San Blas Islands

As part of our Spanish school we got to spend two nights on the San Blas islands. There are around 365 islands in the San Blas archipelago of which around 50 are inhabited and they are owned by the Kuna people, who also own the forest along the coast here. They are celebrating 100 years of independence from Panama this year. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming.

Isla Franklin where we stayed is tiny, with around 25 tourist cabañas and a few for locals who only stay here when it’s tourist season. It’s by far the smallest island we’ve stayed on taking only a couple of minutes to walk the length of and less than 5 minutes for a complete circuit. Everything is very simple, we stayed in a small cabaña made from coconut palms with a sand floor. There are shared showers and toilets, and the power (two noisy diesel generators) is only on for a few hours in the evening. It’s a mini paradise.

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