Beware white men bearing gifts!
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Sat 6 Mar 2010 14:26
|
Friday March 5th 0800 Local
1300UTC
09:11.66N 077:58.60W Mamitupu, Kuna
Yala
Yesterday we set of from our anchorage at
Soskanitupu with bated breath, that there would be no serious implications and
damaging repercussions from the problem with the prop anode the night before.
The most worrying problem, was that of the oil leakage behind us, after the
incident. My view was, that it was oil forced up past the piston rings in the
engine or down past a fluttering valve, while the engine was overloaded. The
view of the boatbuilder was that it was unburnt fuel. The oil however was very
black and looked more like oil than fuel. Either way we are hopeful there
will be no lasting damage. I just have to dive regularly for now on the prop to
ensure the damaged anode and fixing stay in place and there is no repercussion.
We hope to haul out and repair this in Panama.
In any event the engine was only used to punch our
way to windward through the reefs and into the open water outside the
islands. There was a fair bit of wind and wave action and it
seemed prudent to be to get outside the islands and the reefs where we
would have free air and searoom to sail, lest there were any prop
problems.
On the way out of the channel we were searching for
a charted (electronic) island and surrounding rocks. It was absolutely nowhere
to be found or seen! This is either a charting error or the very small island
has washed away. Our GPS position on the electronic charts are in my
estimation about quarter of a mile out. Land is shown about quarter of a mile
further west than it really is. It is very
important for mariners to check with their paper charts and ensure that
their electronic charts are referred to the appropriate datum in order to
correct the GPS readings. Most UK charts are referred to WGS 84. However there
are many exceptions to this and significant differences when the appropriate
datum is applied. Check your charts for the area and reset your menu on the
chart plotter, remembering always to change it to the next datum as you move on.
My problem is that I dont have (and they may not exist) detailed charts for this
area. Yesterday I photographed the chart plotter showing the boat sailing
over the top of an island and also photographed the same island off to
starboard about quarter of a mile. Mariners beware, especially at night!
Needless to say there are no navigation light or marks here, not even lights in
the villages at night.
We sailed very hard on the wind with full sail in
16 knots true at 45deg true (30deg apparent!) at 8 knots and we were going well
so Trish decided on a nap and I decided to keep sailing! Good decision - we
sailed into Mamitupu and anchored in among the reefs.
It was not long before the men in their dug out
canoes started appearing out of the jungle and paddling out past us on their
way back to their Mamitupu. So I then made my first trade with the Kuna.
The guy had a bag of limes and stakes and another fruit I did not recognise, all
which he had collected. He indicated one dollar for 4 small limes. Excellent
price, I thought and immediately asked for six for one dollar. The guy could not
stop sheepishly grinning and almost laughing in a sort of embarrassed way. I
assumed because of this rare encounter with outsiders. He wasn't having any
of my request for six limes and stuck to his guns on four. OK I said and handed
over the dollar. Off he went in the dugout grinning from ear to ear. "I'm
not surprised" said Trish "that price was more than I would pay in the
supermarket for such small limes!" I hope to do better
tomorrow.
Kuna Yala or Comarca de San Blas is an autonomous
region within Panama. According to their oral tradition they originally
lived in the Darien mountains and they numbered between 500,000 and 700,000.
Under pressure from other tribes or possibly the Spanish they moved to the
coast, and very wisely it seems to me, to the islands. Most communities seem to
be on the islands, where there is fresh air and a breeze and away from the more
difficult and humid environment on the mainland. The islands are generally only
a few hundred meteres from the mainland and most villagers have patches in the
dense jungle wher they grow some crops. They also depend heavily on coconuts and
families all have coconut trees in the region, on the mainland or other islands
and these are passed on down through the generations through the women folk.
Also when a man gets married not only does he get into her coconuts he moves
into her family home!
