Soledad Miria is a small Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 island of Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

with 1,014 inhabitants, lying at 9°26′42"N 78°53′59.63"W. The island is only 700 metres long but is densely populated. At approximately 9:30 pm on December 26, 2006, a fire started by the explosion of a gas cooker destroyed 39 buildings within 10 minutes, approximately half of those on the island. 348 people were injured, but none died. The island was left with no potable water. Many of the inhabitants of the small island took to the sea in fishing boats to avoid the flames.

Soledad Miria is the home of the Kuna indians, where most of the island speaks Tule. About 10% speak Spanish fluently. The island is very poor, with huts, no floors, two village light bulbs, and no bathroom plumbing. however, the island is not so poor that the people are starving. Most of the kuna indians worship small handmade wooden idols. The island has one school, with about 6 classrooms. The school is the only place on the island that has cement floors and walls. Older women in Solded Mira wear the traditional kuna indian clothing, while everyone else wears normal clothes. The average family on the island has a few buckets, a hut, maybe two hammocks, a few machettes, and a pig.