What a pleasant island. I'm sure it's not easy to resist becoming a tourist spectacle with the possible revenue, but these inhabitants seem to be doing the right thing. I was in the San Blas islands many years ago (also Kuna), and it was similar, but I have no idea how they would be today.
Would love to have a comparison - hard to say. But I suspect not much different from when you visited. Still traditional ways. Traditional crafts. Kuna language is still alive. Although, they use smart phones - very sparsely, run a few local restaurants as well as provision and delivery boats for sailors. But they still don’t like people taking pictures in the villages. And don’t invite tourists to where they live.
My memory is not so great on the details, I was 12 years old. But they were OK with photos, and we got there in a Cessna 6-seater. So even then it was a bit more 'tourist-friendly'. But people dressed traditionally, including wearing dresses with old US and Panamanian silver coins sewn in.
So interesting. When I scroll the google maps for Guna Yala Comarca, I get an impression of a handful of village-islands like this, fully covered by housing, mostly on the open sea, and then the coast which seem to be completely uninhabitted, covered by forest with no villages or roads. Is it really like this? Why isn't anyone building on the coast? How do they survive cyclones in this tiny island surrounded by water?
Your impression is largely correct. 350 plus islands on the archipelago. Only about 50 are inhabited. Some have settlements with only a few homes. But others have villages with populations between 200 and 1000 people. There is a growing number of villages on the main land as well, but they hug the sea, as it is much easier to get around by boat than on a single road through the jungle - the jungle here is practically impassable. Lack of infrastructure slows any development that far away from the capital, plus the comarca must approve any building.
The hurricanes and cyclones fortunately do not swing this far south. But the local face another threat. The sea levels are already rising, and these island are low.
It was a quiet and lovely place. I don’t want to idealize the place or the people, of course. I am sure they have their problem, which I could not see in my two hour stay. But they were pleasant and smiling people.
What a pleasant island. I'm sure it's not easy to resist becoming a tourist spectacle with the possible revenue, but these inhabitants seem to be doing the right thing. I was in the San Blas islands many years ago (also Kuna), and it was similar, but I have no idea how they would be today.
Would love to have a comparison - hard to say. But I suspect not much different from when you visited. Still traditional ways. Traditional crafts. Kuna language is still alive. Although, they use smart phones - very sparsely, run a few local restaurants as well as provision and delivery boats for sailors. But they still don’t like people taking pictures in the villages. And don’t invite tourists to where they live.
My memory is not so great on the details, I was 12 years old. But they were OK with photos, and we got there in a Cessna 6-seater. So even then it was a bit more 'tourist-friendly'. But people dressed traditionally, including wearing dresses with old US and Panamanian silver coins sewn in.
So interesting. When I scroll the google maps for Guna Yala Comarca, I get an impression of a handful of village-islands like this, fully covered by housing, mostly on the open sea, and then the coast which seem to be completely uninhabitted, covered by forest with no villages or roads. Is it really like this? Why isn't anyone building on the coast? How do they survive cyclones in this tiny island surrounded by water?
Your impression is largely correct. 350 plus islands on the archipelago. Only about 50 are inhabited. Some have settlements with only a few homes. But others have villages with populations between 200 and 1000 people. There is a growing number of villages on the main land as well, but they hug the sea, as it is much easier to get around by boat than on a single road through the jungle - the jungle here is practically impassable. Lack of infrastructure slows any development that far away from the capital, plus the comarca must approve any building.
The hurricanes and cyclones fortunately do not swing this far south. But the local face another threat. The sea levels are already rising, and these island are low.
Sounds like paradise. Sounds like they’ve got it sorted out too. Thank you for sharing!
It was a quiet and lovely place. I don’t want to idealize the place or the people, of course. I am sure they have their problem, which I could not see in my two hour stay. But they were pleasant and smiling people.