Tropiland

The 32,000 indigenous Kuna on the San Blas archipelago off of Panama´s Caribbean coast will be forced to abandon their communities for the mainland as the rising sea level destroys their lands.

The Kuna General Congress, the indigenous people´s highest administrative body, has drawn up a plan to begin moving communities this year.

The entire relocation will take between five and six years and includes a pilot program to move two communities within the next few months, according to reports.

“We should take the initiative,” said Ariel González, the Congress´ secretary, adding that they cannot wait for the government to act. “What we want to avoid is doing it without planning, en masse and in a disorderly fashion.”

González blamed the sea water levels on climate change.

“If we didn´t cause climate change, if we didn´t burn large quantities of coal and oil, why do we have to move, change our way of life? Who is responsible?,” he asked.

During the first Indigenous Peoples Initiative on Biocultural Evaluation of Climate Change, held in the Kuna village of Ustupu in April, participants from countries from Ethiopia to Ecuador to the United States discussed the Kuna´s predicament.

“The idea is that these communities, by doing their evaluations in a participatory manner, with their experience and traditional knowledge, help determine what would be the best way to adapt to the climate conditions that are changing,” said an indigenous Peruvian Quechua, Alejandro Argumedo, who coordinated the summit. Source:Latinamerica Press.

The Comarca Kuna Yala — or the San Blas Islands as Panamanians call the islands — might not be as well known as other Caribbean destinations, but these 365 islands offer some of Latin America’s most pristine and unspoiled beaches.

The water here is crystal clear and multi-colored, and palm trees and white sand beaches only add to the allure. Plus, visitors will have the opportunity to interact with the Kuna, Panama’s most traditional indigenous group, who bravely cling to their customs in an ever-globalizing world.

The Kuna Yala Islands may technically be part of Panama, but the Kuna have an autonomous local government and make their own rules with little interference from the national government in Panama City.

Located off Panama’s Atlantic Coast and bordering Colombia, accommodations on the San Blas Islands tend to be rustic, though pickier travelers can head to the Coral Lodge, a high-end eco-resort located just outside the Kuna Yala Comarca.

Almost all accommodations include three meals a day, excursions to nearby beaches and islands and snorkeling gear. Travelers can expect to pay between $20 to $150 per person per night, depending on the type of accommodation.

However, keep in mind that $20 a night won’t get you much more than a tiny beach-side cabana with a sand floor and shared bathroom. And several dozen guitar-playing, pot-smoking, beer-drinking backpackers.

Camping is an option on most islands and islets, as long as you ask the owner’s permission and pay a $1 tax. Most islands have at least one or two families that serve as care-takers, but aside from talking to other campers and day visitors, travelers should know that they will be confined to an island the size of a football field with no nightlife, restaurants or shop — although your Kuna hosts will probably sell cold beer and rum.

And there is also the option of having your meals delivered by boat. However, if lying in hammock watching the sunset is your idea of a good time (and who’s isn’t it?), then this a perfectly acceptable option.

Personally, my favorite hotel on the Comarca is the Kuna-Niskua Lodge . There’s no A/C and you shouldn’t expect 400 count sheets — or even a great mattress for that matter — but rooms and bathrooms are clean and well-maintained.

Orlando, the friendly manager, is informative and talkative, and does his best to make sure his guests are comfortable. Plus, his pal Alberto will be more than happy to take you fishing all day long for the price of fuel, as long as he’s not busy with other guests.

Orlando and Alberto take guests out to daily excursions like Isla Perro, with it’s impressive coral reefs, colorful schools fish and offshore sunken ship. Diving isn’t allowed anywhere on the Comarca, so visitors will have to make do with snorkeling.

But my favorite thing about the Kuna-Niskua Hotel is that it’s situated on Wishub-Wala, an authentic Kuna Island Village. Many of the Islands’ lodging options are located on sparsely populated islands that allow little interaction with Kuna families, but Isla Wishub-Wala is home to some 50 families living in traditional thatched-roof huts, women who wear colorful, traditional, hand-embroidered clothing andchildren who still speak their native Kuna language, making it one of the most unique lodging experiences you’re likely to experience.

There are two options to get to the Kuna Islands. The first option is to take a 20-minute flight from Panama City, which should cost you $120-$150 round trip. AirPanama and Aeroperlas  both offer flights several times a week.

If you are somewhat more adventurous traveler, you can hire a driver to take you down for $50 roundtrip in a 4-wheel drive. Your driver will probably drop you off at the Porvenir, where a cayuco (wooden canoe) will most likely be waiting to take you to your hotel.

Be forewarned that choosing to drive down means you’ll have to cross a sometimes flooded river and you may have to make half the journey down to the islands in a motorized cayuco. I’ve made the journey both way and prefer going by land — there’s nothing like an impromptu jungle river cruise.

Here is a piece of news outlining the effects that the proposed law 459 (Island and Coastal Property) will have on social and cultural issues (among others). The province of Kuna Yala, with its postacrd-perefct Caribbean coasts, its deep green waters and palm tree lines and its laid-back additude has long been in the crosshairs of developers and big hotel chains. The new proposed law, if passed as is, will definatelly give them a chance to get their claws on this last indigenous frontier in Panama. We support the Kuna Congreess’s efforts to defend their ancestral grounds and the interests of their people. Here is the arrticle in English:

La Prensa, January 16, 2009, National News Section
“The General Congress of the Kunas demonstrated against the “systematical discussion and approval” of laws that the National Assembly is realizing, and that (to the Congress’s judgment) will allow the dispossession of its ancestral grounds.

In a bulletin, the Kuna General Congress points out that it is shameful that the National Assembly representatives, including Kuna natives, are in alliance with international and national companies to privatize the beaches and islands, and this way to offer them to the hihgest bidder, all this by means of of law N°459, which will be discussed in the second debate, in March.

The congress supports the demands of all Kunas that have legitimate Rights of Possession on not indigenous grounds, but it will not tolerate that the proposed legislation is used to deprive them of their grounds.”