November 24, 2007 Saturday
Kanlildup (a/k/a Green Island)
San Blas Islands, Kuna Yala
09.28.762N; 078.38.158W Traveled 11.9 NM from Devil Cays
After the no-see-um attack in
Snug Harbor last Saturday morning we motored
16.3 miles to Niadup (Ticantiqui) at Devil Cays. BLUEPRINT MATCH followed closely behind
us. Paul said that hand steering is
tiring and difficult to stay perfectly on course like the auto pilot. There was a large swell across the beam and
we were glad that this was only a 16 mile trip and not 50 miles. We anchored south of Niadup for Saturday and
Sunday nights and motored to Green
Island on Monday morning. It was time to get away from the villages on
the islands close to the mainland.
Bill and I did not even go
ashore at Niadup. The village looked uninteresting
and there was a lot of smoke; we assumed from cooking fires. We did not need to buy anything and I did not
want to expose myself to more insects, so we just stayed on BEBE. We did go over to BLUEPRINT MATCH for drinks
one evening. Right at sundown Michelle
spotted a crocodile headed from the mainland towards the village. Paul, Bill & I all thought it was just a
log; but Michelle was right – it really was a saltwater crocodile. Later, as we were preparing to head home I
stepped into the dinghy and was waiting for Bill when Paul said “what is that
there by your leg in the dinghy?” I
looked down and saw in the darkness what I thought was a medium sized
iguana. You wouldn’t believe how fast I
was able to get out of that dinghy and back onto BLUEPRINT MATCH. Bill couldn’t see what had caused me to
abandon the dinghy so quickly, so Paul was trying to show this “iguana” to
Bill. A couple of minutes later Paul
started laughing. The “iguana” was a
2-foot rubber alligator that Paul had placed in our dinghy. We all had a good laugh out of Paul’s
practical joke.
Green Island is uninhabited and several miles off the
mainland. There is reef in various
places around the island. The channel
into the anchorage was 113 feet deep with reef on either side, but no breaking
surf on the reef. Visibility was not the
best on the day we arrived. We again put
our faith into the waypoints provided in the sailing guide by Eric Bauhaus and
arrived safely in the calm anchorage area.
It was raining the day we arrived and has been raining off and on ever
since, with the sun breaking through only for a few minutes at a time. We are very glad to be out here instead of
next to the mainland where there seems to be more lightning.
Paula and Dennis on YEMANJA
arrived here at Green
Island on
Thanksgiving. We all gathered on
BLUEPRINT MATCH for Thanksgiving dinner.
I provided the appetizer of local smoked fish from Iles des Saintes and
smoked salmon accompanied by cream cheese/sour cream base spread and capers and
chopped red onion on crackers. It
surprised me how much little Seanna and Merric loved smoked salmon. That is very unusual for 3 and 4-year-old
children. We each brought our own
lobsters and Michelle prepared some wonderful seared pork medallions with a
fruity rum sauce. She also prepared
salad and baked cauliflower. Paula
cooked some pasta with tomatoes and artichokes.
I provided stovetop stuffing, which was Paul’s favorite. For dessert, Paula prepared a baked passion
fruit pudding; and I made a French vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and a
raspberry and lemon curd pie. (Wasn’t
sure that pie was going to be edible because I made up the recipe, but it was
darn good.) It was great to be able to
enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with such good friends. We missed seeing our family and having the
traditional holiday treats; but it was a great Thanksgiving, even if paradise
was a bit rainy.
We had planned to move all 3
boats out to the Coco Bandero Cays today; but the weather is dreary and we
heard on the VHF radio that it is rocky and rolly out there today, so all 3
boats decided to stay put here at Green
Island for at least one
more day. Weather is predicted to
improve tomorrow. If it does then we
will move 20 miles or so to Isla Porvenir and officially clear into the San
Blas Islands. Figure we better do that
soon since we are getting into the area where officials sometimes go around and
check to verify that boats are properly cleared in. If we wait much longer to clear in then we
might end up paying a fine and be scolded.
