250: CRUISING WHERE FEW GO IN PANAMA - Puyadas, Aridup, Ustupu; Panama

In today's video, we look at the beauty of both the underworld and the people of the Eastern San Blas Islands. We are slowly making our way to Colombia going east and we're going to stop at five or six different islands on the way in the Eastern San Blas and just get to be familiar with that area. So looking forward to this journey that continues maybe in the next week or two we'll be across the Colombian border. We've left the main area of the San Blas behind and now we're in the Eastern San Blas coming up on Isla Pujadas and this is where we're going to spend the night. And look at that beautiful Panamanian coast. Isla Pujadas was idyllic with tall palm trees and white sandy beaches. Since we were only here for one night, we dropped anchor and quickly jumped into the water for a snorkel. This morning we are headed to Aradupe. Hopefully we'll be okay getting out of here. We've got a little bit of an issue with our chain possibly wrapped on coral. You can see it down there. I'm hoping we'll be able to just turn and head in the direction of the rest of our chain and not have an issue which is not that way. I gotta kick the pile down so our pile gets too big in there. I have to kick it down so that more chain can pile up. We're good, we're up. Good job. I'm super glad we're missing that storm. Just ducking in inside of these. We are getting close. The island is right in front of us. The question is will the storm hit us before we get to the island and drop anchor? Didn't really matter because I had to go in the water to check the anchor anyway. So I'm wet but hopefully just a passing storm. So we've got some Kunas that live on the island that we're in front of right now and they are asking to exchange rice and sugar for a big honking lobster. So that's what we're doing. We filled up some bags and we're gonna give it to them now. It's possible to clean the lobster for us? It's possible? Do you want the head or no? Oh no. No, I need it. All right, super. And the knife. Oh, knife. Gracias. So our friends that sold us the lobster have invited us over to have some pipa, which is coconut, on their island which is over there. So we're gonna go over and drink a pipa with them and then scurry back here. We are a little bit close to the reef here. Hopefully not moving very much. The anchor is not well set but the chain is kind of wound up in coral so we're not moving. It's a bit of a wild rainy day. We were getting pushed up against the reef so we decided to pick up anchor and move out. Thankfully had no issues getting the anchor up and we are underway. It's looking like a six plus hour day. Really hoping that we don't have any more of the thunder and lightning that we just experienced for the last hour. This is the town of Estupo. It is a juna village and it's the largest one in the San Blas. So it'll be really interesting to walk around and see what it's like. We've been to Nagana but this is supposed to be a lot bigger. We are in Estupo and are heading into town. We've had a very warm welcome. A boat of boys came to sell us mangoes. And a gentleman came and sold us bananas and then told us a little bit about the rules of the town. $3? $4. $4? Okay. That's good. All right. $15. Okay. So we're gonna go in now and check out the town and see what we see. The Kunas are proud of their autonomy, achieved through a revolt against the Panamanian government in 1925. After the victory, they designed a new flag to commemorate their freedom. While you might think that the presence of swastikas on their flag makes the Kunas Nazi sympathizers, rest assured, they are not. And this symbol of stability and harmony was used around the world long before it became associated with Hitler and the Germans. It's like they need two helpers. You want to help? So this town is the largest town in all of the San Blas. Traditional. No, I think any town. Oh, wow. This is huge. Yeah, right. So pretty. Look at the bottles. That's really creative. Two communities called Ustupu and Ogopsikon exist on this populated island group connected by six bridges. Ustupu is far more developed and populated, while Ogopsikon is rural and mainly farmland. While we can speculate, we do not know the exact reason for the independent communities and the different rules. I can charge the cell phone for 25 cents. It's so cool. Adios. Oh, hello. How are you? Solar. How are you? Come on. Doing great. Yeah, you ready? Thank you. Oh, so good. Oh, they even have a referee. We found that the locals in both communities were incredibly friendly and kind. But walking through Ustupu was far more interesting because there was more to see. Everyone said hello from the youngest to the oldest. We did see a lot of albinos and though they are Kuna, the local children would push them towards us and say, this is your child. We did not want to encourage their behavior by taking video, but we did happen to capture one of the albino boys while walking to the basketball court. I think these are the toilets and the showers for the prison. And then I think this building here is the prison. Oh, it's so cute. It's beautiful. Everyone gives us mangoes as gifts. It's so sweet. This must be the general's office. Ah, the pandaria. The hours we spent in this community were incredibly special. The people of Ustupu have stolen our hearts. We have never met a more friendly people nor felt more welcome in any place than here. We love meandering through the narrow streets, learning more about Kuna culture and meeting the locals. It's going to be really hard to leave tomorrow, but we need to keep moving towards Colombia. Those are the pigs? Sounds like they're slaughtering them.