Kuna Yala – Lost traditions
Monday 19 December – Anacuchuna – Formalities
entrance fees to Puerto Obaldia have been completed, We're setting sail
quickly with only one desire ” Find a peaceful anchorage”.
Anacuchuna is the first typical Kunas village…to 12 miles
about Puerto Obaldia. We drop anchor to the east of the village
main, facing the mangrove where some Kuna houses are
Built…. As soon as we arrived, A dugout canoe docks and we
Request to Pay 10 $ to anchor in front of the village (That's what
which they call the impuesto, or tax that even the Kunas who
visit from another village have to pay – It's tradition
Ancestral…) – it's the Sahila (Village Chief) who decides on the
price. Attracted by our arrival, Two dugout canoes approach a
a little closer, while others, while continuing to row,
scrutinize our every move from afar… It's a real parade !!!
You can feel “Observed”!
Meet Andreas, The only brave one who dares
talk to us and… Get on board… He's comfortable and you can feel it
that he is used to “Encrust” When the rare sailing boats
s”Stop… There is no question of leaving one's place to others
Canoes… He's the first one!!!
He teaches us a lot of Kuna vocabulary, which is a language
phonetics. This allows us to learn the words of use and
start building our Kuna dictionary. His visits after
noon become a “ritual”… It comes with its 3 Children Spend
a few hours, requests services such as… make
Photocopies of children's notebooks, Soldering a wire into your lamp
pocket etc…. The news spread quickly in the village, a young man
approaches us asking for the same thing, We make it clear to him
that it's not possible… He'll stay for a good half hour
Hooked on the die, without saying anything but hoping to get a
Yes… then will leave without a word… What patience!!!!!
Every day Andréas brings us a little something… of the
Koulandro, aromatic herb with coriander flavour, Chili peppers
sweet, bananas from his garden.
Going ashore, we meet Kuna women in clothes
Traditional, Mola – Overlay of sewn and embroidered fabrics
the hand in a specific order, very colourful – that they wear in
as a bodice, sarong as a skirt, Winnis – Bracelets made
beads and threads that cover the forearms and calves
like knee-length socks… Gold ring hanging from the
nose, Common in the Elderly….
We continue our walk towards the village, through a forest
coconut palms… At the end of the road, soldiers stop us,
asking us for passports and where we come from ?…..we
We don't have any papers on us , You have to go back and get them on
The boat. Once on land, A soldier escorts us to the
Main camp in the centre of the village… one of the officers
speaks English and feels more comfortable than in Spanish… he
asks one of his “Subordinate” to write down in a notebook our
Identities…. During this time we get to know
The Chef,which advises us not to do the hike (Indicated on
The guide) through the mountains to Carreto, The village
next… we are on the border of Colombia and the
“Guerrillas” are around the corner, Don't bother to s”Risking it!
It seems like a long time for a simple recording
Identity… Eventually, the leader realizes that the soldier is
carefully copying almost every page of the
Our Passports!!! No comment!!!!
We leave at the end of the day. 3 days and decide to go to
other islands further north.
Thursday 22 December – Suledup. Quiet anchorage in front of a beach
deserted surrounded by greenery.
The day after we arrived, A dugout canoe approaches early on
morning. One of the two men hands us a piece of paper and asks for 10 $
without bothering to say hello… What a welcome, It's Getting Started
Ok!!!! On this paper, Written in English, are listed as follows:
Bans, Costs (dive, To go to the village, Have a
camera, Take a photo….) and fines, If, however,
boaters do not respect “Laws” Kuna, decided by
The Chief of the Village – Sahila …
We feel a bit assaulted and it's in a Spanish
“approximate” that we ask of him, if you have to breathe
Make a contribution??? They must think that we have
Printing presses on boats…
Those 2 men are willing to bargain for a bottle of
rum…. Too funny when you know that they are sent by the
Sahila and that it is a tax that goes to the village… and that the
Kunas don't drink alcohol!!!!! We pay 5 $ finally and
Let us leave at once, hoping that elsewhere the contacts with the
Kunas aren't just made with dollars!!!!!
It is to the north of Soskandup that we drop anchor and meet
the German boat “Henrike 7”. We get to know each other, It's
a couple with their son and a hostess of Scottish origin. The
The next day we decided to go and visit the village of Mulatupu, or
There's the Rio “Ibedi Tiwar”, which can be traced back to the
Kuna Cemetery.
We come across many dugout canoes loaded with bananas, Nuts
coconut, palm fronds for the roofs of houses, etc….them
Men row quietly in the meanders of the river.
