SAILING CAMELOT

Today we take a group tour with three other couples.

Halfway between Panama City and Colon (on the Pacific coast) sits the Chagres National Park, where six Embera Indians villages are located. Only three of them welcome visitors.

After an hour’s drive in comfortable big SUVs we reach the shores of Rio Chagres; a few young Indians dressed in loincloths and some sort of a miniskirt (called Ambura) made of colorful beads are waiting to take us to their village up the river in their long and narrow dugout canoes (Piroguas). It seems surreal!

But there is one detail showing evidence of modernization: the canoes are equipped with 15hp outboards. Hey, you try rowing eight well-fed Gringos up the river with a paddle!

About twenty minutes later, after a slow ride up the river immersed in spectacular scenery, we get off the canoes and start trekking in the jungle.

As usual, I’m forever dillydallying, nose in the air, looking for something beautiful to capture on camera. And there’s plenty of beauty to capture…

Following winding paths and crossing shallow rivulets we finally arrive to an idyllic spot with a waterfall cascading into a small basin.

It looks very inviting and I don’t need any encouragement to jump in the cool, clear water! Tom bomb-dives in as well, whooping like an excited child.

We frolic in the water to our heart’s content, then still dripping wet we trek back to the canoes to be taken to the village.

 

At the village we’re welcomed with music, wide smiles and handshakes.

 

 

We are directed to a huge palapa building where the men play music for the women dancing their welcome dance for us.

There is a different dance for every occasion, we’re told. It’s a form of expression.

We’re then taken to a different hut where Antonio the Chief gives us some background on the village customs and the tribe’s daily life. Actually he’s Second in Command, but today he’s officially the Chief because the boss is away from the village.

There are 20 families in this particular village, 68 people in total.

The land is community owned and community farmed. Everyone in the village pitches in to work at harvest time.

If one hunter gets a larger animal such as a peccary or a tapir, everybody in the village shares the meat.

Health care is primarily provided by trained Shamans.

The houses of the village are set about 20– 50 feet apart, raised on posts about eight feet off the ground, with no walls and tall thatched roofs made from palm fronds.

All the joinery is made of vines called “bejuco”.

Hanging from the supporting posts and beams are hammocks, baskets, pots, bows and arrows, mosquito nets, clothing and other items. The floor is made of split black palm trunks or white cane.

The kitchen is built on a clay platform about three feet square; on top of this base they build a fire, supporting cooking pots over the fire with a tripod of sturdy sticks.

The houses are accessed from the ground via a sloped log with deep notches forming a ladder. They turn the notches face down at night to prevent animals from climbing into the house while they sleep.

The men sport “bowl cut” hair styles, and when not in towns still wear nothing but a minimal loin cloth. The women wear brightly colored cloth wrapped around the waist as a skirt.

Except when in towns, the women do not cover their torsos (they were covered during our visit), and wear long, straight black hair. The children go naked until puberty, and no one wears shoes.

Around each village the jungle is partly cleared and replaced by plantain and banana plantations – a commercial crop for the Embera, who sell them to get cash for their outboard motors, mosquito nets, fabrics and other necessities.

The whole presentation is given in Spanish, but in the village their own language is spoken, so we are quite shocked when two young boys address Tom in perfect English…

We are then served a simple but very tasty meal of delicious fried fish and patties made of corn and plantains, all attractively wrapped in banana leaves with a decorative hibiscus flower, and lots of fruit: bananas, mangoes, pineapples, watermelon.

After the meal we thank our host and return to the main hut, where the women are displaying and selling intricately woven baskets, exquisite carvings, beaded jewelry and lengths of fabric.

Needless to say, we walk away with a couple of baskets and a carving…

We’re finally ready to leave, and are accompanied down to the river by a large contingent of the smiling and friendly villagers, all trying to communicate with us. It almost looks like a movie set!

The colors, the children, these small and colorful people, this life beyond anything I could possibly ever imagine… This is possibly the richest experience I’ve ever had and I know it’ll stay with me forever.

I guess everyone in my group feels the same, judging by the silent ride back home, with everyone lost in their thoughts, still processing this incredible day.

Today we visited another world. I just can’t believe it’s only an hour away from a big, modern city…