The island of Porvenir is not much larger than any of the others, but what makes this an ideal site for a city is the available fresh ground water. On all the other islands, water is brought in by boat, but here in Porvenir, it is piped in from wells via underground PVC pipe. This vital necessity is what makes this landscape differ from most other islands.
The town itself is completely walkable. There are no cars or roads - only narrow paths that meander between blocks of houses. The structures themselves vary from dirt-floored bamboo huts to full two story cinder-block houses. Most did not have electricity, save for the occasional generator or solar panel. The two stores in town sold snacks and beverages kept cold by propane refrigerators.
On the island we also found a one room school and a medical clinic, both of which are funded by the Panamanian government. Some individual houses sported tv antennas, and one even had a laptop powered by a car battery (we were told a neighbor had a wireless internet router too).
Although some parts of the Kuna lifestyle seem idyllic, others give light to their impoverished condition. Sanitation facilities consist of outhouses suspended over the water (in which we saw some people bathing), the diet variety is very limited, and labor opportunities are restricted to fishing and tourism.
Aside from this, however, we found the level of education here to be high (most spoke impressive spanish, and some even knew english), the streets kept clean, and the culture to be extremely kind and respectful.
SWC