Its name –Kuna- stems from cuna, the Spanish word for cradle and has to do with their belief of being the children of God, the ones He protects and takes care of.

These inhabitants are short, of equally short necks and big heads, short limps and small feet. The traditions that rule this town are completely different to those in the rest of the archipelago. Each and every one of these islands have customs of their own, their inhabitants are foreigners as soon as they leave their territories.

Here you’ll find an amazing combination of old-timed and modern customs, as in the case of the Kuna inhabitants who charge tourists one buck for every picture you take of them, or $10 if you make a snapshot of the town’s main street.

They practice monogamy and adultery is a crime. Their top chief is the Sahila, empowered with full authority to rule the community. At the same time, the Nele is the chief of several communities. All houses are built of reeds, they sleep in hammocks and the interiors feature an odd blend of belongings, clothes and family objects that share the same living quarters.

Farming is their main livelihood, basically growing coconuts, corn and cassava. Now they also live on tourism. In every Kuna home, women weave molas, embroidered fabrics of lively colors they later use to make clothing, cushions, frames and other items. They also make winis, bracelets they knit to be worn around the wrists and the ankles, plus embroidered blouses, masks and necklaces they hang outside their doors.

They also wear jewelry, earrings of complex designs that jewelers make for each and every person individually, let alone decorations they put on their noses –especially made of gold- though it’s common to see them made of fantasy gems. Life goes on peacefully in this town under the Caribbean’s sweltering sun while kids swim merrily in the surrounding waters. They do that after going to school and joke with visitors as they offer themselves to be photographed. It seems that civilization has come to the Kuna people, but only to an extent that doesn’t bother their lifestyle and daily going.

Kwadule is a small island located in the San Blas Archipelago, in the heart of the Caribbean –Kunayala is the tongue of choice among the people in this neck of the woods. The archipelago is made up of 375 islands, 49 of them inhabited and with a total population of 90,000 residents.

Kwadale is a new island of approximately 9,567 square yards that popped up spontaneously. Its owners –faithful to the guidelines ruling the region- were the first two people who discovered the new territory and planted there the first coconut trees. From the Kuna ethnic group, they managed to reproduce the island’s vegetation by mixing the soils of other islands. In their beliefs, the Kuna people think soil grains are both male and female that beget fruits when they mate.

To get to Kwadale visitors need to drive to the Corazon de Jesus Airport and there the adventure begins. We hop on a boat that takes us to Paradise after a 20-minute ride. It’s hard to describe what it feels like as you get closer to KwAdale. The fantasy of being Robinson Crusoe or a shipwrecked person on a desert island starts playing tricks on you.

Yandup & Nargana The entire region spins around two towns that, despite being knit together by a bridge, live separate lives in keeping with their own rules. Yandup is the Indian name of Corazon de Jesus, a place where aircraft take passengers to Kwadale. The guide introduces us to these two villages full of incredible contrasts. To a naked eye, houses are disorderly scattered and streets are unpaved. But as you move farther the bridge to Nargana meets the eye. On it, the unrepeatable image of a bunch of schoolchildren wearing blue uniforms. Behind them, a group of Kuna women wearing their traditional garments and jewels. Tradition and progress walking hand in hand in perfect harmony.

We jump from one surprise to the next. It seems as if time were standing still. There’s a school, a maternity hospital, a hotel for tourists, a bank, a store owned by Montero –he and Ismael own the island of Kwadale- where you can drink a cold soda and stretch your legs for awhile.

All houses are different. There are log cabins and cement buildings. Being in a place like this is an experience to be told. You can strain at a gnat and you won’t find a single car. What do you need them for anyway? Life here goes on foot and small boats ferry visitors from one place to another. The end of the dream is near. However, we’ll forever cherish the moments when we learned about this one-and-only location, the Paradise we’ve always yearned for.