Visiting Kuna Yala again

Just got back from 4 days in the land of the Kuna and had an amazing time (again). I didn´t take pictures. For me, it was a little distacting to try to think of how I could work out getting pictures of all the beautiful traditional clothing, so I decided to just chill and enjoy it. Bought a few molas from a nice lady. This time we really got to spend some time there, just wandering in the village, through the huts. It was amazing and surreal to head back yesterday.

After the trip the image that has hung most in my mind was actually when we left early in the morning on a covered boat to head back to Carti, where the road is. We stopped at the next small island over, somewhere in between Ustupu and Achutupu, and picked up a couple of native passangers. The women on the dock were bundled up in the morning with printed towels that seemed a natural extention of their molas, with the wind blowing and the sun illuminating the cloudy morning. Think about this, if your world view was the ocean. Leaving to go to the city to work. I can only imagine they dream of going back as soon as possible.

On Ustupu, where we stayed, it was so easy to wander around. The children smiling and wanting to practice their spanish. Practically everyone beaming with pride and excited to share. The entire time the youth of the town were performing dramas, reenactments of the revolution that happened in the 20´s to protect their independence. Ustupu is the most populated island in the comarca. It holds a few thousand people and seems to be really well organized. Lots of tiendas and a large school. But very remote and a bit difficult to access. If you remember last year, I hiked in from a volunteer´s site in the Darien. This year because of my foot injury I flew into a neighboring island with another volunteer and boated over.

We stayed with a very nice family in a large concrete house, hanging our hammocks on the second floor. We were 13 in all, after the hikers got in later in the day. The family and/or the village cooked meals for us everyday, and everyone was really excited to talk to Peace Corps volunteers (they have had a couple through the years, even though now the Corps is no longer working in the Comarca... that word means reservation by the way) Generally you don´t hear comarca used too much when refering to the Kuna. They are probably one of the most autonomous indigenious groups in the world. And because of their isolation it really feels like it is its own country.

Um, so in between all the great cultural exploration I chipped one of my front teeth pretty badly on a corn tortilla. Really great luck. It looks like I got punched. Don´t know when or how they are going to patch that up. There are a lot of protests going on about the mining here in panama and travel is somewhat restricted. And strangely enough, the urge to be home with my community and puppy dog are stronger than the urge to go into a somewhat major dentist visit. Blah. Not looking forward to it.

Maybe I´ll get some pictures of the molas I bought up next time. My time is up on the hostal computer, so until next time...