San Blas Island Paradise

This weekend, like I said before we went off to the islands of San Blas this weekend.

It really interesting because Panama is such a diverse mix of everything. Old and new, traditional and incredibly modern, the society is so diverse in the same day you can see someone in a Chanel dress and then see someone wearing banana leaves and rope, or a skirt made of seed beads (picked off the trees… the real ones, not the girl scout camp variety). What is crazy is that it is totally normal for those people to be walking down the same street not even in two different sides of the country.

Our trip to San Blas started out at 4:20 am on September 11… EARLY. But my roommates and I had prepared! We decided it would be a great idea not even to go to sleep!

If you did not know Panama City is relatively famous for its elaborate parties. This has always been true. Ever since it was realized that Panama City was the shortest land bridge between the Atlantic and Pacific (which was a long time ago… before the founding of the United States), Panama City has been the place for a good party. Why, you wonder? Why, not!? Its really because people would spend days or even weeks crossing the land bridge, though Panama is not that big, it is hard terrain to conquer in a few days. Not to mention they would have been eaten alive by bugs. So when they got to Panama City they would celebrate! I am sure there dancing would probably involve itching all the bug bites that they acquired on their feet and sipping on the nationalized beer as they clawed away at their skin some more, but party time it was and still is. We had been invited to a local club as VIPs and we spent the night dancing and enjoying Panama City.

Our Flight... After we landed at the "HUGE" Playa Chico Airport.

We did not walk into the door till, lets just say late, took a “nap” grabbed our stuff and walked out the door. Maybe not the smartest idea to stay up all night partying and then walk out the door to get on a plane the big enough for Barbie (not Ken though, he would have to stay behind). The flight to San Blas is around 30 minutes, maybe a few more, maybe a few less, depends how lost your pilot gets attempting to navigate through the rain forest, or how in depth he wants to read into the Panama Times before he realizes his autopilot is taking him further away from Playa Chico. Our Pilot finished the paper that morning, so it took about 45. When you are landing in Playa Chico what starts to happen is all of a sudden (in an unpressurized Barbie Dream Plane, with about 12 people on it) you are not you know going down on a slow slope… no you are crashing into the jungle. SWOOOOOPPPPPP the plane just starts going down and in the back of the plane, early in the morning, with people who have been up all night (also on Sept. 11, not the best omen), you are swooping down VERY QUICKLY into the deep rainforest… ummm well that’s all I have to say, I hope you get the idea. We did not crash. We landed on a runway about the size of the drive way at my house as the pilot SLAMS on the breaks, throws open the window as we are greeted by an armed guard, who is now reading the newspaper that the pilot just finished. IT WAS FOR SURE WORTH IT. On the other side of the drive way that planes land on was the bluest water I have ever seen on the Caribbean Sea which was littered with small palm tree filled islands and perfect sandy beaches, just calling our names.

Our Island Homes

The people who were working on the island we were going to be staying on greeted us and lead us straight to a boat, because we were right on the water. We were taken to an island which was full of BIG beach shacks/Cabañas/ Villas, which were literally on the water. I was rooming with two freshman girls and in our shack when you looked between the cracks in the floorboards you would see the waves crashing under you and if you looked hard enough starfish and sea urchins were sitting on the rocks of the crystal clear water. The entire villa had a big wrap around deck with a bigger side right on the water with two hammocks (where I spent most of my time). PARIDISE! We spent Friday in awe of the fact that this was a typical Friday at FSU Panama, and laughing and all the people in America who were probably all in class or working on a lab on a Friday morning.

After we all took a nap from being up all night long, mine was for sure spent swinging on the hammock over the water (I even found a rope somewhere on the island and affixed it to the railing on the porch so I could just pull a little on the rope and I could swing for hours). The island owners took us off to another island, which had one of the most perfect beaches. White sand, light blue colored sea, and deep water, made it a perfect place to just float (I am buoyant, this is true but the water is the perfect level of salt for being able to just float you don’t have to do anything to stay above the water) and be content with life. It’s amazing to be in a place where there is almost NO ONE for miles. The sea leaves you thinking that the world is a much bigger place, and in Kuna Yala there is no exception.

After the beach we went back to our island, which FSU had more or less rented out for the entire weekend, we were the only ones there (which is a good thing, always ask if there is going to be a group of college students checked into wherever you want to go on vacation, if I was on vacation and I ran into the group I am living with, I probably would have well committed an action that is not legal). We are a rowdy bunch, but we all have a pretty good time! Our lunch, which consisted of what we were told, was Barracuda? I am not sure, I don’t really know my fish, but I was told that you are not really supposed to eat Barracuda? But it was one of the best fish I have eaten (mainly because it did not taste very fishy and there were no bones). Followed by a nap swinging in my hammock. PARISIDE!

One of the Local Islands, there is only one house located on it.

