That's All Folks......

Cool boats shuttle guests around the islands

Coco Blanco island where I stayed

My guest cottage - very rustic and simple

the island sand is raked every morning

San Blas Islands Vacation

With the Piriati water line sand filters now on line and the last of the Global Brigades volunteers gone back home, my work here in Torti is done. All projects complete, all expectations met or exceeded and all tray tables in their upright and locked position. Sounds like a good time for vacation before heading home for 10 weeks.

I’ve been wanting to visit the San Blas islands for many reasons – the name San Blas (Saint Blaze) is special to me since I lived on the island near San Blas in Mexico, it’s the business and population center of the Kuna Yala indigenous reservation and there is plenty of warm Caribbean water and tropical sand.

They say that getting there is half the fun and in this case it’s true. The 40 Km road from the PanAm Hwy to the Port of Carti. click to see road video Twist and turn and burn, almost as good as an E ticket at Disneyworld. And in a late model Lexus, it was a very comfortable ride.

Unlike the Kuna of the Magugandi Comarca, who have a huge trust fund from the Bayano Dam displacement, the Kuna of the Yala depend largely on tourism for financial support and have sadly given up their simple lifestyle of hunter gatherers to service the tourism industry. There are 4 primary residential islands and about 30 islands that support tourism, all controlled by the tribal leadership, which seems pretty well organized, though the tribe has licensed a couple of new upscale resorts.

To see all photos click here

This includes a fleet of large 80 HP launches that shuttle workers, supplies, building materials and tourists between the Port and the various tourist islands. Many of the islands have a few simple rustic (very) huts, a common bathroom and a restaurant. They are almost interchangeable so it really doesn’t matter what island you stay on. The exceptions are two 4/5 star resorts, which the Kuna are ill-equipped to manage. Other islands are reserved for day visits and have games, snorkel gear, etc available. A few islands have only a restaurant. Two islands are purely “gift shops” full of some Kuna art, but mostly Chinese tourist crap. The shuttle boats make it easy to move between islands.

I visited several of the islands and stayed on Coco Blanco. They had a series of solar panels as well as 3 small Honda generators. The electrical distribution system is just wires hanging between the palm trees. Water comes from a shallow well in the center of the island, which is pumped up to a big storage tank above the common bathrooms and showers. The water is not perfectly sweet, but certainly good enough for showers. But I digress into technical matters.

There were nice reefs all around the island in 5 to 10 feet of water and an old ship wreck for touristy flavor. Certainly not as spectacular or well-populated with gorgeous fish as Belize or Bahamas, but still crystal clear Caribbean water at just the right temperature for extended snorkel or dive sessions. The sand is not the perfectly white fine stuff that I saw in Bocas, but warm and soft and fit my toes just perfectly.

The food was good, but only 2 items on the menu for lunch and dinner (fish or chicken) – both were outstanding. Breakfast was a nice omelet and fat tortilla with coffee. If you want the coffee without sugar, you must ask. The clientele was a mostly young international set – I met folks from Russia, France, Argentina, Spain, Canada, US and a middle-aged Mexican couple. Of course, the main conversation topic was … Trump. Among the guests, the disdain for this man was unanimous.

The cabins are simple and rustic to the max – just 3 single mattresses on raised platforms with a sand floor. No AC or fan, but the cool sea breeze made things comfortable. No electricity in the huts and only a few lights so you can find the bathrooms at night.

I loved the place, the island, the company, the water, reefs and sand, but some folks might feel the San Blas island experience a bit too rustic.

This will likely be my last blog before I start my next assignment in Bocas del Toro. Y'all have a great summer. See you in September.......