San Blas is an archipelago of 365 small isles in the Caribbean sea and famous for their cristal clear water. The isles belong to one of the seven remaining indigenous tribes – the Guna Yala. A tribe, where the women rule and are in possession of all the isles.
After a four hour ride from Panama City, we arrived at the port Cartí. A pretty… interesting experience. Muddy water, many tourists and seemingly no system in place to handle them all. That was the moment my structure habituated self started making plans on how to improve the whole system and make it more efficient. Only to remind myself about how it could spoil the sought after and refreshingly easy-going experience you can get in Latin-America. Nevertheless, we surprisingly ended up in the right boat and headed to Tuba Senika.
A Lancha (=small boat) plus windy weather isn’t a recommendable combination. In our 45 minute ride we got absolutely hammered. It was like taking a shower, but with sea water and a firefighter hose. A bonding experience with every victim having survived the ride or rather torture technique.
We resided on Tuba Senika. The isle had limited electricity and no running fresh water and was a perfect place to disconnect from the world and connect with strangers.
Even though the sea, the freshly caught fish, beaches and natural pools were a dream, the real highlight was the time spent with the strangers, who turned out to become friends.
The isle brought strangers from England, Miami, Seattle, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Germany and Switzerland together. Singing, drinking and dancing together around a bonfire – a magical experience that was further enhanced by the stars in sky.
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