Page 258 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

256 Guna Yala Western Guna Yala
Nalunega museum
Signposted off the basketball court • Daily 7am–6pm • $3 • No phone
Nalunega’s museum houses an unusual collection that is particularly worthwhile if you
have some Spanish. The curator, Teodoro Torres, offers a fascinating narrative of Guna
culture illustrated through his woodcarvings and paintings from recycled materials,
such as boat sails that have washed up on the beach.
aRRIVal anD DEPaRTuRE El PORVEnIR anD aROunD
As the airstrip at El Porvenir is no longer in use, you can only arrive by boat. The cost from Cartí/Barsukum is usually $30.
aCCOMMODaTIOn
Cabañas Nalunega Nalunega Karina T6687 9683 hammocks on the front deck. Good food is served under a
or Angelica T6969 7148, Ekarinaiglesias0303 communal central rancho, and traditional showers (bucket
@gmail.com. Three over-the-water cane cabins, on of water and soap) and toilets are shared. Meals, daily tours
solid cement bases and with electricity, share a and transfer from Cartí included. $140
7 bathroom. Cloth hung on the inside provides a greater Hotel El Porvenir By the airstrip, El Porvenir T6718
measure of privacy than in many such cabañas while 2826, Whotelporvenir.com. This long-established
also letting the breeze through. Meals, tours and hotel, offering the only accommodation on the island, is
transfer from Cartí included. $130 pleasantly situated in grassy grounds with its own
Cabañas Ukuptupu Ukuptupu T293 8709 or T6746 veranda bar-restaurant and eleven rather gloomy
5088, Wfacebook.com/ukuptupu.com. The friendly concrete rooms with tin roof and private cold-water
owner, Juan García, speaks good English, and his family are bathrooms. They also offer package deals that include
Ukuptupu’s only inhabitants. A maze of wooden transfer from Panama City. Rates include full board plus
boardwalks leads between fifteen spacious, careworn, two daily excursions to nearby islands. Cartí transfer
wooden doubles, each overlooking the sea, with $20. $160

GUNA NAMES AND LANGUAGE
all island communities have a Guna name, which often has several variant spellings, and a
Spanish name. Matters have been further complicated by the standardization of the Guna
alphabet in 2011 in which the letters “p”, “t” and “k” were removed and replaced by “b”, “d” and
“g”, which are sometimes doubled to give “bb”, “dd” and “gg”; the letters “l”, “m” and “n” are also
doubled in some contexts. However, this standardization has not yet permeated all of Guna
society. In the Guide, when introducing a place, we have tried to use the more commonly
used name first (be it in spanish or in Dulegaya) and given the alternative – and sometimes
a variant spelling – in parentheses.
GUNA GLOSSARY
the most essential word to grasp in Dulegaya (Guna language) is the versatile “nuedi”,
meaning “hello”, “yes” and “it’s good/OK” or “welcome”. “nuegambi”, meaning “thank you” is also
useful. Other key cultural terms include:
absoguedi chanter nainumar cultivated lands on the
Bab Dummad and Nan Dummad Great mainland
Father and Mother, the creators neg uan burial ground
Baba Nega heavenly spirit world nele traditional healer or shaman
boni evil spirits nuchu carved wooden totem to ward off evil
dule masi traditional Guna fish and spirits
plantain stew Onmagged Dummad Sunmagaled Guna
Ibeorgun Guna prophet and religion General Congress
Innamudigi initial puberty ritual held at a onmagged nega meeting house
girl’s first menstruation saila chief
inna nega chicha house uaga (uagmala) outsider(s)
innasuid second puberty ritual for girls ulu dugout canoe
during which they are officially named

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