The San Blas Islands of Panama are 378 Islands in the Caribbean Sea, of which 47 are inhibited. We had a warm welcome by the indigenous people( the Gina or Kuna Indians) selling their handy crafts called Molas. A Mola, which originally meant bird plumage, is the Kuna Indians word for clothing, especially blouses, and the word mola has come to mean the elaborate embroidered panels that make up the front and back of a Kuna woman’s traditional blouse. A molar maker places two or three pieces of different colored cloth on top of each other and paste them together. Then she cuts into the top layer cutting out her design. Only the bottom layer remains intact to be the background color and support the stitching of the other pieces. The color of each loop lower level creates the outline of the design. She may then add additional elements as in decorative embroidery, appliqué or different colors from cloth that has been inserted between the layers to complete the intricate design.

The Kuna Indians were driven westward in the 16th century from their original home in Columbia by invading Spanish colonizers and moved into the Darien rain forest, then towards the coastal mainlands of panama and by the 19 century they had begun to move out to the islands where they now live.

Uma