Comarca de San Blas - The land of the Kuna

The "Comarca de San Blas" (Comarca=district) is an autonomous region that consists of the Archipelago de San Blas and a 226km strip of Caribbean coast from Punta San Blas in the northeast of Panama, to Puerto Obaldia, near the Colombian border, in the southeast. The island of Porvenir is the administrative center of the San Blas Comarca, or Kuna Yala, the land of the Kuna.

The San Blas Archipelago is a series of 378 islands of which only 49 (depending on who you ask) are inhabited by the Kuna Indians . The rest of the islands are mostly left to coconut trees, sea turtles and iguanas. On the inhabited islands, so many traditional bamboo-sided, thatch-roofed houses are clustered together that there is hardly any room to maneuver between them. Most of the inhabited islands are close to the mainland as all natural resources for the Kuna's are there. Water, firewood, construction materials as well as the giant trees from which the Indians make their dugout canoes. They burn the inside and then hollow out the trunk of the trees.

The Kuna Indians have governed the region since 1920s, when the Panamanian government granted the tribe the right of self-rule following a Kuna uprising. Today the Kuna not only govern themselves (each inhabited island has its own chief) but have two representatives in the Panamanian legislature, as well as the right to vote in Panamanian elections.

The Kuna are a fiercely independent people who try to maintain their traditions in a changing world. In a protectionist move, the chiefs of the islands passed a law several years ago that prohibited outsiders from owning property in Kuna Yala. This forced out the handful of foreigners living on the islands and is a direct result why there are only few very basic places for visitors to stay can be found on the islands.

Although the Kuna are increasingly being paid in Dollars for their goods and services, the district's principal currency for the longest time was the coconut. The Kuna grow coconut like crazy. Most of the nuts are exported to Columbia and with the sale of molas, coconut trade is the most common source of cash income for the tribe.

Visitors coming to the islands are enchanted by the beauty of their surroundings and the Kuna's way of life, but reality is that behind the scenes the Kunas are struggling to maintain this way of living and the ownership of their land. The coconut trade is in decline, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Kunas to earn a living. Tourism is therefore seen by many as the answer.

Tagua nut - the vegetable ivory

We just added tagua nut carvings from Panama as a category on World Travel Art and like to share some of the benefits of this renewable product from the rain forest with you.

The tagua nut, known as well as the "vegetable ivory" is the seed of the female nut palm that grows in parts of Central-, and South America. Female palms bear clusters of large, brown fruits. Each fruit has woody, pointed horns and contains several large seeds. The seeds have an outer shell and a large white endosperm. When the seed is mature it has a texture, hardness and color similar as animal ivory.

Tagua is a sustainable product with several important benefits to the rain forest and the forest people.

• When the female palm starts producing seeds, they can yield over a century or more as much ivory as the trunk of a female elephant. This fact indeed can have an impact on preventing poaching and the illegal trading o mammal ivory as more consumers fighting to protect endangered species being killed for their ivory.
  

• All harvesting of the nuts, which does not harm the tree is done manually and is a labor intensive task. It does ensure income to the rain forest people like the Wounaan and Embera of the Darien Region in Panama. The construction of the Panamerican Highway through parts of their homelands has resulted in deforestation and they are unable to life their traditional tribal lifestyles. Being part of the tagua trade does provide another way to support the families and has given back self-sufficiency and pride to the forest people of Panama.

• Another important benefit of the trade is the environmental aspect. As long as there is money to be made in growing these trees and keep them harvested, it will provide an alternative to cutting down rainforest for farming. It is estimated that product such as the vegetable ivory can generate up to five times the income of banana plantations and cattle ranches.

Tagua was exported in the early 1900's in large quantities to the US and Europe where it was machined and formed into buttons, piano keys, chess set pieces, cane handles, jewelry and dice just to name a few. Synthetics later replaced the tagua nut on the production lines and today it is a popular material for making eco friendly jewelry and beautiful carvings.

Carving has always been a means of artistic expression for the men of the Wounaan and Embera, although formerly they mainly carved woods. The carving of tagua nuts became a natural adaptation of their traditional skills.

Many of the tagua nut carvings from Panama depict the nature of the rain forest but as well sea creatures and other animals. In addition to figurines and jewelry, the nut is also commonly used for making everyday eating and cooking utensils. The nut is being carved with hand tools and polished with a series of fine abrasives. Larger carvings are made out of more than one piece of nut. Other colors are produced by dyeing the nut with natural extracts of plants, and earth. High quality India inks are used on the pieces with colored details.