Hey everbody!
I really hope somebody will be able to help me with this.
We are going to Panama in the beginning in April and want to stay for like 10 days or even more in San Blas. I'm VERY bad at speaking Spanish (but I do attempt to learn), close to zero now, but I want to book Porvenir hotel, Kuanidup cabanas and maybe Isla Robinson cabanas also, since we would like to explore both Porvenir and Rio Sidra areas. And here comes the questions:
1) Is it so that if I book through tourist agency I have to pay more than the actual hotel costs, and how much more, since we are quite tight on the budget?
2) I wonder if I have to pay to the hotel owners anything of the accomodation price beforehand in order to reserve the cabana/room? And can I then transfer money to their account or is it some expensive Western Union business?
3) Should I book all of these 3 hotels beforehand, or can I think that, for instance, Isla Robinson cabanas might be available when we are there?
4) contact info.... I have 656-46-73 for Cabanas Kuanidup, 2999-058 for Isla Robinson and hotelporvenir.com for porvenir hotel. Are they right?
And another thing - we have been wanting to basically get on a tall ship - or ship which has sails, basically, to sail a bit in Caribbean sea. Do you know of any affordable day trips in Panama? The location doesn't much matter, for we could travel there, we are in Panama for 3 weeks, just so that it would be a nice experience and not too expensive like those 10-days trips which many companies offer.
I'd be very thankful for any tips!
can only help you with Kuanidup, since we stayed there for three nights in the first week of january
I recommend to reserve a cabana directly with Milsiades, who is a Kuna living in Panama City. The number you mention is the one of his mobile phone, but it lacks another “6” in the beginning – so the correct number is 6656-4673. There is another one 6635-6737 – we used that one.
http://kuanidup.8k.com/html/contact.html is their website. I first mailed them to their email-adress (in english and spanish), but no one ever replied.
Milsiades seems to be a quite reliable person. He doesn’t speak English and my Spanish is possibly worse than yours - but nevertheless it worked well. All he wanted to know were our names and the exact time, when we would arrive in Rio Sidra. We booked our flights onlinie with Air Panama. Milsiades didn’t ask for any payment in advance. All he wanted us to do was a another call for confirmation, as soon as we would enter Panama.
The price was 65 bucks per person per night, including all meals, transfer and boat tours. Someone here on thorntree had recommend to me a tour agency (xtrop), but they happened to charge almost twice as much. The Kunas on the island sell softdrinks, beer (1 dollar) and wine (15 dollars for a bottle) .
Kuanidup is a dream, as long as you want to get away from any kind of action. We were just quite disappointed about the food. We had learned before, that it would be seafood an rice all the time. But the seafood turned out to be squit, that was almost impossible to. Once on a boat tour our Kunas bought lobsters and a huge crab from some Kuna fishermen. We were really looking forward to it, but the critters never appeared on our plates. They had obviously bought them for themselves.
If you have valuables like cameras, music players etc. – put them in a waterproof bag !!!. The Kuna use huge plastic bags for the luggage during boat transfer from Rio Sidra. But I wouldn’t like to rely on their bags alone.
good luck!
forgot to mention:
Milsiades will find you, as soon as you enter the departure hall of the domestic airport in Albrook on the morning of your flight. It's there where you pay (in cash!!)
Thank you SO much!! Now I know how to try to do with the Kuanidup hotel. If anybody knows though, could it be possible that Kuanidup people pick us up at Porvenir? We would want to stay there for a while, too.
I have got answer from the Kuanidup mail and now I am wondering what is the price per night per person at Kuanidup cabanas? Anybody else been there, knows that?
I have got answer from the Kuanidup mail and now I am wondering what is the price per night per person at Kuanidup cabanas? Anybody else been there, knows that?
#2 mentions $65per person per night for Kuanidup....
Was just at Porvenir on Sunday - nothing worth seeing there really - one island with Kuna village on it is pretty much like the next island with a Kuna village on it - except maybe a bit more garbage on the shore. We did go to a nearby island for lunch and it was very well kept - only 2 bungalows that go for $120 a night - Wailys Lodge it was called.
Very long boat ride from Porvenir to Kuanidup - and the seas were very rough and are usually quite rough through to April or so. The plane goes from Panama to Porvenir to Rio Sidra then on to Corazon de Jesus - not sure if they take anyone from Porvenir to Rio Sidra as this takes up a seat for a passenger going from Porvenir back to Panama.
I really can't imagine 10 days in the Kuna Yala.
There are quite a few boats for charter in the area - usually runs in the $200 per person per day range - may find them cheaper but you would get what you paid for. There are rumors that cruising permits fort hese charter yachts are not going to be renewed so this option may not be available soon.
Cheers,
Andrew
trusted partner