Cruisers might want to stop
reading here. The remainder of the log
is info taken from the sailing guides for Panama and you probably have
already read it. This is provided for
the landlubbers following our travels who don’t own the sailing guides.
MORE KUNA HISTORY AND
LIFESTYLE
The Kuna people do not like
the name of San Blas Islands. That name
was given to this area by the Spanish invaders.
They prefer that these islands and the associated mainland territory be
called Kuna Yala. The land is not
divided into individual properties and fences are absent. Kuna treat their forests and lands as
cruisers treat an anchorage; tribe members can pass through and benefit, but do
not claim possession by industrial development.
The Kuna like visitors but prohibit any non-Kuna from permanently
settling or intermarrying. Foreigners
cannot buy land or invest in Kuna Yala.
The Kuna have always considered themselves more closely aligned with Colombia than Panama. They are normally a very peaceful people but
when Panamanian rule was attempted to be forced upon them in the early 1900s,
they rebelled February 21, 1925. The
Kuna killed every man, woman and child who was in the Kuna Yala lands and was
not full-blooded Kuna. The Kuna felt
that this was the only way to ensure that their heritage would continue in the
true traditional manner. After the
rebellion the Cacique declared total independence under the name of Kuna
Yala. When news reached Panama City the government immediately
mounted a military campaign. Only a
quick intervention by the United States Navy, namely the USS Cleveland,
prevented bloody retaliation. Panama
soon realized that it would just be simpler to allow the Kuna to govern
themselves and that has worked well ever since. First there was partial autonomy; then
recognition as an official reserve in 1938; the Kuna constitution in 1945; and
the grant of full administrative and juridical powers in 1953. The rebellion was called “Holocausto de las
Razas.” The flag of the rebellion was a
large swastika, which is still seen today in the villages and on the tombs of their
most revered leaders. This swastika flag
has no political connection with the later Nazi symbol in Europe.
The Kuna population is now around 55,000
or about ten percent of what they were before the invasion of the Spanish
conquistadors. (And if the number of
children that we have seen is any indication, the Kuna population surely is
increasing.)
Each village has 3 sailas
(chiefs). They hold the highest level of
authority at village level. Three
Caciques (high chiefs) rule the nation as a whole, each representing his part
of the land. One of these Caciques is
elected supreme leader of the Kuna Nation.
The sailas are much more than
political leaders. They are also holders
of the Kuna spiritualism, medicinal knowledge and history. Every village has two oversized huts, the
congreso and the chicha. The congreso is
like a town hall. It is a gathering
place for villagers most evenings. A
typical congreso finds the sailas swinging in hammocks in the center of the
building. The sailas are accompanied by
Argars (interpreters). The Argar puts the sailas’ wisdom into prospective and
applies it to the current situation.
Villagers can voice any complaints or comments to the congreso and the
Argar interprets the sailas’ opinions about the topic. The rest of the tribe are seated on hard
wooden seats or benches surrounding the sailas’ hammocks. The sailas sing long sacred songs about their
ancestors and past exploits, including battles with the Spanish invaders. These songs are part of the tribe’s oral history,
passed down from generation to generation.
Sometimes the congreso meetings can become long and boring. As a consequence, certain people are given
the task of letting out ear-piercing shrieks at irregular intervals in order to
keep everyone awake.
In addition to the 3 sailas,
there are also many junior sailas. These
are sort of like executives and are responsible for tasks such as keeping the
aqueducts working or building new huts.
There are also sualipetmar, which is a kind of police who carry sticks. The sticks are status symbols and are never
used to strike anyone. In the most
traditional villages the sualipetmar carry certain branches from a special
plant that burn and sting upon contact.
These are used to control unruly children.
