KUNA INDIANS of PANAMA

Kuna Culture

            The Kuna live in large extended family groups in thatched huts with dirt floors. They sleep in hammocks and hang their clothes from the rafters of their huts. They are a well organized people who are commercially aggressive, but not pesky.

            When a boy marries he moves in with the girl and her family. The woman owns the house, property, and wealth which makes it desirable for the hard working men to maintain it. They transit daily via cayuca (small boat) to tend their crops. Men weave large utilitarian baskets.  Women do not go into the jungle or work in the fields; they are strictly domestic and dominate their men.           

            The Kuna are physically small. Women usually stand shy of 5 foot.  Men dress European style in shorts or long pants and tee shirts. The women always wear a blouse decorated front and back with a mola. They also wear either a short or long sarong. Their short hair is always covered with a red and gold head scarf. Multi strands of seed necklaces are worn around their neck as well as rows of beads on their arms and legs. Women also wear a gold band through their nose.

            The women are creative and artistic. They spend many hours doing very fine needlework on the reverse cut appliqué called mola. Mola means cloth. The molas are colorful, unique and are used as clothing decoration, accessories, as well as wall hangings. Coconut is a large barter crop which pays for the material and thread from either China or Columbia. They use fine quality goods to make their molas.

            All cooking is done in a separate cook house and is done in large quantities in 5 gallon pots over large fires. Fires are generally made of seven-foot long mangrove logs in the shape of wheel spokes. Mangrove is the wood of choice because it is smokeless. Rice, rum, and sugar are also imported. The men fish and fish is a stable in their diet. Fresh fruit is plentiful, especially bananas, papaya, and coconut. Fresh water comes from the rivers.

            The immediate Kuna family unit is small, usually two or three children. The infant mortality rate is high, but if a child survives the first couple years of life he has a good chance of  living to be 70.  Eye problems are common at a fairly young age. It also was interesting to learn that the Kuna have a 1:25 chance of being albino compared to a 1:28,000 for whites. Society accepts the different—homosexual, albino, or whatever. If a male, he most often will work with the women.

Kuna cemeteries are on the mainland and always near a river. The dead are buried in their hammock, with all their personal possessions. The funeral is the day after death but no later  than the second day.

Kuna use a witch doctor and pay him if they are satisfied with his treatment. They practice monogamy; in fact adultery is a felony. The Sahila is the leader and has authority over the community. The national government provides schooling through junior high. The Kuna have adapted but continue to keep their beliefs, myths, legends and traditions.

The Kuna do a complicated dance which really is a sport and in which they have regular competitions. The language is Spanish as well as a local dialect.

Because these people are commercial it is customary to pay a dollar to take their picture. General pictures of the village are ok, but if you take a picture of individuals or of  children you must pay.

SAN BLAS ISLANDS

                  Relaxing in the San Blas Islands of Panama

The morning after we had transited the Panama Canal I walked out on deck with a cup of coffee and saw incredibly beautiful small islands everywhere.

I was to learn that San Blas is one of Panama’s provinces and is also an archipelago of 365 small islands that are home to the Kuna (also spelled Cuna) Indians. Only a few of the larger islands are inhabited. The small islands have lovely sand beaches and a few palm trees for shade.

A gently arched barrier reef extends 110 miles to the Colombian border on the south. The reef is one of the oldest in the world and is the focus of a study by Smithsonian scientists. Try to visualize the reef as a rainbow with three colors. The outside is blue, ten miles wide with 250 uninhabited islands with coconut palms and deserted white sand beaches. This is what I had seen. There is no tillable land on these islands as they are all sand. There is no fresh water, but it is said that the fishing is great as is the swimming and snorkeling.

In the center of the rainbow is a yellow strip, only a mile wide with a cluster of slightly larger islands that are inhabited by large families/clans of Kuna Indians. This area is population dense with 50,000 Kuna Indians living in 50 villages.

The inside 3-5 -mile -wide strip is green and represents the jungle. The Kuna men tend fields here with a slash and burn agricultural style. However, they clear only small areas, 3-5 acres, at a time and are not involved in commercial farming, have no animals, do not irrigate, and use no pesticides or chain saws. Their farming is strictly survival and when they move the jungle takes over their fields again.

