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travel

Also in this section:
The road to Kuna Yala
Germany in the springtime
The Taboga launch

It starts here, at the Pan-American Highway a bit before the Bayano Bridge

Kuna Yala by road
photos by Mike Hinton

Did jailibird Tom McMurrain and his partners in crime who are still at large convince you to buy land along Colon's Costa Arriba because the road to Kuna Yala would soon be paved? As we understand it, that land really wasn't his to sell until he made a payment that never materialized, but in any case the road to connect Kuna Yala to the rest of the republic runs not along the Caribbean coast but from El Llano in the east-central part of Panama province to Carti Suitupo in the comarca.

The Torrijos administration, having come to an agreement with Kuna authorities who traditionally fear that road access will bring invaders seeking to take indigenous land, is now in the process of turning this old four-wheeler track into a paved all-weather road.

                                  You go past a new clinic along the way

This bridge has seen better times --- you have to ford the stream here

Under construction

A long view over the forest to the Caribbean Sea

It's not, strictly speaking, an international border, but the Kunas do consider themselves a sovereign nation and you must check in with authorities when you enter Kuna Yala

There's an airstrip upon which you are not supposed to drive

Once you get to Carti, you take a boat to the islands

It's a destination that attracts a certain kind of tourist, but it isn't "touristy"

What? No electric door opener?

Your gracious hosts

That's the shower in the center of the background