The Kuna have an elaborate
system of penalties and fines. These are
strictly enforced by the congreso. A
favorite penalty is to collect coral rubble and deposit it in a barrel to be
used as land fill. This explains all the
ulus we saw in Ustupu going up the river and returning full of small
stones. The penalty serves for the good
of the community. There is a story of
one case when a Kuna man was sentenced to fill ten barrels because he had hit
his wife. He appealed to the congreso,
saying that his wife had provoked him.
So the saila decided that the wife must also fill ten barrels as her
penalty for provoking her husband’s aggression.
The other big hut in each
village is the chicha hut. Chicha is an
intoxicating drink brewed from sugarcane and other special ingredients and is
used for spiritual events. The chicha
ritual is held once or twice a year, and required at least a month of
preparation. It is considered
sacred. I won’t describe the chicha
making process here because it takes too long; you might be able to find it on
the internet. The ritual can last
several days and the men and women are segregated for it. They do not drink this intoxicating beverage
in mixed company.
Since 1925 no Kuna is allowed
to intermarry with a non Kuna. Violation
of this prohibition results in expulsion from Kuna Yala. This has led to a kind of genetic insulation
and there are many albinos. Based on the
number of people that we have seen, Bill and I estimate that about one percent
of the Kuna population is albino at this time.
BTW, weddings take place only in February each year. You are not allowed to marry whenever you
want to. Also, public demonstration of
affection is forbidden. Paul &
Dennis on YEMANJA met one Kuna man who told of being fined $60 by the congreso
when he was caught kissing a girl. That
was a huge sum for a 14-year-old boy, but he worked and saved and paid the fine
in 2 years. Then he was caught kissing
her again. This time the congreso fined
him $120. He again worked 2 years and
paid that fine. Then he was caught
kissing the same girl for the third time!
This time the congreso fined him $180!
He managed to finally pay that fine.
And then he married that girl.
They now have 3 children.
The mainstay of the Kuna
economy are coconuts, which grow like you would not believe. These coconuts are traded to Colombian
trading boats. The Colombian traders
bring crackers, poor quality canned goods, potatoes, onions, oil, fuel, glass
beads, machetes and assorted trading goods.
Each coconut might be worth only 10 cents when the Kuna are trading them
to the Colombian boats, but if a cruiser wants to buy a coconut from a Kuna the
current price in November 2007 is 50 cents apiece.
Nuchus are small sacred
statuettes. They are usually about
15-inches tall and act as a link between the spiritual and the physical world
of the Kuna. Every Kuna owns one. The statues are believed to be alive. There are many different types, some having a
stronger spirit while others are weaker.
Some are good and others are bad.
They mystically represent the owner but also have a character of their
own. Nuchus are normally made of a
hardwood like purpleheart; but the ones made for sale to tourists are crudely
cut from light balsa wood and have no spirit.
If a nuchu is given to you, then it is considered to possess a
spirit. If money is paid for a nuchu,
then it has no spirit.
If a child is sick, the
father might bring the child’s nuchu to the Nele (medicine man or shaman). The Nele would then diagnose the cause of the
child’s illness, which is usually a bad spirit (surprise,surprise). The Nele is a powerful and important
personality. Nele often use selected
natural drugs to give themselves special powers. (Hey, this is beginning to sound an awful lot
like Clan of the Cave Bear! Guess some
things never change.) There are 3 main
branches of Kuna Nele, each divided into different specialties. Ones who chant at funerals are especially
impressive. They sing a continuous song
for over 24 hours, in a secret language known only to himself and the
deceased. This is intended to help the
deceased find his way and not get intercepted by evil spirits that might be
roaming around in the different layers of the Kuna underworld.
I wrote earlier about the
transvestites in Kuna society. These are
usually the eldest sons of families who have no daughters. The first-born son often is raised as a girl
and taught the economically important skill of making molas. Supposedly there is also no stigma associated
with homosexuality in Kuna society (according to one guide book), although we
have certainly seen absolutely nothing to indicate this one way or the
other. As any public display of
affection is forbidden, I wonder where the author obtained his source of
information for this subject.
