Maybe few people know that, just in front of the most well known Panama, it exists a heaven corner still to discover, one of the of last. We are talking about San Blas archipelago, a group of 365 dream islands not bigger than a football ground, appeared on the North coast of Panama, in the Sea of Caribbean. A true and real “refuge”, and not only for those few travellers that venture to the search for far places from the mass tourism assaults but also the same Indios Kuna, the local natives, who from always fight to defend its culture and traditions from any outside contamination. It is not allowed to any foreigners to buy lands, nor undertake here any touristic activities and this is the reason why hotels do not exist. The only hospitality form is given by very simple cabins managed by the same Kuna. An example is the island of Kuanidup where one of these local “resorts” is: six cabins of wooden, external common services and a restaurant. No electrical light, nothing of nothing. A total immersion in the tropic world, with its colours, the blazing sunsets, a crystalline sea, which plays with all the possible green and blue shades. A place not for everybody for sure. Who is probably looking for luxury he wrong address. However, who is looking for strong emotions, as those that nature can give away, will live a memorable experience. Daily flights connect Panama to San Blas. Once you arrived on the islands, the boat is the only way to visit the archipelago. Big cruise ships, in fact, are able to reach only the most outside islands because in many points the navigation is made impossible by low depths and the presence of the coral barrier. Only 51 over 365 islands of the archipelago are settling. They all belong to the state of Panama, of fact islands are managed from Sahila, a local village chief, to whom go the most important decisions, which regard the community. If the village chief is always a man, is the woman who holds the familiar balances. Kuna is a matriarchal company and you understand it also by the way women are dressed up. At any time of the day they wear the dress and the traditional ornaments: the sapuret, a kind of sarong, and a blouse manufactured with two molas, the typical coloured fabric squares coloured made of traditional production. On the head, a handkerchief. Then the jewels: the olos, the characteristic ring to the nose, earrings and gold necklaces. At last, wrists and ankles gripped by threads of colourful seed pearl complete the "mise". Very simple, the male clothing instead: a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Here the life is scanned by nature rhythms. Sun rises soon in the morning and, with the first dawn lights, they begin the daily activities. Men mainly deal with fishing and the building of cayacos, which is a canoe made by an only free trunk. With cayacos who they move between the islands and they are able to sail, with so rudimentary boat, in a sea often hostile. Children start taking confidence soon with the sea and it is not rare to see young's driving a cayaco in full ocean. The women's main activity is the creation of molas, characteristic inlaid coloured cloth square, with pattern which reproduce animals and daily life scenes. Besides be used to manufacture the traditional suit of the women Kuna, the molas are an important source of gain for "comunidad", being practically the only purchasable things of handicrafts and of a certain value to San Blas.

Milena Passigato