That afternoon the captain ran the ship up on the sandy beach at Acuatupu and tossed a line around a coconut tree. Tupu means island.  Our small ship had a very shallow draft and its unique design allowed us to leave the ship via a ladder in the bow. The water was warm and we all stayed in it for some time. The snorkeling wasn’t worth putting a mask on for. The island was small and it was easy to walk around it. We chose to do so in shallow water rather than on the sand. There was not a speck of litter.

The next day we made another bow landing at Quin Quin in the morning. The crew put the glass bottom boat in the water so we snorkeled dry. The coral was numerous and the water fairly shallow so better viewed from the boat than trying to swim over it and not touch it.

That afternoon we ran the boat up on the beach again, at Wayshalatupu. We spent all afternoon in the clear warm water. Late in the afternoon the crew brought buckets of pina coladas onto the beach and we had a regular beach party. It was a wonderful fun restful day.      

We remained here all night. The next morning the captain delayed getting under way until 10:00 AM so we could swim after breakfast. When we did get underway he laid off a reef at Tupu Tupu for the diehards to snorkel the reef.

Late that afternoon we stopped at Carti Village on a bigger island. The market place had hundreds of little stands and there were reverse appliqué molas everywhere in all designs and colors.

I hated to leave the peaceful San Blas Islands, but all good things do eventually come to an end. The Kuna culture is an interesting one and will be the next post.

BREATHTAKING NORWAY

                                              Talk About Photo Ops!

            Norway is a country of tunnels, the longest being 24 kilometers long. They know how to build tunnels; they were clean, odor free and dry. Maybe Boston should have consulted the country’s engineers before they started on the Big Dig! And beside tunnels the country also has speed cameras on most roads.

            The country’s scenery is spectacular! Even in late summer we saw snow on the mountain tops. Of course the climate is conducive to creating waterfalls and we saw them everywhere in all sizes, from narrow streams cascading down mountainsides to huge thundering waterfalls. We stopped to view the spectacular Kjosfossen waterfall with its 590-foot drop. It reminded me of a couple such falls I’d seen in the Swiss Alps. Absolutely breathtaking scenery around every curve of the road!

            On a fabulous leisurely day traversing the countryside we stopped in Borgund to view and admire an original stave church, built in 1129. Stave churches were a blend and bridge of Viking paganism and Christianity. In 1066 it was declared overnight that everyone would be Lutheran. At one time there were over 1000 stave churches, but today only 25 remain. Except for one stave church in Sweden, the few remaining churches are in Norway.

            A guide briefly explained, “Stav in Norwegian means load-bearing post, thus giving the church construction its name. They are very similar to the more commonly known post church. Walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, known as staves. Four corner posts are connected to ground sills, resting on a stone foundation. The rest of the staves rise from the ground sills. Each stave is notched and grooved to lock into one another, thus forming a sturdy wall. Scissor beams support the ceiling, in other words two steeply angled supports cross each other to form an X shape with a narrow top span and a broader bottom span. Think of a pair of scissors that are opened only half way. I believe there are a couple of replica churches in the United States.”

            I commented to my friend, “It would be fun to research that.”

            “They no doubt are in Norwegian communities, so let’s put that on our ‘to do’ list.” 

           

WATERFALLS AND BOTANICAL GARDEN

                       Fun and Unexpected Sites

Hiking in Davos, Switzerland we walked down a 1500-foot desent, which often passed by the melodious sound of a running waterfall. We stopped to eat our box lunch by a rather large waterfall. After lunch while we relaxed and enjoyed the ambiance I lent my old Girl Scout knife to one of the fellows as he was whittling a walking stick. It didn’t take him long to break the main blade. He felt bad and so did I, as I’d had that knife over fifty years. But what can one do when accidents sometimes happen?

            Another day we rode the bus to Davos Platz and picked up funicular tickets for a ride to Schatzap where we were to visit and hike around the alpine botanical gardens. At the top we disembarked at the Hotel Berghotel Schatzap. Davos was originally known as a health center and spa for people with lung problems. A huge sanatorium was built in 1899. By 1950 the city decided to change its focus and image to a ski and summer resort. The sanatorium, located at the base of the botanical gardens, was converted to a hotel at that time.

