You might call it paradise

After breakfast Paolo took me for a walk around the pueblo to show me around. He showed me the dock where the Colombian merchant ships come returning from their trips to Colon to load up on coconuts. They buy them here for $0.12 a piece and then they go to Venezuela and sell them for $0.25. It was the first of many times I'd hear this compaint.

Paolo took me through the pueblo, just a 5 minute walk from end to end. Playon Chico is the 3rd largest of the Kuna pueblos, and Paolo told me there were 3,000 Kuna living here, although I only saw about 1,500. But he was most proud of the fact that the pueblo now had two theatres. One with a DVD player and a collection of movies and the other with a DirectTV reciever. "We can go to the movies on friday night", he told me excitedly "but it costs $0.25"

Then we walked over to the local school where Paolo worked. "Things are good here" he told me, "but we don't have enough books in our library, and we need a computer." I suppose that even in paradise people are lacking for things they need.

Afterwards I met "las reinas" as Paolo liked to refer to them. A few of his lady friends. Turns out one of them new of where we could get an outboard motor to attach to the families dug-out canoe. This was great news! The trip out to the beautiful beach island would go from 1 hour each way to just a few minutes. We made plans to meet up after lunch, promptly at 3.

For a group of people without much to do or jobs to speak of, the Kuna seem strangely obsessed with time. There is a time for everything, and one musn't be late. And everyone takes great pride in their timepieces. Ok, whatever, I can live with that. Mundo had procured a couple red-snappers for lunch. I'm really starting to enjoy the taste of eating a whole fish right out of the frying pan.

After the obligatory nap in the hammock it was time to head out to the docks and meet up with "las reinas." It was just a little bit of work to attach the motor to the canoe, and then getting the thing started was another adventure. But we had plenty of gasoline and we were ready to go!

Everyone loves a day at the beach and the Kuna seem to be no exception. Sure they might complain about the hardships of life but they do actually realize they live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We gathered together in the canoe and headed out. We passed beautiful tropical island after beautiful tropical island, before finally setting sights on a pristine beach. All that was going through my head was the theme song from Gilligan's Island. After we reached shore, Paolo pointed me towards the corals and I was off.

I'd lugged my snorkeling gear back and forth across two continents for two months now without getting a chance to use it. It was wonderful to let it finally taste salt-water again. Not the best reefs I've ever scene, but when I think about the totality of the experience it's hard to imagine a better scene.

After a short excursion I rejoined the rest of the crew. They were playing some traditional Kuna games on the beach. I didn't really understand what I was supposed to do or when, and everything really just seemed like some variation of jumping on my back and laughing, but I have to admit it was fun.

As the sun began to set we gathered our things and headed back to the pueblo. Mundo was going to look for lobster tonight and after all, one must not be late for dinner.