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Published: January 9th 2008
Wow!!! That's all I can say about San Blas Islands in Panama!!!! But first I have to tell you about Panama City! We arrived in Panama City about midday Sunday a week ago. We had a bit of delay in leaving as one of the girls in our group was bitten by a scorpian that had hidden out in her pack and she was rushed to the medical centre! She was fine in the end, but a pretty big scare! The offending scorpian was captured and the owner of the hotel where we were staying was having a wonderful time showing it off to passerbys as we drove off in our minivan. The ride to Panama City took about 1 1/2, though I think it would usually be about 2, but as usual we had a grand prix driver so made it to the city in record time. The hotel where we stayed for the next three nights was pretty grubby, but at least it was centrally located. That afternoon I headed out to Casco Viejo which is the old town of Panama city. Panama City is quite amazing as at one end you have the beautiful old colonial town with
fantastic old buildings and is partially run down and at the other end you can see all the high rises and corporate buildings. After wandering through the old town for a while, we took the main road called Central Ave back into the city. Central Ave is an amazing street which is half blocked off for pedestrian traffic and absolutely swarming with people, both shopping and selling. There were also heaps of street vendors selling all kinds of things, but most importantly all the street food which I made the most of! The next morning (NYE morning) we headed off to the Panama Canal, which to be honest, at the time I really didn't know what the importance was with the canal, but I have since learnt! It was quite amazing to stand there and watch these gigantic ships come in and see the water levels in each section rise and fall to let the ship pass. The history of the canal itself was extremely interesting and the whole setup at the canal with a film and museum made it all the more worth visiting. From there we caught a cab across to the Causeway which is a 2km strip
which connects four small islands at the southern end of Panama city and spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the strip, eating and making the most of the views back towards the city. That night was of course a big night out in Panama City! We ended up in a nightclub in Bella Vista which seemed to be a very popular expat place and had a very late night but great fun! The next morning was of course a late start, but I headed out to Panama Viejo which are the ruins from the original Panama City which date back to 1519 and the buildings were abandoned in 1671, which is when Casco Viejo was constructed as the next city. The ruins are still in a reasonable state and are quite amazing to see, particularly when you can see all the highrises of the current city behind, quite a contrast! That evening was a quiet one as I had a 3.30am wake up to ensure I made my 6am flight to San Blas. Luckily I am always too early as I caught the taxi the next morning at 4.15 and ended up at the international airport rather than
the domestic one, which was another 45 mins back in the direction I came from. After several words with the taxi driver I ended up paying way more than necessary but arrived just in time to check in for my flight. The domestic airport was a tiny airport with only three counters, but a huge amount of security which involved every bag being opened, searched and sealed. I was told that as the flight was fully booked my bag may not make it on the flight so had to remove a couple of things before handing it over. The plane was another tiny propella job with about 16 seats. It was quite funny as the pilots kept rearranging the passengers to ensure even weight distribution across the plane, which meant that I ended up in the hot seat right behind the two pilots and was able to watch everything out the front windscreen, not for the faint hearted! After about 45 mins we landed in Playon Chico which is one of the largest local Kuna indian islands and the main dropoff point for supplies as well as being my stop. I was greeted on the runway itself by Nadili (the
only english speaker) from the island I planned to stay and thankfully I questioned whether my bag was actually on the plane as they were about to take off again without checking and I was in luck as they found it in the nose of the plane!! From Playon Chico I had my little canoe ride across the Caribbean to the island where I would spend the next four nights, Yandup. What heaven!!!!!!!!! The island was about the size of a soccer field and had 6 huts and a small restaurant area and that was it! My little hut was built over the caribbean and had a verandah the entire way around with an enclosed loo and a huge bed covered by a mozzie net. There were no windows and the walls themselves were made from branches so you could actually see through the walls. To lock the hut you just placed a small piece of wood across the inside of the door and when you weren't there, you just left it unlocked, but I have to say I felt completely safe and had no issue at all leaving the whole hut unlocked. On my verandah I also had two
huge hammocks which of course I made the most out of. Upon arrival at about 7.30am I dropped my bags in the hut and was served breakfast in the restaurant area which was also over the water. I can't begin to desribe how beautiful this area is! The island that I was on was extremely simple, but had all the basic luxuries you could want and I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed. That first morning I spent most of the time laughing to myself, not quite believing I was finally there and experiencing something so removed from the rest of my travels! The weather was pretty windy & cloudy on and off, so some of the photos don't do it justice, so you will just have to take my word for it! The island is owned by a local Kuta Indian family who have been running the huts for about 4 years and they told me that I was the first aussie they had ever had stay there. I found that extremely hard to believe, but they were pretty insistent about it, so I have chosen to believe them. What a pioneer I am!!! 😊 The first day
