Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and with plenty of snorkelling opportunities. Their three-day excursion ($900) is based on
Sichirdup (where you'll be the only people staying), while the six-day package ($1,200)
takes in several islands. Both trips include return transfer from Panama City by road and
boat, including taxes. Two people minimum.
San Blas Sailing
314 1800,
sanblassailing.com
.
Professional and pricey but providing
an idyllic way to see the archipelago, offering 3-21-day sailing tours (in French, Spanish
and English), generally in western Guna Yala, including kayak or dinghy forays to the
mainland. Prices depend on the boat capacity and season - in high season it's cheaper to
share ($175/person/day for a monohull, $225/person for a catamaran). Private charters are
more expensive. Flights not included.
Western Guna Yala
Most visitors to Guna Yala stay at the
western end
of the
comarca
. It's more accessible by
land, sea and air, with more idyllic islets enclosed in white-sand beaches, better snorkelling
and more accommodation, though most is at the basic end of the scale. For independent trav-
ellers, there is also more
inter-island transport
available and more shops to purchase supplies,
though choice is limited and prices high. The downside of greater exposure to tourism, espe-
cially in communities that have put up with more than their fair share of insensitive visitors,
is that some Guna are understandably jaded with outsiders.
El Porvenir and around
The diminutive, scarcely inhabited island of
El Porvenir
(Gaigirgordup) belies its status as
administrative
capital
of Guna Yala and gateway to the western isles at the northwestern ex-
tremity of the
comarca
. A sliver of bare land, it barely manages to squeeze on an airstrip.
With a handful of buildings, including a police post, hotel, museum and craft shop, plus a
clump of palm trees, El Porvenir is merely a transit point for most arrivals, though the water
off the island's thin strip of sand is cleaner than the more heavily populated neighbouring is-
lands.
Museo de la Nación Guna
By the airstrip • Daily 8am-5pm, though you may need to ask around to get someone to open up • $2 •
314
1293
It's worth pausing in El Porvenir to call in at the
Museo de la Nación Guna
, unless you're
travelling on to Carti Sugdup, where a privately owned museum covers similar ground. The
exhibition hall displays photos of festivals and numerous ceremonial artefacts such as a neck-
lace of pelican bones worn by the
absoguedi
's (chanter's) assistant and a headdress decorated
with macaw feathers. There's also a model Guna kitchen and a notable collection of basketry
and bamboo flutes. Notices are in English, Spanish and Guna.
