 CAB International 2013. Transformational Tourism: Tourist Perspectives 136 (ed. Y. Reisinger) 11 Finding Themselves in San Blas, Panama Amy Savener Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA Introduction This chapter describes an epiphenomenon wherein tourists, in a condensed time frame, undergo a process of recognizing Marxist alien- ation in their own lives at home and, subse- quently, indulge in delighted relief from that sense of alienation. The study explores the epi- phenomenon as it occurs in a majority of young adult international tourists to the San Blas region of Kuna Yala, Panama, a place that becomes a laboratory wherein ethnic tourists from advanced industrialized nations encounter drastic contrast with their familiar world at home. During a short visit, while basking in the sun and cavorting in the water and exploring small indigenous villages, tourists undergo a transformation that adjusts their views on their life at home so that they see it from an altered perspective. In this chapter, tourism is seen as a cultural discourse and practice through which tourists’ lives, perceptions, expectations and priorities at home are challenged via interactions with Kuna locals and also via inter-subjective and reflective conversations with other tourists. The chapter traces the evolution in thought in young adult tourists while viewing village life in San Blas/ Kuna Yala, prompted by expectations drawn on immersion in advanced capitalist cultures, and how the same stimuli provoke a negative reaction in older tourists. The chapter refers to theories from cognitive development, educa- tional psychology and cultural literature. The analysis begins with a true vignette. Vignette On just another day on El Porvenir in May 2011, a well-travelled 30-year-old Dutch agri- cultural engineer marvelled at all he had seen in the 40 minutes since he landed in San Blas, Panama on the north-east coast of the isthmus. The 35-minute flight from Panama City trans- ported him at least a century back in time. ‘My first impression was: Is this it? Is this all there is?’ he said, explaining that his other expe- riences on tropical islands were at all-inclusive resorts. The 12-passenger airplane had begun braking upon impact to avoid careening into the ocean. The runway begins at one edge of the island and ends just short of the coastline on the other end. On El Porvenir, also called Gaigirgordub by the inhabitants of the region, there is a three- storey air traffic control tower, two small hotels, a cultural museum, a restaurant, an office building and three houses. One is constructed of cinder block and the other two are made of cane with thatched palm roofs. The island is otherwise undeveloped. Clear blue Caribbean waters sur- round the tiny island, with beaches on one side and a rocky shore along the other (see Fig. 11.1). El Porvenir is one of nearly 400 islands that make up the archipelago that belongs to Kuna