In 1925 after being pushed from pillar to post and
suffering violent inroads by outsiders the Kuna people rebelled in 1925 and in
the process killed many of the Panmanian policemen posted into their area and
also children of mixed blood living among them. In the past they also put to
death at birth albino and handicapped children, a practice which is no
longer continued. The armed forces of Panama were asked by the US not to take
violent retribution and by 1938 the Kuna leaders were granted almost complete
autonomous rule in the officially recognised Comarca de San Blas. Their law is
that the land belongs to all Kunas and this has helped the leadership retain the
cohesion that makes the 55 - 60,000 Kunas one of the strongest nations of
indigenous Amerindian people.
They have developed a very strong sociopolital
system and a constitution which is called simply "Carta Organica". Each of the
three districts has an elected "Cacique"
and each village has a "Sahila" who presides over
the daily "Congresso". There are also deputy Sahila, "Arkar" and "Sualipetmar"
who are roughly equivalent to police and who we have seen carrying carved batons
to advertise their positions.
What is simply incredible is, how they had the
vision, organisation, will and discipline to protect their culture allowing no
outside or internal interference, so close to the "developed" world and
right through to today. They live simply, in wooden huts with vertical stakes
forming the sides which are not closed, and palm frond thatched roofs. The
men go to fish, hunt and gather daily at dawn, the children are schooled,
religion is kept at bay, and they meet daily in the Congresso to sort out
village matters which obviously trickle down to individual families and up to
the annual congresso of all Kuna people. It is essentially subsistence living,
and extremely environmentally friendly. Theirs is a matrilineal
society, and the women, though not full participants in the congresso it seems,
(though we saw women enter the congresso yesterday)
are the central members of the society. After the men return
in the afternoon from the forrest or fishing, the time is spent as family time,
and we could see men relaxing with their families in the family compounds
holding and playing with the children, some swinging in hammocks. All the people
we met seemed very happy and were very gentle though it was easy to see the
steely pride and confidence in the women who looked very comfortable in
themselves. It seemed like, while the men were doing the jaw jaw in
congresso the women knew who really shaped
society.
Their language is from the Chibcha family of
languages but most people and all young people speak some Spanish which is
taught in schools. I'm surprised they allow it in a way, but it is very clear
that they will pick just what they want and no more from outside and modern
society. They seem to be a very gentle, happy people but it is clear that they
will defend their way of life fiercely and have killed and died for
it. They are phisically small in stature but well proportioned and muscled. A
bit like myself but smaller........
In this part of Kuna Yala we are well South of the
normal area visited by yachtsmen and outsiders, and it is very remote. We wanted
this experience rather than tread the path of most others. Our visit to the
village yesterday was really quite a profound experience, and was literally
breathtaking. On the one hand we wanted to explore further, on the other we
wanted to go away and leave them, and not interfere with or influence their
way of life in even a small way. Many people we have talked to and information
we have read has suggested bringing gifts. This however is a very sensitive
subject and I was deeply and accutely aware yesterday that our arrival
prompted many of the kids to approach and ask us for things, sometimes
discretely encouraged by the mothers. They have clearly thrived and prospered
without handouts and have a culture and way of life which demands them to go out
and get what they need. Encouraging (we by visiting with "gifts", and the
mothers who have become adept at extracting what they can from visitors without
being pushy) kids to hold out their hand for freebies made me feel a little
uncomfortable and in one way it maybe best to leave them alone and not visit. Of
the little things we had, it was pencils and notebooks, things for the girls to
do their hair (young girls have long hair - women have their hair cut very
short), a few sweets which Trish and I were at odds about, and for the
oldest woman we met rice and cooking oil. This "gift" I had no problems with and
to see her face light up as she was given the gift over all the other younger
women in their brightly coloured clothing was humbling for me, but for her
- I thought she was going to dance a jig!
Trish and I went to the congresso to ask pemission
to take the dingy up the river. They seemed to have some urgent business to
attend to and all the men were turning up with clean smart clothes and several
wore hats. Our request at the door was met with a "no problem - no problem"
and there seemed no need to face the full congresso. I hope I have interpreted
this correctly and dont get hauled up in front of them when we visit the river
today!
|