Kuna Coconut Farming

Morning in the San Blas Islands

It was early in the morning, and as I lay in bed I felt the unmistakable rocking of our boat caused by the wakes of other boats going by.   This was a bit unusual, as the island we were anchored near was normally quiet and uninhabited.  As I peeked outside, I spied 9 different boats on the shore of the island.  This was not normal.   It was clear that something was going on.  Work of some sort, perhaps?  Jamie wanted to go check out the ulus, and see what was going on on the island.  And so we set out toward shore in our dingy.  

Ulu convention.

A fine sailing vessel.

Ulus at rest. 

We found about 15-20 men spread out over the island, all with machetes.  They were slicing/chopping down the 1-2 foot high grass and weeds that were growing all over the ground.  Then we noticed that they were collecting all the dead palm fronds and other detritus and putting them in piles all over the place.  In my stunted Spanish I asked about the work project.  Turns out these men are all family members; brothers, uncles, fathers, sons from all over the Kuna Yala- villages like Nargana, Azucar, Sidra - from near and far.  This little island belongs to their family. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that the coconuts on the island belong to this family. 

Mucho Trabajo: Hard work clearing the land under the coconut palms.

 One very friendly guy explained that if they don’t keep the ground clear and remove the dead fronds that the coconut trees don’t produce well, and may die.  If I understood correctly, this month is the appointed time to clear off this particular island.  They do this every three months or so.  One guy told me that they collect one thousand coconuts from this island every month.  I believe that the coconuts are sold and the money distributed to the family members.  

Piles of detritus that will be burned.

We watched for a bit, and then wandered off to admire the collections of ulus tied to the shore. 

A particularly fine ulu specimen.

Little did we know it, but our short conversation with that one very friendly guy would lead to yet another interesting adventure a few days later.  Read more about our experience with this cool dude -"The Panther Hunter" - in an upcoming post.