We take a few pictures on the sly, fearing that men
Kunas still don't ask us a few dollars to have them
Photographed… We see a very peaceful crocodile, some
Ibis, Egrets, hibiscus… The vegetation is varied and
Lush. We attach the tenders to the river's edge to
Visit the cemetery… of the deceased's belongings are
lined up under their traditional hammock. We don't stay
long, for a canoe makes us understand that the cemeteries
Kuna are forbidden to foreigners… We didn't know that!
Saturday 24 to Tuesday 27 December – Isla de Pinos.
The anchorage is nice, Facing a beach not far from the village.
A dugout canoe visits us. Them 2 Men are courteous and we
Ask 10$ for anchoring. It's Christmas Eve and we're
We haven't prepared anything special!
Another canoe arrives with David who speaks good English – He
is a tour guide for charters. He invites us with the
Henrike boat 7, to spend New Year's Eve in the village. We will
finally being able to witness the true Kuna traditions… Sahila
sits with his sidekicks, while a man is giving a speech
“religious” while no one listens…. (At the end of the evening it
must have had a loss of voice…) Everyone's got a beer to
the hand, Children heckle, others are dozing off and we are
We can't wait to get back to work… David invites us to his home
while his wife sleeps in the hammock outside. We eat
rice and finely chopped sausages…There are fireworks, and
We were escorted back to the annex and told that it was
Time to go home.
We leave at the end of the day. 2 days, after lending David the
Dinghy Engine.
Tuesday 27 to the 30 December – Mamitupu – anchorage 5$ Well sheltered.
We take advantage of this stage to fill up with water and
Laundry using water from the overflow of the water tower – Water
is captured high up in the mountain and brought to the village/island
in a plastic pipe that runs under the earth and under the
sea. You have to be very careful not to put your anchor
between the water tower and the land at the risk of cutting off their
water supply. A visit to the village with Pablo Nunez,
a Kuna fluent in English who lived for a few years in
Great Britain. He explains to us how, with regret, the
Kuna traditions are being lost. Kuna women call out to us
to sell us the Molas they sew in the half-light of the
their home. Eventually we'll buy a few. The
The next day Pablo was to show us the depths of the mountain,
We don't see it, He must not have had the authorization of the
Sahila to accompany us???
Friday 30 December – Cayo Ratones
The memory we keep of this anchorage is a rolling one, Wind
not possible and murky water!!
Meet the boat “Bouduma” Odette and Gilles from Quebecois.
Saturday 31 December – Nargana/ Corazon
We find L'Albatros, Steph and Valerie at Jesus' anchorage
from Corazon and spend New Year's Eve on their boat with Bouduma,
Odette and Gilles…
Friendly and boozy evening!!!!
Wednesday 4 January – Sabodupored
Anchorage between the islands. Fishermen come to sell us
Lobsters… Philippe prepares a lobster bisque for us
unforgettable!!!!!
Friday 6 January – Coco Bandero
It is a set of islands with very clear waters and reefs
all around… There are already a few boats moored but there are
Enough space and no one gets in the way… Swimming,
Trying to catch something, to believe that this sea does not
produces nothing!!! Philippe doesn't have a touch, Steph succeeds in
catch 1 fish after a few days!!!! Luckily
We have the fridges well stocked, Because if we had to count
on fresh fish every day, Menus would be nice
Skinny!!!!!
Tuesday 10 January – Carti Islands: Tupile – Yandup – Sugdup –
Muladup
Not much to say except……the village of Sugdup remains in
Our Brief, like a dirty place, to 2 In the afternoon,
youths, Men or women stagger with beers in hand, the
Overconsumption of alcohol is a ritual…..
Thursday 12 January- Nalia
Well-protected bay close to the mangrove. We drop anchor at
the entrance to the bay to have a bit of wind and avoid the
mosquitoes!! Dolphins are close to the boats.
A local fisherman takes us crabbing. We're learning
to find and flush them out… A treat… better than the
spiny lobster!
Valerie's birthday on L'Albatros. Everyone participates in the
Preparation of the meal. Menu: Sausage – Paté de
venison with bread made on Hibiscus – Lasagna with porcini mushrooms and
cream – Chocolate profiteroles – Coconut pie… Digestion was
Excellent!!!!
Sunday 15 January – Return to Nargana/ Corazon
Good internet connection, necessary to refresh the blog and
Surf Google for information for our
Next Steps!!!