Dreamy? San Blas Islands

First of all, the San Blas Islands in Panama are absolutely stunning and beautiful. However, I see this little paradise in danger. The mass tourism and the treatment of nature could irreversibly destroy the unique ecosystem of the islands. And I think the first signs are already visible.

If you Google the San Blas Islands, you will mostly find pictures of palm-covered islands, white beaches, and turquoise blue water. And in reality, it really looks as dreamy as it sounds. But if you take a closer look and a more critical view, you will realize that this beauty is unfortunately only an illusion. Many of the islands have a trash problem, there are swarms of tourists, and boats are cruising through the fragile ecosystem. But more on that later.

The San Blas Islands, also known as Guna Yala, belong to an autonomous region in Panama and are inhabited and managed by the Kuna, an indigenous ethnic group. San Blas consists of approximately 365 islands, 57 of which are populated. Some of the inhabited islands can also be visited and offer accommodation. A few years ago, you needed permission from the island chief to visit the islands. Nowadays, you can easily book online or through most hotels in Panama City. There are also various agencies all over the city where you can book complete tours. You can either do a day trip or stay overnight. Most tourists choose a shorter option, and few stay for several days. Once again, I wanted to do something different and booked my accommodation on a separate island so that I could choose the island myself. However, I had to organize the transfer to the island separately. In hindsight, maybe not the best idea, as it was more complicated and possibly more expensive. But I wanted to be flexible and not have a fixed schedule. And so, the whole thing turned into a little adventure. My hostel in Panama City organized the transfer to the boat dock and the boat ride for me. After that, I was on my own. However, the boat dock was chaotic, and there were tourists everywhere, waiting to be loaded onto some boat. The boat ride was rather unspectacular, but we saw some of the islands already. When we arrived at an island, everyone except me was supposed to get off. After waiting for a while and quickly using the toilet on the island, other tourists got on the boat, and we continued. During the journey to somewhere, I saw my island passing by. Thanks to GPS, I could see where we were. But when traveling, nothing surprises me anymore, so I waited. On another island, everyone was supposed to get off, including me. But that was the wrong island. After discussing and making phone calls for a while, they finally took me to the right island called Wailidub. When I arrived, the family living on the island knew nothing about it. They looked at my booking, wondered, checked the pictures three times, and made phone calls. Eventually, someone who spoke some English arrived and laughed about the price stated in my booking. Normally, it's supposedly much more expensive. But I had calculated the price and only brought limited cash. And card payment or PayPal is not possible there yet. So, I got my room at the booked price. Although I still found it way too expensive for what I found. It was an old hut that had seen better days and was not cleaned. Many things were broken, falling apart, or simply non-existent. But I could laugh about it. It's also worth knowing that there is no fresh water for showering on the islands, and electricity is only available from sunset to sunrise. But you can adjust to that as well. However, after showering with saltwater for 3 days, you do feel a bit sticky. The food selection is also limited since it has to be delivered to the islands. So, you can choose between fish, chicken, or octopus on a daily basis. As a vegetarian, you feel a bit lost on San Blas because then you only get the side dishes without the meat. That means salad with rice or patacones (a type of fried plantain). After my arrival, I explored the island. Unfortunately, I found trash everywhere, while the "main beach" was meticulously raked and cleaned of driftwood every day. Well.

After lunch, Diane, a Brazilian who was staying on the island for one night, asked me if I wanted to go for a paddling trip with her. Sure, I had nothing else to do. We took the two paddle boats of thefamily and the broken paddles and paddled up and down the beach a bit. We didn't get very far. Then it was said that sharks come to the island every day around 6 p.m. I wondered about the exact timing, but when the time came, I understood why. It was because of the leftover fish from cooking. Well, at least everything was utilized. It was exciting to watch the sharks from the dock, right beneath us. A ray also passed by.

After a rather pleasant night, I first organized hot water for my coffee in the morning. During breakfast, which was served daily between 7 and 8 o'clock, they only had terrible instant coffee. But I had nice company, three women from Argentina, with whom I communicated half in Spanish and half with hands and feet. And with the online translator. Diane also spoke English very well. The family living on the island always prepared the three daily meals for us but did their own thing in between. Except for playing with the daughter once, I didn't have much contact with them. That was certainly also due to the language barrier.

Since there was nothing to do on the island except writing my blog and showing up for meals on time, I decided to join a tour with two women who also wanted to explore the other islands to get a change of scenery. We were supposed to be driven around for $15. So far, so good. But it wasn't as individual as we thought because we ended up on an island where apparently all tourists are brought for an excursion. Then they said we had 2 hours of free time. Uh, what do you do for 2 hours on a tiny island? The numerous other tourists were lazing around everywhere or indulging in their narcissism. I couldn't go swimming because I had a wound that should not get infected. So, I made myself comfortable under a palm tree and continued writing my blog. After that, we went to a "natural pool" with other tourists. It was actually a shallow area in the middle of the sea where you could swim. Swim? Not for me 🙄 It was beautiful there, just quite crowded. There is apparently also a spot somewhere near an island where there are many starfish to see. Unfortunately, many tourists take the starfish out of the water to take pictures with them, causing considerable harm to them. After about 20 minutes of fun for the others, we went to a second island where a sunken (or sunk?) boat was located, where you could go snorkeling. However, I couldn't go into the water, the currents were too strong, and the boat too sharp-edged, as one of the women told me. And we were hungry. So, we asked if we could go back to our island earlier. And there was a captain who agreed to take us back. There we had our lunch. Fish or chicken? Octopus is not an option for me. After the nice little trip, I didn't do much, well, apart from writing my blog, packing, and having dinner with the three Argentinian women for the last time. Then I went to bed early because I didn't know exactly when I would be picked up. It was said that it would be sometime in the morning. I just hoped that I would be picked up at all.

After getting up at 6 a.m. to be ready to leave at 7 a.m., just to be on the safe side, I ended up waiting until 8 a.m. for a boat to pick me up. The Argentinian women were supposed to be picked up at 7 a.m., but they were still sitting on the dock when I left. Panama time 😅

The boat ride was anything but pleasant, as the waves were so high that the captain had to drive at a snail's pace. That means you could feel every wave intensely, and the boat swayed a lot. Luckily, we stopped at an island halfway to pick up two more tourists. I took a moment to breathe. I immediately saw and heard that the couple who joined was from Germany. In such situations, it always reassures me immensely to have people sitting next to me to talk to. The two of them were super nice, and we chatted for the rest of the journey to the port, even though I had a brief panic attack at one point because the boat was tilting extremely. We were then taken to a meeting point where many other tourists were waiting. Shortly after, I was put in a car with another couple who were apparently also in the same car with me on the way to San Blas. I couldn't remember. When you meet so many people, it's easy to lose track.

And then we headed to Gamboa, just 30 kilometers north of Panama City, located between the Panama Canal and Soberanía National Park. I had read that the surrounding area is one of the richest bird-watching areas in America. And upfront: Gamboa is an absolute bird paradise.

Until then, and thanks for reading!