You rarely hear Panama mentioned by any traveler without them talking about San Blas. For any seasoned traveler or self-respecting beach bum, it’s hard to always get excited about yet another "stunning" beach, right?
However, the islands of San Blas are unparalleled in their beauty.
A two hour drive and and a boat ride away from Panama City, you are seemingly transported to the pre-Columbus era on any of the approximately autonomous 400 islands that made up San Blas.
The first thing that makes San Blas unlike any other place is the Guna people, who refer to their autonomous region as Guna Yala. The proud Guna people had fled to San Blas to escape the conquistador’s reign of terror and are one of the few indigenous people still able to maintain their traditional way of living with very little interference from the modern world.
A matrilineal society where men move in with the women, you will find that the women on the island are preoccupied with the day to day repairs, sewing, and fishing that need to be done. The Guna women are always seen impressively draped in their intricate molas, colorful layers of fabric cut and hand-sewn into designs for fronts and backs of Kuna women´s blouses. Each mola’s designs are produced with a combination of reverse appliqué and appliqué. Two or more layers of different colors of cotton cloth are hand-sewn loosely together.
Meanwhile, the men mostly interact with tourists as guides, as well as fish and work to provide for the families. The laughter of their children playing in the ocean, the occasional family dog barking, and parrots chirping are the only sounds to be heard this far from modernity. When you visit the islands of San Blas, most are small enough to walk across in 10 minutes. Here, you are an invited guest of the family that owns that island. Therefore, the opportunity to stay within an indigenous community with accommodations similar to theirs- in a hut, in a bungalow, or just camping- is another unique quality of San Blas.
Finally, San Blas’ beauty is otherworldly. It is one of the rare places on the world where you are able to completely disconnect from the world rather than staring at your phone all day. The first thing one notices about San Blas is water so translucent that, if it were not for the clouds and mountain peaks in the horizon, you could scarcely tell where the sky begins and the sea ends. Even for someone who has visited beaches all around the world, San Blas is easily in your top 5 best beaches.
Your days at San Blas are spent frolicking in the ocean, eating the fresh seafood prepared for us by our hosts, exploring a small shipwreck near the shore of a neighboring island, and sleeping in hammocks to escape the afternoon heat.
If you’ve ever imagined what it would be like to disconnect from the world on a little island in the middle of nowhere, San Blas is the place for you!
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