Nargana

We left Waisaladup yesterday morning with winds of 20 to 25 knots and made the short six mile trip to Nargana where we'll stay for the next two weeks taking care of projects and personal things.

Nargana is not a traditional Kuna island by any means. Over the past many years the missionaries have convinced the Kuna Indians here to discard all of their traditional way of life including their religion and customs. The Kuna religion is not practiced at all and traditional Kuna attire has been replaced with more modern western clothing. Electricity is available 24 hours a day by the noisy diesel generator on the island and most homes have a television. The tradition of the villagers making daily trips to the river to do laundry and collect fresh water (their time to socialize and exercise) has been replaced with plumbed water from the mountains. The daily and/or weekly congresso meetings where Kuna history and customs are verbally passed down to the next generation no longer exists. By tradition Kuna Indians are self sufficient either farming on the mainland or fishing every day however on Nargana most people depend on making money to support themselves and the church. Traditionally the Kuna Indians do not drink or smoke and most villages are dry islands, no alcohol or tobacco products are available. But on Nargana since the missionaries have successfully convinced the Kunas to discard all of their traditions, customs and values drinking and smoking has become more common. Yesterday after we anchored we had a couple drunk men from Nargana visit us asking for handouts, this hasn't been unusual during our visits here. The police stationed here on the island visits boaters occasionally to warn them of theft issues. With such modernization and change brought on by the missionaries one thing was left out, how to deal with garbage. All the garbage from Nargana is just thrown into the water and carried by the current littering the beaches and mangroves. A dingy ride through the extensive maze of mangroves and along the beaches reveals the problem of not having a way to properly dispose of garbage. The piles of garbage are so big and of so much that it makes my stomach turn, plastic bottles, bags and containers, furniture, clothes and everything else thrown away by the residents and businesses continue to collect. At anchor we watch as garbage floats by us helpless to do anything about it. When the missionaries took so much effort and time to convince the Kuna Indians to discard their traditional way of life it would have been nice if they took a little extra time to teach them about how to properly dispose of their garbage.

So Nargana is quite different from places we've visited elsewhere in the San Blas but it does have many good points too. Nargana is a popular destination for cruisers not because the island is a particularly beautiful place to visit but because it offers many amenities not found else where in the San Blas Islands. Here one can find diesel and gasoline, get laundry done and provision at the better stocked tiendas. There's one tienda here, Tienda Idie, that caters to cruisers and carries many items not found elsewhere among the islands. A couple restaurants offer decent fish and chicken meals and even ice cream. A pool hall can also be found where games are 25 cents each. The airport here offers daily flights to Panama City for about $42 each way. Because the anchorage here is well protected with good holding cruisers often take advantage of the inexpensive flights to Panama City sometimes to pick up a few provisions, get money from a bank or take a part to the city to be repaired. Nargana is also the most common place for visitors to fly into. The river here, Rio Diablo, is a beautiful river to take a dingy ride up where one can see a variety of wildlife. As we're anchored just a couple hundred yards off the mountainous mainland of Panama the temperature is a bit cooler here with the cool mountain air blowing down on us. While not as curious or outgoing as some of the more traditional island the people here are still friendly. A reasonably short dingy ride will take one far enough out of these polluted waters to find some spectacular coral shoals to snorkel on.

Nargana is definitely different and I'm sure we'll be ready to leave in a couple weeks when all our tasks are done.