Puerto Obaldia, Armila and Anachucuna
Puerto Obaldia is a small village about 30min away on a small boat from Capurgana (there is a regular line for 35000 pesos). The only thing to do there is fill your paperwork for immigration, or take a flight at the airport to Panama City for just 100euros. This is a good option for those flying back home from Panama City and who just want to go to the first islands of San Blas de Caledonia (1h30 from Puerto Obaldia, all the islands look the same) and come back afterwards and thus avoid to spend too much time on boats, or because they don’t have enough time to do the 4 days boat trip to Carti followed by 4hrs of driving to Panama City. Moreover, it is cheaper to do it that way, and certainly more pleasant because it is a lot less time spent on boats and it avoids the 4WD trip between Carti and Panama City, which is quite rough too.
4kms north of Puerto Obaldia is the small village of Armila, the 1st Indian community from Gunayala de Panama (same people found on the islands San Blas) who share the place with African-descendants. You can get there on foot in 1h30 along the beach, or it takes 20min on a small boat from Puerto Obaldia (there no pontoon in Armila, so during summer, between December and April, it is impossible to access it by boat, you would then have to walk). The village consists of small colourful houses made out of cana brava or can flecha, and covered by roofs made out of irica palms. In May, Turtle Fest takes place in Armila, because like is Playona, leatherback turtles (here called Tortugas cana) and green turtles (here called Tortugas carey) come to lay their eggs from beginning of February to end of June at night. During the Fest (and a bit before and after), you can see the baby turtles hatch and find their way to the sea, as well as adult females still coming to lay their eggs. That’s why it is practical to choose the month of May to celebrate Turtles; also in the Guna calendar, May is the month of turtles. There are also 2 rivers in Armila, Baidy and Nakur, coming from the jungle and allowing you to go for a swim in fresh water, not only salt water from the sea. We can also go on to the pretty beach of Anachucuna, a bit further north of Armila, 40min boat trip.
Armila and Puerto Obaldia are also the starting point to go to the amazing islands of San Blas.