eat breakfast before travel if you suffer from motion sickness”. You get the picture.
An organised chaos ensues at the waterfront as travellers are allocated to the various boats which then race across the choppy seas, completely soaking every passenger in the process. Little motor boats scatter in all directions: there are many different tour itineraries available and to get all passengers on to the right boat is an exercise in extreme logistics. It looks like chaos but is obviously anything but.
Our choice of itinerary is a four-day, three-night stay, each of the three nights on a different island: we are to stay on Pelicano, Aguja and Perro Chico. This is rustic stay territory, small shacks on the beach, shared bathroom facilities, and no backpacks as we are limited to the bare minimum of luggage. It’s day bags only for four days, all our other possessions left back in the city.
Our itinerary consists of exploring various of these exquisitely picturesque islands by boat, though many are absolutely minuscule; a hike up to a waterfall; swimming in a “natural pool”, which is a kind of not-quite-island where the sea is only a couple of feet deep despite being miles from the nearest land. Moving from island to island inevitably includes calling in at other islands and by the end of the stay we have called in at ten or so. With the exception of Rio Sidra (more below) every one is a picture perfect palm-tree-and-sand desert island.
But this is a strange little world. Our Guna Yala hosts busy themselves but communicate sparingly – particularly the women who barely say a word. Here they are, occupying these paradise places, governing their own lives and following their traditional beliefs, yet watching large numbers of tourists and travellers traipse through their islands every day, pouring through their territory then moving on. They sweep sand from the cabañas before the next lot arrive, prepare the set meal for everyone nightly, go out and catch enough fish to feed everyone, and all the time keep themselves to themselves. Eye contact is rare, smiles yet more scarce.
The various itineraries include day trippers too, meaning that some of the islands selected for visits see large numbers of travellers during the day, most of whom disappear around 4pm to leave just a handful of hardy overnighters like us to have the island to themselves. The Guna Yala disappear into their shacks straight after evening meal and the island falls into dark silence as visitors, with nothing else to do, fall asleep early. Walking to the bathroom meets the same dark silence whether it’s 10pm or 3am. Nights are timeless.
In truth there is a beauty in this dark silence. Warm sea breezes kiss our cheeks in the darkness, palm trees rustle and the waves seem to break more quietly so as not to disturb the peace. Grackles fall silent and only occasionally does a gecko call out in search of a mate. Above us the sky is sequinned by a curtain of sparkling stars, while across the water the distant lights of neighbouring islands create jagged reflections on the sea. Palm trees cast eerie moonlight shadows.
En route to the waterfall hike we make a stop at the one built up island, home to most of the island dwellers within the San Blas. Rio Sidra is a fascinating little island village, home to the islands’ governing council, the only hospital of the islands (one doctor, four thousand population), the one school of the islands and as many houses as it is possible to squeeze on to this small patch of land. Regrettably, there is a strict “no photography” rule on Rio Sidra so we have nothing to show you.
Unfortunately the guide speaks no English so we have to rely on the bits we pick up ourselves and the snippets translated for us by others in the group, a great shame as he talks for a long time and the small bits we get are fascinating. Remarkably the Guna Yala on the island are split into two tribal factions which until recently were physically separated by a concrete wall – only creation of the school for all and an adjacent basketball court has brought integration through the children mixing.
Such factionism is all the more surprising when we learn that the Guna Yala are a heavily matriarchal society – the women are in charge of everything, including allocation of jobs to all the males. If you’re a man, you don’t choose whether you’re a tour guide, a fisherman or a boat builder, the women tell you what your “career” is – and then you hand over the cash for the women to manage. And it’s all cash, there’s no plastic currency on San Blas.
Shockingly in these circumstances, there is no Guna Yala law regarding the age of sexual consent – young girls are available for sex when Mum decides they’re ready, which is even in some cases before puberty. The biggest village parties are held whenever a village girl has her first period. This is, we understand, all part of women retaining power, odd as it may seem to us.
On the islands, our temporary homes, the three cabañas, are as rustic as we expected, two on an upper floor and one at ground level with the sand as our floor. The food is understandably basic – you can’t store much on islands as small as these – and again this is what we expected. However, the bathroom facilities are….well, in the words of some of our fellow travellers, “grim”, “gruesome” and “scary”…we don’t need to add anything to those accurate descriptions.
