MEMORIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA: GUNA YALA, A PARADISE IN 365 ISLANDS. First part

In 2008 I made my first long trip: nine months through South America and Central America. My goal was to finish in Mexico, but I came back earlier because I was tired, I did not have money and I did not know if I could continue traveling. Mexico remained one of my great destinations pending with India - I went on a trip to Asia with the aim of finishing in India, and I still have not.

During April and May you will see photo stories of my time in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. Later, although not immediately, I will continue through South America. I hope you enjoy them, for me it was something to include these destinations in my blog, so here we go.

Guna Yala, a paradise on 365 islands (Panama)

The region of Guna Yala - formerly called Kuna Yala or San Blas Archipelago - is one of my places in the world.

It is a set of 365 islands and cays located in the Panamanian Caribbean and inhabited by the gunas -also called kuna or cradle-, an indigenous community of Panama and Colombia.

I arrived at Guna Yala on a sailboat, after 48 hours of sailing from Cartagena de Indias and with an electrical storm in the middle - but that is what I tell you best in my book. A Honduran traveler I met in Colombia had told me: "San Blas is one of the most beautiful places in the world, you have to go". What I saw from the deck of the ship I already liked. If this is not paradise, paradise where it is.

We were ten in the sailboat: two Belgian boys, one Polish, one Israeli couple, three Germans, the captain and me. Our first stop was in El Porvenir, the island-capital of the region, where we sealed the entrance to Panama in the passport. It was cloudy, but the air had the typical Caribbean heaviness. We had arrived.

While the others made the migration process, I went for a walk around the island. It was almost empty. From afar were other sailboats, some wooden canoes and islands scattered on a very turquoise sea.

The color of the water changed depending on how the sun hit it. When it became cloudy, the sea seemed dark. When the sun came up, it could be seen in the background and all the fish that swam inside. The archipelago occupies a strip of about 300 kilometers long by 10 wide. Only about 40 islands are inhabited by the guna.

It is estimated that the Guna community is made up of 50 thousand inhabitants: the largest settlements are in Guna Yala (31 thousand inhabitants), in the coastal strip in front of the archipelago and in Colombia (about 2000). They are organized in three autonomous regions, one of them Guna Yala. Although they belong geographically to Panama, the gunas are self-governing. The leaders of the regions meet twice a year in the Onmaket Nega or General Congress to discuss the issues that concern the community.

Each region, in turn, is made up of communities or villages. In Guna Yala there are 49, and each one has its saila, the political and spiritual leader who is in charge of proclaiming the internal laws, organizing the tax system and maintaining civil order within their group. In addition, the saila transmit through songs the legends, mythology and history of the guna.

The captain took a few turns to see something of the landscape before anchoring. In Guna Yala I saw islands-people, islands with two cabins, islands with palm trees, empty islands.

A while after arriving we had the first contact with the guna: the women approached the sailboat in wooden canoes to greet and offer their crafts.