Are jump-shots ever not a great idea? Guna Yala, Panama
Deep breath. Aaaah. I’m back in Panama City with a computer and time, so I can tell you about the awesome Yoga/Kayak Retreat that yoga instructor, Leigh Lubin, and I guided this past Jan 6-14. We’re excited to announce that we’ll be offering this trip again in January 2019. I’ll keep you posted with dates. Contact me if you’d like more info.
YOGA RETREAT ~ THE PACIFIC
Beautiful sunsets every night on the Pacific Coast – 5-minute walk from the yoga retreat
We started our 9-day journey together on the Pacific Coast, with 4 days at a gorgeous Yoga Adventure Retreat, just a 5-minute walk to the beach. Relaxation paradise! It was pretty easy to sink into holiday mode at this lovely place. I mean, we were greeted with ice cold hibiscus tea and there was a hammock pavilion!
Leigh guided us in morning and afternoon yoga sessions with her Vitality & Vayus series, which invited us to deepen our yoga practice. She taught and encouraged us to notice how each movement and pose effected us energetically and mentally. A gifted yoga teacher, she created a beautiful balance of uplifting and energetic practices in the mornings, and grounding and calming practices in the evenings. I don’t have too many photos of practicing yoga, as I didn’t want to be behind a camera during practice. I wanted to be doing yoga!
We also got to play around with stand-up paddle boards. Leigh delighted in practicing her SUP headstands:)
Then there was the food. . . delicious! What a delight to come out of morning yoga practice to be greeted with fresh fruit and juice. Buen provecho!
Happy. . . smiling. . . feeling good!
GUNA YALA ~ THE CARIBBEAN
After the yoga retreat, we traveled to Guna Yala for 4 days of tropical paradise; sea kayaking, snorkeling, lounging in hammocks, and immersing ourselves in the fascinating culture of the Guna. Check out a video of this tropical paradise.
Sunset on Nurdup
A little background: I have been kayak guiding in Guna Yala since 2010, and have been in love with the place ever since:) Guna Yala is the semi-autonomous territory of the indigenous Guna of Panama. The tropical coastline stretches 140-miles and borders Colombia. It also comprises about 25 miles of mainland rain forest. We stayed on a tiny island called Nurdup (“Almond Island”, in Guna), and used that as our “basecamp” for day excursions to nearby rivers, mangroves, beaches, and Guna communities.
Click here for a video of our first sunset in Guna Yala. Beautiful.
Check out a cool video of snorkeling. And a kayaking video (this was my first trip with my new Olympus Stylus TG-Tracker camera, so you’ll have to excuse the warped quality of this one).
Welcome to Nurdup
Here are some highlights:
A heron passing in front of Guna fishing huts
Gone snorkeling
A lobster hiding under Brain Coral
Paddle to a Guna community. The underwater pipe brings fresh water from the mainland.
Leigh continued with early morning yoga practice on Nurdup, and we were joined by our Guna kayak guide, Nemesio, who entertained the other Guna with his joyful interpretation of the poses. Namaste, Nemesio!
We also took our yoga off of the mat and donated many gifts to the Guna, especially art supplies, clothing, and books for the kids. Here is Meghan searching for Waldo with our new Guna friends. Dónde está Waldo? I don’t know why the girl looks so sad in this photo. She was pretty excited about her new Fairy book.
Dónde está Waldo?
While on Nurdup we learned a lot about the fascinating lives of the Guna, who have fought to maintain their traditional customs. They are enthusiastic to share their culture with us.
- We heard Guna legends from Nemesio
- We learned Guna phrases (Nuedi= good, you good? i’m good, we’re all good!)
- We went mola-shopping and marveled at this incredible craft. The mola is the beautiful hand-sewn panel that is sewn onto the front and back of the women’s blouse. Many Guna women spend much of their day sewing molas. Click here for a video of trying on a mola.
- We learned about the intricate bead work that the women display on their forearms and calves (called wini, much to our amusement). Here is a video of Denali getting her wini on.
- We participated in the traditional dance with a youth dance group from a neighboring community. Check out a short video of the dance. Here is a longer one (it starts off a bit slow, but it picks up and is is worth the watch).
- We went for a ride in one of their small wooden sailboats (called urbipi). Click here for a video of Leigh and Phil going for a sail.
“Wini” close-up
Leigh and Phil go for a ride in an “urbipi”
And, of course, we went kayaking and had loads of fun splashing around in the water. One of the highlights were the post-dance festivities. We enjoyed the Guna Danza so much that we wanted to share with the youth dancers something fun from our group. We invited them to play around in our kayaks. Whoa! I’ve never seen such an enthusiastic reaction (I wish I had it on film). These teenagers (and one adorable 6-year old) leaped out of their seats, shrieking at the tops of their lungs and jumped right into the water with the kayaks. None of them had ever been in a kayak before. However, growing up practically in the water, they did just fine:) Future Guna kayak guides! They even organized themselves into a race. Click here to see the video of the kayak race. Check out this video of a fun, music-filled river paddle (and now I know who Charlie Puth is). Note all the kids we stuffed into the kayaks (that sounds bad, doesn’t it?). We just couldn’t turn them down when they wanted to join us for a paddle.
We invited them to return later that evening to join us in a party! Meghan and Denali, two of our participants, had brought all kinds of fun gifts to donate. They even brought glow-sticks, which everyone went crazy for! We used my paddle as a limbo stick and attempted a conga line:) Click here to see a video of our paddle limbo. Of course, the Alaskans put on the country tunes.
Glow-stick party on Nurdup!
CASCO VIEJO – PANAMA CITY
After departing Guna Yala we made a visit to the Panama Canal and caught a large ship going through the Miraflores Locks. Check out the video. We then had a few hours to roam around Casco Viejo, a scenic part of the city, before an entertaining farewell dinner that included delicious Panamanian food and traditional dances from other areas of Panama. Check out the dancing here.
What a trip! Besides the gorgeous places that we visited, including both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Panama and Panama City, what made this trip so exceptional was the people. As a tour guide, it is a gift to be in the company of such open-minded, kind, adventurous, and fun people as Leigh and I had on this trip. Thank you to all of them! You made this trip extremely special.
I leave you with the one of the most adorable Guna kidlets that I have ever seen.
And because I loved this little boy so much, here’s a video of him playing catch. What a little biscuit!
Well, I think that’s enough photos and video links for now. Stay tuned for the next blog about a most wild and crazy kayak trip to Guna Yala with my parents and our friends.
Please follow me on Instagram to check out my photos of traveling and paddling in beautiful places (mostly Panama and Alaska). I love hearing your comments. Contact me for trip information (or just to say hi).
Kayaking with Ilene Price 