After everyone in the group fell asleep in random places all over the island the locals were going to take us on a trip to the river, and into the rainforest for some swimming. We started off on the boats to what we thought was going to be you know a 20 minute boat ride… over an hour later we are cursing through the most beautiful jungle in what looks like a scene from a movie. One part Jurassic Park, one part Anaconda, and one part Disney Jungle Cruise and you have it! I was sitting with a freshman boy and these GIANT BIRDS that keep flying over us mesmerized us both. I was joking around and saying there were defiantly dinosaur birds, pterodactyls maybe. We both agreed that they were of prehistoric origin. By the end of the boat ride the two of us were pretty clearly convinced that either a dinosaur or a killer snake was going to jump out of the dark green forest. We were to the point of making bets about who it was going to grab. The Kuna (local Indian tribe, the people who own the land of Kuna Yala) guide who was with us was tell us that this area is completely uninhabited. The Panama government forbids anyone to live in the jungle or hunt in the jungle. The only thing that may be taken from there is plant ingredients that are used by the Kuna to make natural medicines, or for recreational purposes. It was a pretty clear adventure. In the end we did not see any dinosaurs (well the HUGE BIRDS were a bit of their own species, I will admit they could have been Pelicans but pterodactyls are way cooler).

It felt like we had been on San Blas for days when we had only been there for a few hours. We woke up the next day and more or less did the same thing all over again. Went to visit the beach… took in some swimming. The only issue with the beach we visited was that it was COVERED in sand mites, or gnat type bugs that ATE YOU ALIVE! Right now as I am typing this I am STILL itching my legs and will probably have a scar or two from the fact that even anti-itch does not make the sting go away. So sure it is paradise but really the truth is paradise does have a downfall or two.

The Kuna Village

The area of Kuna Yala or San Blas, which ever one you prefer is governed by the Kuna Indian tribe. The Kunas’ are a different Indian tribe I am not really sure what they really do or if they just kind of live? Not really sure. We went for a visit to the main city of the Kunas (which happened to be across the “street” really a very large blue lagoon to our resort/island). I have noticed over several conversations with the people that I have met in Panama that the Kuna’s are a big member of their population (more or less east of Panama City is almost all Kuna) that they are not really considered to be statesmen or members of Panamanian Society. I am not really sure what the overall feelings about the Indians in the area are but it is odd and for sure different. Through much of the tribe is isolated on the islands and the only real way to get out of the area is to fly which to them is not cheap, so it’s a very different life and a very different world. During our visit to their main city it was like nothing I had been to before. The palm thatch houses with bamboo sides are the main style of living with random hammocks and gardens over the little city. The area it probably not more then the size of three football fields, maybe even less. But it is said that around 3,000 people are all living there. And in the population breakdown most of those 3,000 people are children. The kids in the village were seeping from the cracks, they were EVERYWHERE. They kept showing up waving, asking us silly Spanish questions they were everywhere! I don’t think I have ever seen so many children in one concentrated area ever. The only other location where I think I could find this many children would be one of the bigger elementary schools in a very dense area. Even so they normally break up the children. It was not an easy place to visit. Many of these children we could clearly identify as having mental disabilities, or health issues, or even lack of exposure to many things, which is not something easy to deal with when you are coming from a world where you have access to everything. But the Kuna people do not want help, they don’t want to be bothered by the outside world, they don’t believe in vaccines or modern medicine, they believe in what they have for hundreds of years and they stand to these beliefs. Which as a society that pretty much lives off the government’s money it is very brave of them. There clothes are town and most people are not wearing shoes, the old women are trying to sell traditional handicrafts and if you want to take a picture with anyone on the island you have to give everyone in your picture one dollar, unless if someone is dancing in the picture then you have to fork over three dollars for every dancer.

On the tour of the community the local guide who worked on the island we were staying on was telling us in Spanish what exactly went on in the community, due to the fact that a few of us don’t really have the Spanish skills necessary to know what is going on (I am NOT the only one) our RA (resident assistant, dorm advisor guy) who was with us on the trip, took it in his own hands to translate. I will put it out there right now, I have been in a few situations were translators were necessary and normally they will take every word and pick it apart and translate the sentence exactly how it should be. Our RA decided to tell his own story. The Kuna guide would talk for about five minutes and our RA would go, “in the village the kids go to school.” Then the Kuna villager was telling us about how you can be in charge of the Kuna society, so like the requirements to be the Kuna President. Our RA decides he is going to translate once again with statements like, “the guy pretty much has to be a baller to be president, he has to know a shitload about the culture he has to f-ing know what everything means and shit, and he has to have the hottest Kuna wife.” The Kuna man stood there nodding his head agreeing with everything our RA was going on about… great moment in the botching of Kuna history. The Kuna Village really survives on the fact that people really want to come and visit their island paradise. So I guess it is a good thing we went and enjoyed our time there.

Our last night on the island we spent chilling on the beach and watching the picture perfect stars because we were no where near any city with almost no lights to block the night sky. It was a great trip. I spent the rest of the night in the hammock listening to the ocean before I had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight back to Panama City. I cannot wait to go back and the glory of being here for three semesters is the fact that I get to go two more times. I am sure my hammock will be right there waiting for me when I return.

Chilling in my Hammock

Overall I think this is number two on the best places I have ever been. Number one stands pretty strong at Kovalam Beach in Kerala, India. Due to the fact that it is the same idea… but they believe in daily massages and have the best bananas in the entire world. And Banana Pancakes. Also huge waves, though the sea is not as blue or as clear as the Caribbean but to each their own. It was a great time and if you are ever in Panama you catch a flight from Albrook Aeroporte to Playa Chico for 90 dollars and you are in Paradise in about 20-40 minutes depending on how good the newspaper is that morning.