Yandup Island – Panama

Located on the Atlantic side of Panama are the beautiful San Blas Islands. This amazing group of islands is home to the Kuna Indian people and is truly paradise on earth. Small islands, each with numerous white sand beaches and swaying palm trees, are spread out amongst the bright blue waters of the Atlantic. We were so anxious to visit this area that we spent HOURS trying to find the perfect place. We decided to stay near the village of Playon Chico on a little Island called Yandup. This tiny island has about 4-5 bungalows and is run by a Kuna Family. The island itself is no bigger than a football field. We arrived in the San Blas via a small plane from Panama City and when the small islands came into view from the airplane window we both couldn’t wait to touch down. We were meet at the landing street by the Kuna family who owned Yandup Island and their trusty go-to-man “Leo.” (A local Kuna man). They loaded us into their cute little wooden canoe (powered by a motor) and we were off to Yandup Island. I will never forget seeing the early morning sun come up over the islands and then spotting Yandup island on the horizon. This small Island has a cute little white sand beach, numerous palm trees and a few bungalows spread out around the edges. The focal point of the Island is the kitchen/dinning room which consists of a large open air deck (and small attached kitchen) that is built right over the water. Although this may sound very fancy it is actually extremely rustic which is definitely part of the charm. When we arrived at the Island they took us to our bungalow and we almost died when we opened the door. This was literally a one room bungalow made out of wood, rope and palm leaves. There were 2 beds (one small and one big) with large mosquito nets over them and a tiny little bathroom built in one corner (amazingly with a little running water). The average tourist would have been shocked by the rustic conditions but Lindsay and I were in heaven…it is just what we wanted. The bungalow had a front door and a back door and a deck that surrounded the entire building. The front door lead across the beautiful grass and palm trees to the main kitchen/dinging area. The back door led directly out to the ocean which was only about 10 feet away. The back of the bungalow had a large deck with two hammocks that were perfect for chillin. There is literally nothing about our little Yandup Island bungalow that we would change. We spent the next 4 days just relaxing and chillin and trying to take in the beautiful scenery around us. Each day we would head out to the numerous beaches and islands surrounding Yandup but we couldn’t wait to get back each evening to just chill. We would lay in our hammocks and read, sleep and just relax. Occasionally a local fisherman would come floating by on a wooden canoe but most of the time it was just the peaceful waters to keep us entertained. Every morning we would wake up to the sunshine coming through the cracks of our bungalow and every evening we would go to sleep with the sunset. To this day I literally can not think of a time when we were more relaxed then when we were chillin in the hammocks on our private little bungalow in the San Blas Islands. Every once in awhile we would think to ourselves…”am I really this far removed from the world…am I really chillin on some Island somewhere off the coast of Panama?” :) To top it all off the local Kuna family would cook us 3 meals a day that were served in the open air dining area where you could look out over the water or watch the sea turtle that lived right underneath the dining room (they had fenced off a little area in the water for him). The food was amazing and was always full of fresh fruit, fish (with the head still on), etc. A couple of nights I splurged and bought a coke in a bottle from them and would just sit on the edge of the dining room deck just chillin. One night in particular I remember Lindsay and I sat on the deck chatting with “Leo” about life, politics, etc, etc (there was a huge language barrier but we had a dictionary to help). We loved this little island so much that I immediately went on to TripAdvisor when we got home to rave about it. Although we would have liked to keep this little secret to ourselves we wanted to support the wonderful people that treated us like family on Yandup Island. To this day I cannot think of a more secluded and beautiful place to unwind. There are few places in the world like the San Blas Islands of Panama and staying in a bungalow on Yandup Island is the perfect way to experience them.