Festival on Rio Sidra

This was one of the coolest cultural experiences I've ever had and I feel very lucky and privilaged to have been a part of it.

It started two days earlier when a self proclaimed 'Master Mola Maker' came to our boat to show us some of the more intricate Molas we've seen. Venancio and his cousin Franso showed us about 100 different molas they had for sale. Andy from WolfPack and I bought the same Mola (only 1 of 2) of a swordfish and a sea turtle. Franso told us that there was going to be a festival near his island on Sunday. WolfPack, Walkabout, and BellaVista all decided that we would like to attend.

Two days later we arrived off the coast of Isla Maquina to be greeted by Franso on his canoe. He guided us to a good anchorage, got us bread, internet cards and arranged to pick us up the following day. He told us it was important to wear long pants for the men and long dresses or pants for the women. We didn't understand what the festival was or what it would be like until Franso picked us up in his boat and began explaining. It was complex, but from what we understood, each Guna village has a festival every few months, sometimes 4 times a year, sometimes 7. The women dress up, use makeup, temporary tattoos on their faces and cut girls hair to signify thier entrance into womanhood.

We got to the island and were guided to Franso's cousins bar, which looked like a typical Guna house. The house was made of bamboo, one roof was straw, and the other metal. The yard was a small dirt area with a few plastic chairs that some of the neighborhood kids brought over from thier houses. The bar served Balboa beer for $1 USD and the waitress was a 10 year old girl (she handled all the beer and money). There were some of Franso's friends and family around including two trans-women named Andriana and I forget. They were really nice and were especially friendlty towards Ashley. It's not uncommon to see trans-women in Guna culture, which I found really interesting since they're not really influenced by western culture at all.

So, we had a few Balboa's and then headed to the main street. The street was filled with people. The women dress traditionally all the time but looked especially fancy with thier make-up and tattoos. They were lining the streets. Women on one side and men on the other. The party was just beggining. We were then taken into the Congress Hall (similar to town hall), which had a few small door openings. It was a large building made entirely of bamboo and straw. It had a dirt floor with benches all around filled with people. It was very crowded and very smokey. Franso explained more to us about the festival here. The village elders decide when each festival will be. They pool their money together with some of the important men in the town to buy rum for the entire village. The whole village then gets together at 1pm and starts entering the Congress Hall. Men and women sit separately and wait to approach the village elders. When they do approach, the elders give them a big bowl of rum that they drink. This is also their one on one time with them to ask for anything or discuss personal matters.

We left the Congress hall and back into the streets where would could see now that the groups of men and women were overflow from the Congress Hall. They all had their own bottles of rum they were sharing waiting for thier turn to enter the hall.

Franso then took us around to some of the shops where we bought onions and met some more of his family. The Guna people are extremely friendly. We've almost always been met with bright smiling faces and genuinely warm hellos. Tourism has barely penetrated these villages. The only other non Gunas we saw on the Island were a group of young Spanish and English teachers from Panama City that were living on the island temporarily.

We were the only real tourists here and were invited into the Congress Hall to speak to the elders and have a bowl of rum. Only the men were allowed to drink the rum here. Andy, Niles and I were brought in and approached by three seperate elders. They each were carrying a bowl of rum which we were told we had to drink in one shot. There was about a generous double shot in each bowl. We thanked them and left feeling great about having that experience and a little drunk.

We then spent the afternoon talking to Franso and his family at the bar drinking Balboa's. The bathroom in each house is a few wooden boards that lead out into the sea, with a board missing the middle to pee/poop into. There's also a privacy wall biult out of a few planks of wood. It goes directly into the sea and the tide takes it all away. Everyone uses cisterns to collect rainwater so the contamination isn't a problem. And fishing is all done far away from the island usually. The pigs are stored in a similar way. Many houses have wooden cages for their pig/pigs built out on stilts over the water. So their waste goes right into the sea, self cleaning pig pens.

We planned to leave at 5.30 so we could get back to the boats before dark and before things got too crazy on the island. When everyone is heavy into the rum at 1pm things tend to get crazy. At 5 the streets were wild. Everyone was drunk and much more social now. Candy was being bought from the stores and being handed out to everyone.

Ashley bought a bag of candy and started handing it out to kids. A huge lineup formed and they were all very appreciative. Some of the locals suggested we take some photos and no one minded. Andy bought a big bag of candy and started throwing it out to the woman. It was like he was the Beatles and the women were screaming fans! The whole street was cheering!

Ashley made some friends and we had some rum shots together. They were happy to take a photo with her but when I turned the lens in the other direction the women weren't happy. I tried apologetically saying I would delete them but due to the language barrier and everyone being hammered (including us) an elder had to step in and calm the situation down. Franso and the elder quickly talked it out and defused the situation. I felt bad but was told by Franso that there are lots of fights on this day due to everyone getting so drunk, so we fit right in.

I haven't done any further research into this festival and this is a completely superficial perspective. This is just a personal account of what happened to us on that day.