I headed out at about 10am to another uninhabited island and spent a couple of hours just lying on the beach while some of the others snorkelled or wandered around the island. Then back to Yandup for a wonderful lunch of fish and then some more time on the little beach before some quality time in my hammock. Later that afternoon they took me back across to Playon Chico for a community tour where I had the opportunity to wander around the island with Nadili as she explained the culture of the local Kuta indians. Playon Chico was tiny, but had a population of 3000 over half of which would have to be children under 10 as the island was completely overrun with little kids! Most families have from 6 to 12 kids and don't believe in contraception as the men think if the women go on the pill it means that they are having an affair.... a little bit of family planning education needs to be considered there!!! The children were absolutely gorgeous and extremely friendly, but I didn't take any photos of them, so again you will just have to take my word for it. After the tour
I headed back in the canoe again for an early dinner of seafood before retiring to the verandah on my hut to read. The electricity on Yandup only comes on at about 5pm and is turned off again before 9pm so each hut is given a little lamp, which is what I used to sit out on my verandah as I read before having a very early night to bed under my mozzie net. That night I was also joined by a number of resident geckos and little crabs that ran across the floor and did a good job of scaring the life out of me when I made my way to the loo in the dark. The geckos were also very amusing as they would go for whatever drink you had and try to drown themselves which was pretty funny when you had a beer or a rum and coke to watch them drink it! I also forgot to mention that from the bathroom in my hut you could look between the floorboards to the sea below and see the fish swimming! I also had three pelicans who found the hut I was in a great shelter and a
wonderful source of fish so I regularly had pelicans swooping past and divebombing for fish while I sat out on the verandah. The second day was again off to another deserted island for swimming and relaxing before returning in time for lunch and more beach time. That afternoon we then headed off to the Playon Chico cemetary which is built on the mainland of Panama in the hills. It was quite an amazing area to see and understand the culture and beliefs behind their practices of burying people. When they have a burial, they dig a hole in the group and put two short poles at either end. They then hang a hammock between the two poles and lay the body in it so that it hangs just below ground level in the hole and then they cremate the body. Once all the body is burnt the hammock and ashes fall into the hole and then everything is covered up and a small mound is created which they then cover with plastic to avoid erosion. A lot of the plots are also covered with little huts to further protect the buried. There are no written records of who is buried
where, but the local indians are required to pass the information along in the hope that no one forgets who is buried where. After the short trek I headed back again to Yandup in my canoe and had another wonderful seafood dinner before another night on my verandah with the crabs and geckos. Day three and day four were again much of the same, having an early breakfast and then heading out to one of the uninhabited islands for swimming before returning for lunch. Both those afternoons I chose to stay on the island, relaxing on the beach or reading in my hammock on the verandah. I really did try to take the time to appreciate how lucky I was to be in such a place and to just completely relax and enjoy the complete peace and quiet. At night the stars were absolutely amazing, I've never seen so many nor so bright, it was quite a brilliant thing to see! After four wonderful days and nights I unfortunately had to leave this little piece of heaven and return to Playon Chico for my flight back to Panama City early on Sunday morning. The plane actually arrived early and I
was lucky enough to be picked up then so had the opportunity to fly out to some of the other islands as they dropped off supplies and collected passengers. While San Blas certainly gets tourists I think seeing white skin is still a bit of a novelty for some of the younger ones and it was quite funny to watch as each time we landed the kids were trying to look in my window at me! I felt like a bit of a fool!!! I finally made it back to Panama City where I then transferred across to the internation airport to await my flight to New York where I am now. I know many of you heard about my plans for San Blas, but I have to say the whole experience exceeded anything I hoped for! It truly was removed from the regular tourist route and the local community of Kuna indians, their culture, Yandup island, the Caribbean and my beautiful little hut over the sea with all it's creatures made for the most beautiful experience which is really hard to fully describe! I do hope that you can see from the photos just how divine this area of
Central Ave
Hitting the street food!the world is, for me it really was a little bit of heaven before returning to the reality of a big city. I'll update again about my time in New York soon, but I really want to get this entry up with the photos so you can all see what I'm talking about! Thanks for all the comments and private messages everyone, I love getting the feedback, particularly some of the messages from people I don't know which are really lovely, thank you! Will be back on again soon! Hope you are all well and I'll be back before you know it!
Love Jack xoxoxo
PS. Sorry there are heaps of photos (and a video!), but I didn't want to cut too many out!
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Jacqui
non-member comment
oh ma gawd
Tomorrow is our big day I can hardly wait!!!