I rest awhile (hammocks must have a secret relaxation drug in them) and when I open my eyes again I see more children. A boy pushes a small piece of wood through the sand, making noises with his mouth as he moves it along. I wonder what he is pretending - it certainly couldn't be a truck, like most American, Canadian or European boys would imagine. Virtually all the Kuna know are boats; there are no cars or even scooters on the islands. This little boy must be powering his own boat (a trawler or a canoe, I'll never know) through the sand-water.
Two other children, little girls, play together under the canoes pulled up on stilts in the sand - a fort of sorts. They sit facing one another. One is an Albino, with reddish-white skin, pink eyes and white hair. She looks about six years old. Rather than seeing Albinism as an abnormality, Kuna culture considers each Albino birth special. They call them Moon Children, and believe they hold special spiritual powers. The Kuna custom of not marrying and having families outside their race and their small villages have combined to give the Kuna one of the highest rates of Albinism in the world. I watch them rummage in the garbage can outside the hotel dining hut. They find a plastic bottle. Together with their old paper cups, it looks as if a sand castle may get underway soon. But they disappear to a different place on the island where I cannot see them.
I gaze out toward the water to find a shirtless little boy approaching. He says hello and asks my name. I introduce myself, and overcoming some shyness, he does the same. After that, all he can do is stare at me. I must look silly hanging in a hammock with nylon pants on (to keep mosquitoes off) with a book in a funny language. More children pass by, these playing with a puppy. They are gentle with the little dog, tossing him gently into the soft sand. They follow him past the boy with the wood boat. There are several stacks of wood now - no longer an imaginary canoe but perhaps a large sailboat or ocean liner.
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