THIS ISLAND IS called Isla Pinos (Pines Island) or in Kuna, Tupak. Tupak means whale in Kuna. Apparently when way out to sea the island of pines’ tall hill looks like a whale. According to the cruising guide there are only seven other anchorages from Tupbak to the Panamaian/Columbian border. At said border is a gulf where it is warned drugs are possibly run in and out of. Cruiser beware . . .  

Below is Chief Dominic of Tupbak, he doesn’t tolerate drugs as you can see, although he looks like a Godfather. We had to ask him permission to tour his island. For $2 each and the promise that we’d return to take his photo, he allowed us on the island and to take a tour with David, a guide. If you ask permission perhaps the Chief, the Jefe, will allow you to come too.

Traditionally dressed Kuna woman.                                    

Village of the Dead where Kunas are buried.

s/v Hiatus with Kent, Lara, Cobin, Joe (guests from Colorado) & Heather.

They arranged the island tour with David, a Kuna, who lives on Tupbak.

Many areas were tidy and flags could be seen throughout the village.

Hammock in the shade, a must!                        Limb fences.

Sunscreen Plant                                               Cobin and Lara adorned in Sunscreen plant

Black and Green Dart Frog. Tiny—cute.           Possibly a “The Postman” butterfly.

Breadfruit???                                                   Adorable Cobin. (From a very fun family.)

They grow corn.                                                Coconut drying or decoration?

Joe & Lara own a climbing gym. So . . .        Tour guide David leading us back down the hill. 

Colorful Tupbak Village.

CHICHIME was the first group of cays Moody Blues came to in Kuna Yala (San Blas). The huts made of are made of renewable, fast growing materials. At the sea’s edge along the white sandy beaches, it was breathtaking. Hard to take one’s eyes off of even though breaking reefs were on both sides of us. CAYS were the first islands we anchored off of.

We were a short distance behind Kent and Heather (s/v Hiatus along with their company Glenn and Bob), when we noticed how the Kunas in their cayucos has already approached them.

Gene was on the bow slapping his bum  for me to back-up, but I had two cayucos full of people behind me. I tried to be gentle, but I had to back-up. I was sorry to make one woman hustle so. With so many cayucos approaching us all I said was, “No hoy, no hoy,” over and over: “Not today.”

Then the next morning when Gene walked from our berth to the aft-head he caught a woman peeking in the portlight (window). He was nude and it startled him. He leaped at the window shouting, “Don’t you look in our windows!” Needless to say, it wasn’t a good start for us.

In talking to other cruisers we learned that the Kuna women control the money. Their husbands move into their families  compound. Women choose their husbands and start marrying at around 13 years old, and homosexuality is totally acceptable.

Kent of Hiatus is on a hiatus from working as a Realtor in Portland, Oregon. But this cay caught his eye. He kayaked out to it, “scouting location,” looking for his next investment. 

In time, basically moving west to east from island to island, we met Venancio a famous master mola maker. He came on board Moody Blues and showed us his molas. Molas are different layers of colorful cloth, cut, sewn and appliqued on fabrics. They can be geometrical or historically, ones that tell a story with pictures. Below is Venancio with his younger brother and a friend.

(Feliz cumpleanos today, to my prima, cousin, Melodia. Y mucho mas . . . )

EVEN THOUGH MOODY BLUES is in Cartagena, Columbia now, I decided to flashback to last month’s adventures in Kuna Yala. It is by far the most unique culture (the indigenous Kuna Indians) that we’ve experienced. As you see in the photo above it is often necessary to  ingress and egress  the breaking reefs to reach an anchorage or leave one. There are over 340 island in the San Blas Archipelago. It lies along Panama’s Caribbean coast. They have few cars here. Their main mode of “transportation” is the dug out canoes called, cayucos or urr in Kuna. People of all ages row, power or sail the cayucos. There are no signals, no stopsigns, no freeways, no pedistrian crossings, no traffic jams. But there is wind & sea.

(Is that a woman’s dress being used as part of the sail . . . ?)