Cartí

South of the Porvenir area, about a 40-minute motorized boat ride away, is a cluster of islands and a bit of coast known collectively as Cartí (Gardi). There’s a large, vibrant village on Cartí Suitupu (Gardi Sugdup), which makes it a popular cruise-ship destination.

This place sees more foreigners than any other part of the archipelago, so it’s perhaps not surprising it has an estimated two dozen bars/soda stands.

There’s an ultrabasic dormitory and three have private rooms, Cartí Homestay (cell 6734-3454 Germain, in Panama City; or 6517-9850 Eulogio, in Cartí; US$35 pp, including meals and a boat trip), formerly known as Hostal Cartí, for those who get stranded going to or from the islands by the El Llano-Cartí Road or want to stay on a busy inhabited island with a relatively modern infrastructure. There is generator-powered electricity 6 p.m.–midnight.

This place is growing in ambition with the influx of tourists coming by road. They can arrange road transportation to and from Pamama City [1] (US$25 pp) and trips to Puerto Obaldía by cargo boat ($150 pp, but as I’ve stressed repeatedly, this is not a good idea for many reasons, mostly having to do with safety).

Especially noteworthy is a small Kuna museum (tel. 299-9002 or 299-9074, 8 a.m.– 4 p.m. daily, US$2) housed in a thatch-roofed hut. It has its own dock, so small boats can go there directly. The displays are modest but include an interesting mix of traditional implements, exhibits on the Kuna puberty ritual (only girls go through this, and it’s a huge, drunken party for the whole village), vintage molas [2] (handcrafted blouses), and so on.

It gives a glimpse into the mythology, history, rituals, and daily life of the Kuna. A Kuna man named José Davis, who established the museum along with his father, gives guided tours of the exhibits in English and Spanish, with lots of intricate and sometimes hard-to-follow explanations of Kuna history and religion. One of the more interesting tidbits is a description of Kuna burials. (The cemeteries are on the mainland, where the Kunas dig underground rooms and string them with hammocks into which the deceased are placed.)

Visitors are welcome to stop by the other islands [3] in the group as well, which are not quite as modernized or heavily touristed as Cartí Suitupu.