CASKE 2000 Expedition Journals
PANAMA: February - November 2001

Panama Introduction

We have received special permission to paddle the homeland of the Kuna people on the Caribbean coast of Panama and we can only do it now. The Kuna people are fiercely independent and proud people who successfully staged a revolution against the Panamanian government in the early 1920’s. Since then their homeland, a long string of gorgeous islands along the coast, has been an autonomous region. They are very strict with visitors. Only a few islands have hotels and a few allow visits from cruise ships and sailboats. People may visit villages during daylight, but unless you’re in an official hotel, no overnight stays are permitted. There is one exception; one guy (more about him later) runs kayaking tours along with a few Kuna families. There are three per year and we are on the third and final one. We join the tour for nine days and then paddle around for a month with a Kuna guide, just the three of us.

For this tour we will have to use the old foldable kayaks. We have already paddled over 2000 miles in them and they’re leaky and creaky but they’ll hold up, maybe. We pack them on a tiny Cessna and fly over to one of the islands from Panama City with all our gear. What that means is that we must now drive over 500 miles from San Jose, Costa Rica to Panama City.

Hasta Pronto,

Luke

by Luke Shullenberger  (view profile)

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CASKE 2000 Expedition Journals by Jean-Philippe Soule and Luke Shullenberger