Kuna Panther Hunter

You never know what kind of adventures you will have here in the Kuna Yala.  And so,  we had no idea as we left this morning to explore one of the nearby islands that we would return having encountered “The Kuna Panther Hunter”!  

Ready for an adventure...

We decided that we wanted to visit the village of Rio Azucar.  Conveniently, a Kuna panga (water taxi/launch) driver who lives in Rio Azucar stopped by to ask if we needed anything...water, soda, eggs, gasoline...and said he could get anything for us.  We told him we were planning to go to Azucar in our dingy today.  He offered to take us in his panga instead.  It’s about a 5-6 mile round trip, so we agreed to have him take us instead of taking our little dingy.  As we headed of toward the village we took a number of detours, stopping at the various ulus  (Kuna dugout canoes) along the way.  

An ulu pulls up with freshly caught lobsters.

At each ulu our driver picked up lobsters from the guys in the ulus who had obviously been diving all morning.  The lobster guys tossed their catch into a basket that was then weighed by our driver.  

Toss in the basket, and....

....give it a weigh.

No money changed hands, and I’m not sure how they keep track of what they are owed for their catch, because no one wrote the amounts down...but then, their memories are probably better than mine.  The lobsters are then either sold to other “yates” (cruisers on boats), eaten by the Kuna, or are shipped by airplane to Panama City.  We finally arrived at Azucar puebla after picking up lobsters from 4-5 different ulus.  

House and Garden, Rio Azucar style.

Our first impressions about Azucar is that it was MUCH cleaner and neater than the nearby village of Nargana.  Nargana had loads of trash laying around the “streets”.  Well, actually there are no streets, just dirt footpaths.  No cars, golf carts, or bikes.  Just feet.  Like Nargana it appears that Azucar has mostly jettisoned the more traditional Kuna lifestyle, and these islands have electric power for lights, TV and radio.  Most of the women were wearing western clothing rather than the traditional Kuna woman garb of mola blouse, wrap skirt, and beading on their arms and legs.  

We set out in search of eggs, Kuna bread (called madu in the Kuna language), and whatever fresh fruit might be available.  The first tienda turned out to be at the home of our panga driver.  As is typical, most tiendas (stores) in the Kuna Yala are small rooms in a family hut.  And although there are a few houses made of cement blocks, most huts are made of bamboo stick walls, with either a tin or palm frond roof.  

Local Supermarket.  Total produce: one tomato.

Our driver’s store had eggs, cold Coke, Cheetos, bleach, laundry soap and a few cans of pork and beans.  But no fruit of any sort. Well, there was one tomato.  Just one.  We asked if any other stores had fresh fruit or veggies.  Nope.  Nothing.  Apparently that one lone tomato was the sum total of fresh fruit/veggies available at the Azucar puebla.  

Then we found the Bread Hut (this may not be the official name) where we bought 30 loaves - hot out of the oven - for $3.  30 loaves sounds like a lot, but we will go through 30 loaves in a matter of 2-3 days. 

Loaves of Kuna bread.  See pencil for size comparison.

Kuna Bread is much like the Kuna themselves: very small.  This bread comes in the form of mini loaves, slightly smaller than hot dog buns.  They are perfect snack size, and pretty tasty.  (Especially tasty after the awful, “bread” found in Colombia... which is essentially flour crumbles barely held together with I don’t know what... sawdust? glue? cardboard?  spit?   Tastleless and crumbly, it was barely recognizable as bread.  So in comparison, Kuna bread is muy delicioso manna from heaven.)  

We wandered the island a bit, and suddenly one of the boys (who has requested anonymity) needed to go to the bathroom.  There are no public facilities here.  

Typical Kuna restroom.

In fact the family toilets are outhouses constructed on piers out over the water (a literal WC!).  

A friendly gentleman...Sure you can use our facilities!

We happened by a hut with an older gentleman sitting just inside.  He looked friendly, so I asked him if there was a bathroom that my son could use.  He waved my son in through his hut, and then out back past the kitchen (a lean-to with his wife cooking beans over a coconut husk fire) to the outhouse. 

Friendly man's wife, cooking in the kitchen.  

As I followed, the gentleman pointed to a nearby structure and said that was the shower.  He spoke a little English, and was just as sweet and welcoming as could be to a couple of strangers using his outhouse. 

The WC.  Shower building is just to the left.

As we continued our wanderings, we came upon a fellow who was waving and yelling for us to come over, saying “Amigo!  Amigo!”.  As we came closer, he said “Me amigo, JAMIE!” 

Huh?  He knows Jamie’s name?  Turns out this was one of the guys we had talked to the previous day on Green Island who was part of a crew clearing the island for coconut harvesting. (Read our post about coconut farming, here.)  He wanted us to follow him to his house.  

Up the river,  in the jungle, alone...but in daylight.
Panthers come out at night.

He went inside and came out with a skull from an animal that he had killed.  I wasn’t quite sure what kind of skull it was at first because he was talking so excitedly, and explaining his hunting experience.  He had apparently killed the animal up the river, in the jungle, alone, at night.  

Jeepers.  I finally caught the word “pantera”.   Panther.  (Of course, for all I know it was some other large feline...Cougar? Jaguar? Jaguarundi?  Main Coon?)  He explained that the jaguar had killed his pet dog, and so he had exacted revenge.  At least I think that’s what he said.  My Kuna/Espanol is not so bueno.  

And then, he presented Jamie with the skull - a gift, he said.  Then he brought out some crocodile teeth, and feathers that he had collected. 

The skull, and feathers.

He also gave us two cacao fruit, and two huge banana stalks.  (So there IS fresh fruit available, just not in the stores!)  Jamie kept saying, “Am I awake? Is this a dream?”  

Bananas, fresh from the jungle.

Cacao.  This becomes chocolate??

The Panther Hunter and his friend Juan talked to us for a long time telling us over and over about the dude’s brave shooting of the Panther along the river in the jungle at night, with (I think?) a spear gun.  They were both really proud of his accomplishment, and asked that we post the picture of them on Facebook!  

After we were presented with all these gifts, we hopped back in the panga and headed back to our boat, again stopping along the way to collect more lobster from the ulu divers.  

As I thought more about our friend The Panther Hunter, and his request to have his photo posted on Facebook, I had to chuckle.  Although many Kuna have cell phones, internet is not readily available here, so it’s doubtful that our brave hunter is actually active or tag-able on FB.  

Maybe I’ll start a fan page for the “The Kuna Panther Hunter”  Let’s see how many “likes” he can get.

The Panther Hunter, right.  His friend Juan stands to the left of Jamie.
Look for them on Facebook.