22 April 2022

San Blas: The Guna

Within minutes of arriving at our first San Blas anchorage, we watched these hardworking fishermen in their dugout ulu

Our first expedition from Shelter Bay Marina in Panama was to a bucket list destination for many cruisers, the San Blas Islands also called the Guna Yala Region.  The Guna are one of eight officially recognized indigenous groups and the most high-profile.  Panama won independence from Columbia in 1903 and the Guna territory that had been relatively independent previously came under restrictions imposed by the new government.  In 1925 the Guna rebelled against the Panamanian government  to protest the forced suppression of traditional daily life and lack of recognition of their culture - women were not allowed to wear traditional dress, missionaries and colonial schooling was forced in their communities.  A settlement was finally reached in 1938 as the Guna accepted Panamanian sovereignty in exchange for clearly bounded territory and a high degree of autonomy.  Today it is clear that the Guna continue to live a traditional life while adapting to limited tourism.  Marriage outside the Guna is not allowed and if done, the couple must leave Guna Yala.
Fruit and veg boats made the rounds with the obvious and other necessities - toilet paper, gasoline, beer, wine, water etc.  Some boaters stay for months surviving on these floating shops with maybe a few special delivery requests.

These guys happily raised their sails to show us their prowess.  And Milly made the perfect backdrop.

Paddling and wind power in a streamlined craft means that they could efficiently go about their fishing business, island to island.  So fun to watch and marvel at.  We didn't see anyone dump in these boats that were a tree trunk wide.

Most islands were uninhabited but several had family homes such as these.  Some had just a hut made of palm fronds for fishermen's shelter overnight. All were simple and made of whatever was around, mainly renewable, fast-growing materials..

We visited Nargana-Yandup, an island town, just off the mainland with our sister-ship, Mira.  Two islands connected by a bridge were packed with forlorn looking concrete buildings.  Unlike the islands, the villages are neither pristine nor beautiful.  Only the occasional palm squeezed through the chock-a-block tin rooftops.  Instead of sandy beaches, the coast is lined with boat launches and overhanging outhouses.  In this particular town, the residents had chosen to give up much of the traditional Guna culture.  We were curious to visit, reprovision and buy some gas for TomTom but there was an outbreak of Covid.  A "sentry" greeted us at the dinghy dock but refused to allow us to explore any further.  We were able to buy some gas, though, from the gerry can of one of the dockside residents.

 

Meet Venancio.  The youngest son of many in his family, he was taught to make molas by his grandmother.  I had been told by several other boat friends to expect a visit from him and that he made the best molas.  Sure enough within hours of our arrival at Chichime, our first anchorage, he appeared with his charming smile.

The production of molas, or the decoration on female blouses, are the main activity of Guna women, and is for many families the principal source of income.  It is a hand-made textile that forms part of the traditional women's clothing along with a patterned wrapped skirt often green and black, a red and yellow headscarf, arm and leg beaded cuffs, a gold nose ring  and earrings.  Molas are made by Guna women and omeggid - 'third gender' males.




Venancio brought his garbage pail and bags full of molas onto the boat.  He pulled out each one, slowly waving it in front of him to show it off.  If my ohhs and ahhs were of the right tenor - he is an expert - he decorated our cockpit with it.  By the end, there were at least thirty to choose from.  I was flummoxed but managed to narrow it down to eight from my intended five.

The mola originated with the tradition of Guna women painting their bodies with geometric designs, using available natural colors; when colonized and introduced to Catholicism, the naked female torso was no longer acceptable and these same designs were woven in cotton.  Traditionally, the mola is worn as a decorative panel on the front and bay of the woman's blouse.

Brightly coloured layers of cloth with shapes cut out to reveal the colour below, edges overturned and painstakingly and very finely stitched, then embellished and embossed.   

The top layer in this one is the purple with black underneath and then pink.  The purple is cut to outline the plant in black.  It's so intricate, it's tough to figure out what's what.  The stitches are so tiny, they are very barely visible.

This one chosen especially for our soon-to-be born grandson.  Sailing indoctrination begins early.

Another adventure with Mira's crew.  A tour lead by Mola Lisa, a transexual mola maker - I bought another two from her.  She and her chauffeur picked us up from Milly and Mira in her souped up ulu.  Nothing glamorous and still only a tree trunk wide meaning we sat single file but with higher sides and fibreglassed.  Our destination was a river on the mainland.

We crossed the sandbar at the river entrance and then our assistant guide poled us up river.  Lisa promised that there were no crocodiles in this particular river as we jumped out to ground the boat while we hiked.

Our first and most interesting stop, the burial site of Lisa's parents and siblings.  Lisa chatted to them, paying special attention to her mother.  On each she placed a bowl of cocoa beans to burn as incense.   

Each family grave site is covered with a thatched or, for those who can afford, a tin roof - Lisa 's goal was to cover her site with tin - to protect the graves from the rain. 

The body is laid to rest in a hammock a buried so that a mound of packed earth - looks like clay - is oriented toward the rising sun.  The graves a decorated with flowers and every day tools symbolic of the dead.



This was a very special place unlike any other burial site we have seen in our travels.  We felt very lucky.

And then to the silly...Lisa harvested three blossoms she called "Marilyn Monroe Lips" - I have no idea what they are really called.  We posed on cue.

Finally, after a long hike through the jungle and small plots of land where hopeful farmers were struggling to tame the lush natural plants, we reached a waterfall where we took a quick and welcome plunge.

Harvested along the way, our assistant guide was carrying bananas back to the village to share with the families.



The Guna Yala Region has an area of 2.306 square kilometres (0.89 sq mi). It consists of a narrow strip of land of 373-kilometre (232 mi) long on the east coast of Caribbean Panama, bordering Colombia and an archipelago of 365 islands along the coast, of which 50 are inhabited.  And this one has a couple of buildings and a couple of palms.


They are the quintessential tropical island - deserted, topped with coconut palms, bordered by white sand beaches or mangroves, clear turquoise water and coral reefs.


Milly, looking pretty.




Strangely a little herb garden on an otherwise uninhabited island.


Cruisers are warned not to pick any coconuts which are described as Guna currency.  This coconut  is sprouting.

There wasn't as much fish life as we anticipated, although the coral was alive, varied and abundant.  This starfish, one of many, in the incredibly clear water.


Very sadly, these islands are flat and barely above sea level.  They are already suffering from the effects of global warming.  Trees on almost every island are flooded and dying.  The shoreline's mass of roots are eroding from pounding waves that are now more commonly crashing over the reefs.

Families who used to live on the islands are choosing to move to the mainland or the town islands.  We happened to be visiting during the school vacation/dry season when the Guna return to the family's islands for the hols.  Tragically, it is increasingly likely that many of these islands will be permanently submerged in the not too distant future.





Our Mira mates, on a dinghy river explore.  So fun to spend some days with them.  We're hoping to do it again.



Milly and Mira, sister ships.


It was hot!!  Inspired by Mira, Peter contrived a sun shade for the bow out of one of Tom's laser sails.  Excellent!

We had a great, if abbreviated time, exploring Guna Yala.  It was time to go back to Shelter Bay where we would leave Milly for a trip home to meet our new grandchild!!

1 comment:

  1. What a fascinating place! Is your new grandchild a boy or a girl? Or does one ask such a question nowadays?

    ReplyDelete