Once we landed we were met by our 2 Kuna men, Efron and Deu, who would bring us to our island on the Carribean by boat about an hour away. The gave us rain coats to wear to prevent us from getting soak and wet but we did anyway. Rain coats but no life vests. Oh well, we just had to trust that they could get us there safely and they did. Deu just smiled the entire time but never said a word which was pretty much his state the entire 4 days we were there. Adam and I were just in total awe as we cruised across the sea and observed all of the islands along the way. It was amazing. It was paradise I had always imagined. There were a few islands that were inhabited but for the most part just deserted islands covered in Coconut trees and white sandy beaches. Some of the islands were large enough to fit about 2 people and that was it!
The Kuna Yala people run San Blas as an autonomous region with minimal interference from the Panamanian government. It is an archipeliago consisting of somewhere around 400 islands of which about 48 are inhabited. The Kuna's principal currency up until the late 90's was the coconut. The Kuna people hold on tightly to their traditions. The men wear modern clothing consisting of shorts and t-shirts but the women still wear tradition clothing. We don't have any pictures of the women because we wanted to respect them and it would cost a buck everytime we wanted to take one.
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