We are also surprised at the numbers of visitors. Having pictured lazy silent islands, the sheer numbers of day trippers mean very busy beaches from mid morning till 4pm, a percentage of whom (all too common these days) seem to think that everyone on the beach wants to listen to their choice of music. The nights may be silent but the daytimes are definitely not peaceful.
Our itinerary clearly stated “English speaking guides throughout” – we don’t find a single one who speaks English throughout the four days. It also stated that we would have the opportunity for kayaking on two different islands, yet each of those islands has one single kayak and a beach full of day trippers, so not much of an “opportunity”.
Despite those disappointments, the islands are of course undeniably beautiful, the experience of “almost camping” right next to the lapping waves is great, and the camaraderie with others overnighting on the islands is really stimulating – we meet some terrific fellow travellers and have enormous fun exchanging tales of travel and advice on destinations. That was undoubtedly the high point of our time on San Blas – although we have to say the boat journeys were great fun too, all of them.
In the end we aren’t too gutted when it’s time to leave the islands, retrace our route across water and along unmade roads, and return to Panama City for the last two days of this Jamaica-Panama adventure.
Postscript to this article. On the Saturday, we awoke to an awful WhatsApp message. Our good friend Emma who looks after our house while we are travelling, died suddenly and unexpectedly the night before. Heart attack at age 54. Goodbye Emma, rest in peace and thank you for everything. The world has lost the kindest of souls.
37 Comments
normareadtalktalknet
Another amazing experience but such a sad and tragic end to these few days … so sorry 😞 xx
Monkey's Tale
I’m so sorry to hear of the death of your friend. It sounds like we had quite a different experience in San Blas. Our island was one of the furthest out so we had no tourists, it was very quiet and peaceful all the time. Only on one of the day trips did we visit the busier islands and didn’t like them at all compared to ours. Also funny that the lady who ran ours was quite talkative. I may not say friendly but she was always willing to talk, in Spanish with a bit of English.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you, Maggie. Yes we thought you might say you’d had a difficult experience, I think things may well have changed a lot since you were there. Even when we visited quiet uninhabited islands, there were several boat loads there at the same time, so even those felt overcooked, as it were.
Monkey's Tale
Too bad, it was only 3 years ago!
Phil & Michaela
Wow!
Mike and Kellye Hefner
Aw, I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Emma. That’s a sad postscript to your islands adventure. I am always amazed by your sense of adventure, and I am impressed that you stayed in a cabana with a sand floor and no bathroom. I’m not sure that Mike and I could be that adventurous, but we sure like living vicariously through your travels!
Phil & Michaela
We knew that’s what we were getting so that bit was fine, Kellye, but it’s more overdone than we expected so didn’t quite live up to our hopes. Still a good thing to have done though.
Toonsarah
Firstly, I’m so sorry to hear about your friend – what a terrible shock for you and all her family and friends.
As to the islands, I find all the stuff about the Guna Yala people fascinating, especially the details of their matriarchal society. It’s strange, isn’t it, to find these pockets around the world where the women dominate (the Acoma Pueblo people in New Mexico are another such), when we’re so used to a tradition of male domination. The islands look beautiful but I could do without the imposed sound-track played by those day trippers, and those bathroom arrangements!
Phil & Michaela
Yep, that just about sums it up!
Gilda Baxter
I am very sorry to hear about your friend Emma passing away. So young, how sad. RIP Emma.
The islands look so beautiful, can’t believe the colour of the water.
Phil & Michaela
Hi Gilda – oh yes the sea colours really were fabulous. Amazingly clear too.
Andrew Petcher
Looks idyllic but I wouldn’t want to live there.
Sorry for the bad news that you weren’t expecting.
Phil & Michaela
Some places we’ve been, we come away saying we could happily live there, at least for a few months. This wasn’t one of them.
WanderingCanadians
The San Blas Islands look stunning and it sounds like quite the adventure to get there. How fun to go island hopping and stay on a different island each night. It’s a bit of a bummer to hear about all the day trippers, especially since the islands are so small. I couldn’t help but laugh at the whole “kayaking opportunity” with one single kayak. Sorry to hear about your friend passing away unexpectedly.
Dave Ply
Such a beautiful place, although I suspect the natives aren’t thrilled with the daily invasions impinging on their privacy, especially with all those upstart men around. A matriarchal society – how unusual. I wonder how that came about?