            The hike around the gardens was hilly and at times rather steep. Paths were very narrow necessitating single file walking. It is an unusual garden with small pockets of flowers in numerous areas. Needless to say the area is very rocky so to me it is really a rock garden, although big. I was stunned to see some of our desert plants growing at that altitude and in a harsh and cold climate.                    In answer to my friend’s question I said, “Well, that is gaillardia or Indian blanket and it grows all over our prairies. And that is purple coneflower or Echinacea. This is amazing.”

            By the time we were ready for the funicular ride back down to street level it was clouding up over the mountains. Davos hosts a music festival every weekend in July so we walked over to the Post Hotel to see what was going on.

            We decided to sit on the hotel balcony so if it did rain we’d at least be under cover and dry. The whole lower courtyard was filled with tables for sitting and eating. Several food vendors were located around the perimeter. A live band was playing at the far end of the yard. We had a great spot for both seeing all the activity and also for listening to the music. We listened to some good jazz for quite awhile before wandering down into the courtyard to check out the vendors.

            I bought a cobbler ala mode. Since it involved two different vendors I had a hard time making the ice cream man understand that I did not want a cone but the ice cream on top of the cobbler. Eventually I got my point across. We returned with our treats to our seats on the balcony just before it started to rain!

            Hotel waiters came up onto the balcony and removed the huge umbrellas taking them down into the courtyard to cover the tables. They also handed out umbrellas to people standing around in the rain. We’d made a wise choice to sit comfortably under the roof overhang. We stayed dry and had fun watching all the commotion.

            The rain was really just a heavy shower which lasted about a half hour. When the rain stopped we decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and walk back to the hotel.

PETERHOF

                          One Fabulous Royal Estate

          We visited Peterhof on a cold and windy St. Petersburg day. We took a 25-minute hydrofoil ride from down town to the palace but returned by bus. The world-famous palace, fountain and park ensemble of Peterhof is an outstanding landmark of Russian artistic culture of the 18-19th centuries.          Founded at the beginning of the eighteenth century by Emperor Peter  the Great, it is located not far from his new northern capital of  St Petersburg.  He intended Peterhof to become the most splendid of official royal summer residences. Several small palaces are in the park surrounding the huge estate.

Many eminent architects, artists, and anonymous folk craftsmen were involved in the building of the palace. Its wonderful parks, 176 fountains of various forms and styles and four cascades, majestic palaces, numerous gilded statues of ancient gods and heroes, remarkable collections of sculpture, painting and works of the minor arts make Peterhof a veritable gem. Often called Capital of Fountains, it is unique.

                  After 1917 Peterhof fell under state custody and was turned into an architecture and art museum. Today due to the unforgettable beauty of its fountains, parks and palaces, Peterhof  seems to have magic charms that make one feel happy!

                   Peterhof, the Russian Versailles, which Peter called a cottage, is an immensely luxurious royal estate, lying on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea). Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth extended the palace with two wings. One wing is a chapel and the other is under the coat of arms.

     The focal point of both the Lower Park and Upper Garden is the magnificent Grand Palace with its Grand Cascade in front of it. The Grand Cascade, which goes downhill from the palace towards the Baltic Sea, is one of the largest fountain ensembles in the world. From the Grand Cascade's largest fountain, the Samson, a channel goes through the park to the pier. The 150 fountains produce 2000 water jets among a large array of statues and sculptures. The water works, after 250 years, continue to operate thirteen miles of piping without any pumps--relying on a system of gravity. Water flows from two reservoirs filled by natural springs. None of the water is recycled. It is truly amazing!

     The original palace, built in 1714-25 was remodeled 1745-55.  Despite all the damage done to the Grand Palace during WWII, its interior has been carefully restored and is breathtaking.

           The Upper Garden, covering 45 acres, is a pretty baroque formal garden that separates the Grand Palace from the St Petersburg-bound highway.

            We started our visit at the lower garden, 200 feet below the palace where the Catherine Wing was added in 1780. There was a short wait to enter the house, where we were required to slip paper boots over our shoes.  

The joke fountains produced squeals of delight from youngsters who got sprayed by them. Peterhof is definitely a must see. No matter how many fountains you’ve seen, nothing will rival those of Peterhof!