The Cuna Indians

As I have stated, the Cuna have only two settlements in the Darien; Pucuru and Paya. All of the other Indian villages in the Darien are Chocó. The Cuna principally live on the San Blas Islands on the Atlantic side of the country separated from the Darien by a mountain range: the Serrania Del Darien. I took a trip to an island resort there for a short vacation, and the islands were beautiful, with white sand beaches, palm trees and crystal clear water. It was a great place to go and relax and forget about everything for a few days.
It is said that the Cuna migrated into the Darien basin from Southern Colombia. The banks of the rivers throughout the Darien were already populated by the Choco when the Cuna arrived. Since they came from a colder climate they began to settle along the Serrania del Darien, the mountain range that separates the Darien from the Atlantic Ocean. Over time the Cuna migrated over the mountain range and into the San Blas Islands.
From Boca de Cope, the last village upriver on the Tuira, the trip is about a three hour walk through very thick primary growth jungle, to get to Pucuru. The walk is almost entirely uphill as you are beginning to climb the mountains that separate Panama from Colombia as well as the Darien basin from the Atlantic coast. This hike is one of the most interesting and entertaining that you encounter in the Darien. This trail is so remote that there is seldom any foot traffic, and the animal life is always abundant.
The Cuna Indians live in houses built right on the ground with split cane walls, dirt floors and thatched roofs. Pucuru and Paya are in a higher altitude region that never floods.
The Cunas are famous for their molas, a reverse appliqué that is made by cutting and sewing some very colorful materials. The molas are very popular and you frequently see them for sale in Panama City, and in the tourist trade. The Cuna of Pucuru also made the traditional molas, which they would sew together and use for shirts and blouses, much in the same manner as their ancestors did for centuries. The Cuna of Pucuru did sell some molas to the tourists, on the occasions when we took groups into their village. They charged much less than half the price of what a tourist could buy them for in Panama City.
The other distinctive feature of the Cuna Indians, other than the molas, was their silver nose rings that were worn by both the men and the women. They also wore silver earrings that were frequently made of old coins in the same manner as the Chocó.
The personality of the Cuna Indians is very different from that of the Chocó. They are strong, aggressive people with a good business sense. They were also a very guarded people. They would keep to themselves when we set up camp in their village, and only visit with us and be hospitable when they were selling their molas. By contrast the Chocó would visit with us during the evening after we set up camp, and the Chocó children would always be around us and very eager to help whenever they could during the set up of the camp site. The Cuna of Pucuru and Paya did not move about the Darien the way the Chocó did. There would always be some Chocó in any of the cities like La Palma or El Real. The Cuna never came down to those cities. Actually, a traveler would rarely see the Cuna in Panama City as well, and it was even rarer to see the Chocó in the City.
The Cuna villages of the Darien were very isolated, and the only visitors who passed through them were headed over the gap into Colombia on foot; there was no access by river. Paya was the last vestige of human life located at the edge of the wild frontier leading to Colombia. There was a Guardia outpost there manned by a single soldier.
There was a river that ran by Pucuru, but it was so small and shallow that it was not navigable by dugout canoe. There was a nice wooden house built right on the outskirts of the village of Pucuru, similar to the house we first built when we arrived to the Darien. This house was built by European missionaries, and a couple lived there with the Cuna; they had lived in that house for several years when we met them. I respected these people. They were not phonies like most of the missionaries that I met, and had committed their lives to living, working and educating the Cuna Indians of this village while maintaining the tribe’s culture and traditions.
We took groups of tourists into this village on only about half a dozen occasions, most of who were bird watchers. Since this area was mountainous, unlike the rest of the Darien basin which was flat, the species here varied from what they had seen all day on the way upriver. One of the most common birds we saw were wild Macaws, both the blue and gold, and the scarlet varieties. These birds have a six foot wing span, are brightly colored, and a majestic beauty when we saw them in flight. They lived in the very top of the mountain jungle canopy, and it was common to spot them on the hike from Boca de Cupe to Pucuru.