Caroling With The Kuna

My new favorite place on earth is officially the San Blas Islands in Panama. This atuonomous region in home to an interesting, kind and wonderful people, the Kuna. I was fortunate to make friends with one of these individuals on the 3 hour harrowing boat ride to the islands. Not only did I get to experience some of the most beautiful beaches of my life, but I got to learn a bit about the indigenous people.

One of the center pieces of the Kuna religion is the hammock. According to tradition, children are born in the hammock, couples wed in the hammock and the dead are buried wrapped in its cloth. As you can imagine, all that reclining makes for relaxed people.

I stayed on one of the main islands populated by about 400 people. Everyone lives in wooden huts and sleeps in, you guessed it, hammocks. We ate fish for every meal and on Christmas Eve, had a giant lobster and crab feast. After our Christmas meal, 3 of the male tourists we were with dressed as Santa (in suits that had been brought to the island in the 70's) and led children and carolers through the sand-packed pathways that make up the town's roads. I joined in on several of the carols that I was familiar with.

The islands felt like they were out of the Pirates Of The Caribbean. A few palm trees surrounded by the softest white sand to ever make contact with my bare feet. Dolphins swam alongside our boat. Schools of sardines jumped out of the water and through the air like ribbons of liquid silver. Pelicans dive bombed fish from 10 meters in the air. It was heaven.