10) Coconuts are a staple of life - they are exported, cooked with, and even used as coals for cooking and smoking fish. Even their chickens are kept plump with shredded coconut meat.
9) Standard meals consist of rice and fish (often infused with coconut somehow). Sweet ketchup has been served with every rice dish.
8) The primary (and only) mode of transportation throughout the islands is by dugout canoe. Paddled, sailed, or powered by outboard motor - it's the best way to get around!
7) Older women wear traditional Kuna clothing. Skirt bottoms with 'Mola' blouse tops are the norm. Their shins and wrists are often adorned with colorful bracelets, while noses are often pierced with gold studs. Younger girls, however, dress just like girls in the US do.
6) Although they adhere to a traditional lifestyle, every Kuna we met had a cell phone. From older women to young children, everyone liked keeping in touch.
5) The Kuna culture is changing along with the times. Elliot (the 14 year old we met) grew up in a fishing family, but he has dreams to move to a big city and work with computers. A great opportunity for Elliot, but it would mean that his family would lose the right to stay on their piece of land.
4) The coconuts here are harvested only after they fall - no climbing trees to get the sweet juicy ones!
3) The Kuna are an autonomous group. They do not directly identify with either Colombia or Panama, but rather adhere to their own culture.
2) Every Kuna was at least bilingual. Everyone studies Spanish in school, and many know English as well. Courses in school are taught in Spanish from sixth grade onward. When speaking to each other and at home however, they speak their native language (also called 'Kuna').
1) The local currency is the US Dollar (or the Panamanian Balboa), however a strong barter economy exists as well. Coconuts, fish, and molas are all a medium of exchange.
Tekimalo!!!!!!!