San Blas

This past weekend, I stepped in a time warp with 4 Israeli friends I met in Guatemala. We all hopped into a tiny air taxi and flew to the San Blas islands, inhabited solely by a tribe of Kuna Yala Indians.

The Kuna Yala are an interesting bunch. They’re an indigenous people who live in paradise, aka San Blas. It’s a little slice of Panamanian heaven on the Caribbean coast, and it’s all theirs. The Panamanian government basically ceded control and ownership of this thin strip of land and 365 idyllic islands to the Kuna Yala after a successful uprising around the beginning of the 20th century.

I’d bet San Blas is an anthropologist’s dream. Apart from the odd TV, the locals live as they would have a couple hundred years ago. Tiny huts crowd certain islands, leaving the rest to the palm trees and the wind.

I just spent an extended weekend doing little more than sitting on the beach, staring at the blue water, and then summoning the strength to get wet. This cycle repeated itself every so often, with the odd lobster dinner thrown in the mix.

I can’t say the accommodations were luxurious – no electricity and no plumbing, but overall no problems. Well, except for when my Israeli friend came down with a wicked throat infection. I had to haul him into the next island’s witch doctor, which resembled more of fisherman than a man of medicine. It was Sunday, so I didn’t let his flip flops, tank top and boxer shorts bother me. His bedside manners could have used some polishing, especially when he cursed in Spanish at the site of my friend’s inflamed tonsils. But when we only had to pay $5 for the visit, the anti-biotics and the shot in the butt, we called it even.


That's our island in the distance...


These guys showed up selling a bunch of lobster and crabs. I asked how much for the lobster - 3 bucks, he says. For just one? -Nope for all 13! We were eating good that night...

We took the beds out of the cabins at night and crashed on the beach.


Here's a view of San Blas from the air.


This is the main island of our county, Rio Sidra.


A sunset from our island...


Here's me acting a fool with some village kids.


We also survived what seemed like hurricane-force winds blowing through the island one morning.


These were my Israeli friends that invited me to tag along to San Blas with them...Maryanne, Ginger and Mrs. Howell...

Since this land is practically untouched, the wildlife is amazing. 50 feet off shore, I snorkeled with a family of about 13 cuddlefish. They're like mini squid that change their colors depending upon their env. The alpha male kept flashing a dark purple as I got close, I think trying to warn me to stay away from his women!