While we were in Panama last year, I found the famous molas and blogged about them here, but we found at that time it wasn’t possible to go to the San Blas islands on a day trip; but we knew we’d be passing through Panama again and I vowed we’d go and stay overnight, as we did just a couple of weeks ago.  There are 400+ islands in the group, and I don’t know how big a piece of land has to be to be counted, but only 49 of them are inhabited.  On one little island (about 3m x 2m)  we saw one small palm tree with a little scrubby vegetation in amongst the rocks; whether coming into or going from existence, in its splendid simple way this brave little one-tree islet reminded me of the one-tree vistas you can see in road or rail transit across Australia’s bare Nullabor Plain.

We landed at Achutupu airport just after sunrise after about 1 hour’s flying ENE from Panama City – the facilities were basic but all there –

and before long we were loaded into a motor boat and bumping through the waves to our lodge on a nearby island.  It was a small hotel, but again, everything was there, with a small admin building, kitchen and dining room, several sheds and just 7 units built out over the water to accommodate 14-20 guests (the number of chairs in the dining room.)

Electricity for refrigeration and hot water heating was generated for only a few hours at night, so of course no TV and no phones.  We charged cameras at night, slept under mosquito nets, and were happy we had kindles with us – the first night we were the only ones there.   Otherwise, lighting was from solar fed battery panels.  So it was very quiet, and allowed the constant sound of the sea to roll on uninterrupted.

Once we were checked in, had had a look around the island and neen fed with breakfast, all of which was ccomplished in about an hour, we boarded a boat again and travelled about 20 minutes to the island of Achutupu, home to about 1500 Kina inhabitants.  No outsiders.  Since we were the only two visitors our guide was showing around we felt we got a good look at village life, being able to ask questions we had in mind. He was able to explain a lot of the customs and culture to us that might have been skipped through in a noisier larger group of tourists.  We observed Josep’s request to not photograph inside people’s homes (!)  but otherwise were allowed to photograph anything we saw.

I watched a mother cutting the family’s hair out the front of their home, and thought that would make an interesting picture – but asked before snapping and was told I could if I paid $1 per person (there were 4 people) so committed the scene to personal memory, and moved on.

And I bought this mola, too, after the maker agreed to demonstrate how she sews her work.  It’s all by hand of course, and I knew that, what many of us would know as needle-turned applique – each new edge being turned under every few stitches.  She was good and fast, making very small stitches.  The mola features cats, commonly found in designs of both modern and pre-Colombian art – we  presume mountain cats, over on the mainland, since there were very few domestic dogs or cats around.  Notice this lady’s top – a commercially printed fabric in her blouse which at the front includes the inserted mola panel – which interestingly ‘goes’ colourwise – they often don’t ‘go’ in our sense, not that it matters. There are lots of great pics of Indian clothes at this site and in addition to the blouses with mola inserts, they include a printed wrap skirt and for the married women only, arm and leg beads strung and arranged forming a pattern – once on they last about 2 months they told me, then they put on fresh ones.  They said  wearing them didn’t  restrict circulation, but a couple of times I noticed women sitting and the beads looked a bit tight to me – still, I guess you’d get used to it. Unmarried female kids wear the kind of thing that our own kids wear, only donning the traditional gear for daily wear once they marry.  Gold nose rings also signify married status.

At our lodge this display of molas was brought out each day, and on day 2 we did find a couple more we loved … and enjoyed a lot of talk with these lovely gentle mannered women.  Note the bands of beads on forearms and around lower legs.  In addition we enjoyed beach walking swimming snorkeling and just lolling in a hammock under the palms, suspended over creamy white sand.  Divinely refreshing for a couple of days, before moving on to several stops in Colombia.  A whole different story.