Day 7: San Blas Islands, Panama
Today we got up to have breakfast. It was not as crazy this morning because we can not leave the boat until 11am. Today we reached Panama.
The San Blas archipelago is made up of 365 islands ranging in size from tiny ones with a few coconut palms to islands on which hundreds of Cuna Indians live. The cuna are the most sophisticated and politically organized of the country’s three major groups. They run the San Blas Territory virtually on their own terms, with internal autonomy and, uniquely among Panama’s Indians, send their representatives to the National Assembly. They have their own language, but Spanish is widely spoken. The women wear gold nose rings, earrings and costumes with unique designs based on local themes, geometric patterns, stylized flora and fauna, and pictorial representations of current events or political propaganda. Many tribesmen work on the mainland, but still live on the islands. If you’re going to take some photographs of the Cuna Indians, have plenty of small change as there is a price for the Cuna to pose. They also have an unique handicraft, which are decorative hand sewn appliques called Molas. You will also notice these fearless natives around the ship, for their main form of transportation is hand carved canoes. Whatever you choose to do today, enjoy your time with the Cuna Indians. It will be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.
Since we had some time before disembarking, I had a massage after breakfast. It was a good massage, but I get tired of spa’s trying to sell you hundreds of dollars of overpriced lotions and chemicals. Just once, I would like to go to the spa and not feel that type of pressure. If anyone from HAL is reading this, take note. While I was getting my massage, Angie went to go work out at the gym. When we got back to the cabin we got ready to disembark to the island of San Blas.
The islands
Huts on the island
San Blas Island huts
This is a very small island occupied by native Cuna Indians. We boarded the tender and headed over to the island. I was amazed at how low the islands are. It looks like if the ocean were to rise a foot it would flood the entire island.
San Blas Island
The island appears to be a very poor, but the wealth of the families are worn in the form of gold jewlery and beads, not in their homes or other posessions. This could be a side effect of where they live. Why put any wealth into property that could disappear in a hurricane or flood. We walked around the island which was lined by huts and narrow dirt streets. You can see that the islands have both telephones and electricity, but you would not think so unless you looked up or inside the huts.
The narrow streets
As we walked down the streets we saw lots and lots of hand crafted fabric. They were very colorful and intricate.
Quilting patterns
More patterns
A local home
The humidity and temperature were quite high today and walking around was difficult. The streets were also packed with people so it was hard to get a decent breeze. As we continued to walk around we found the main square where the school was. This was the first place we saw older children. In the square, Angie found some jewlery and I found some very cool painted feathers. I found one with a dolphin on them.
Steve trying to stay cool.
Angie trying to stay cool in line for the boat.
We got in line for the tenders and returned back to the boat. The line was very long and took almost an hour before we got back on the tender. As we rode back to the ship a sailboat came around the stern of the ship. I was able to snap this photo. It really shows how big the cruise ships are.
Our ship is bigger than yours.
Once back at the ship we had lunch and attended the afternoon tea service. After tea, we went to the crows nest to listen to the trivial contest and read. We got dressed for dinner and hung out at the bar waiting for dinner to start. The evenings entertainment was “An Evening with Musical Virtuoso Salima Wazir” but we decided to skip it this evening.
After dinner, we relaxed and went to bed early because I wanted to get up bright and early in the morning as we are scheduled to enter the canal tomorrow.