Sorry to hear about your friend. That had to be a shocker.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Dave – it was indeed.
grandmisadventures
Your pictures of the beaches and the water are just stunning! Definitely has a Robinson Caruso or Treasure Island feel to it. I’m so sorry for the loss of your friend, that is far too young an age for such a tragedy.
Phil & Michaela
Bit of a shock to say the least, Meg…..yeah those are just so the image of a desert island!
leightontravels
A very sad addendum to your article, such terrible news for you and Emma’s family. The story you told about Guna Yala is fascinating to say the least. Though, it is disappointing to learn that not even a matriarchal society can spare women, or in this case young girls, of sexual exploitation. I would have been very frustrated by not being able to understand my guides after specifically asking for an English speaking one. And, even more so, by the crowded beaches. Isn’t it funny how people blasting music on beaches, from their cars or houses, never ever listen to anything decent and worthwhile. Somehow it’s always sh*t music.
Phil & Michaela
Yes! I never find myself moving closer to hear their music more clearly – without fail it’s ALWAYS shit. It was a strange place…so many bloggers describe it as paradise but it simply wasn’t. Magical in a certain way but…..well, you know.
MrsWayfarer
I am sorry for the loss of your friend.
I have not heard of these islands, and I learned so much from your post. Thank you for sharing.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you x
rkrontheroad
So sorry about your friend. I do love the description of the classic cartoon islands. And interesting that the Guna Yala are a matriarchal society. Perhaps the reason some do not talk to you is that they speak an indigenous language.
Phil & Michaela
Well yes, they spoke a tribal language and Spanish…but only to each other. The point I was trying to make (the point which made it strange) is that this isolated, independent society have allowed tourism in so thoroughly…and yet keep themselves to themselves and interaction is so thin. It gives it a strange feel.
rkrontheroad
I understand. This may be an uncomfortable role for them.
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Your photography is outstanding. You captured these enchanting islands well! Bravo!
After we went through the Panama Canal on our sailboat we visited the San Blas for 3 weeks back in 2002. It was an amazing and educational experience. We encountered reserved people but friendly.
A few things you did not mention that are very important to the economy of the Gunas, also spelled as Kuana. As we understood it, if a family has no girls the first born son is raised as female to carry on the tradition as the female bread winner.
Molas are a primary source of outside income.The hand stitched art work is incredible. We bought several from a young Female/Male Kuna, “Lisa” who was famous with cruising sailors for her signed Molas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mola_(art_form)
Coconuts are like gold to the Kuna’s. You can not take them.
Sad to hear of day tourist, but they need the income and these beautiful islands are being taken over by the ocean. Some of the islands have already been evacuated.
Sorry to hear about your friend passing. Safe travels!
Phil & Michaela
We didn’t pick up about the son/daughter thing…wow. However I suspect you would find it very different now from in 2002…I reckon things have moved on quite a bit.
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Yes we would find it different. But we have been there done that.
Phil & Michaela
And lots of other things too!
wetanddustyroads
I am amazed at the colour of the water – it matches the perfect desert islands. Beautiful sunsets and love the accommodation…sounds like our kind of place (the bathrooms however may be a bit “challenging” though)! And the day trippers’ music sounds a bit too much.
With this also our deepest sympathy on Emma’s passing – the world has far too little kind souls and to loose one, is a big lost 🌻.
Phil & Michaela
It was a beautiful place but not quite idyllic really due to a few too many people. Thank you for your kind words
Mark Johannes
Good Morning from Bocas Del Toro!
My wife and I are following somewhat in your foot steps (Anton De Valle, Boca Chica, Boquete) and are about a week behind your timing. Have loved reading your adventures and hope to keep following after we return to our ice and snow (Alaska is home). Thank you for some entertaining reading! Best of luck. Mark and Mary
Phil & Michaela
Hi guys, welcome, glad you’re enjoying reading and thank you for saying so. Hope you’re enjoying your time in Panama….and you even made it to Boca Chica!
Born to Travel
Idyllic looking islands but…. a shame things didn’t go quite to plan.
Condolences to you guys on the loss of your friend. Way too young.
Reminds us that we need to make the most of our travelling times while we can.
Phil & Michaela
Absolutely
Annie Berger
I’d never heard of that matriarchal indigenous community before – interesting that they open their islands to day trippers and overnighters yet strive to remain so private to maintain their identity. Great description and photos of the islands and akin to Robinson Crusoe’s tales. I join with all others in your sad loss of Emma at such a young age.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Annie.