Embera Drua - A jungle experience
The amazing thing about Panama City is that you can be standing on the 15th floor of your hotel surrounded by skyscrapers and within an hour you can be in dense rainforest.Today we had our 'light jungle experience'. I have never had any desire to go and spend 3 or 4 days in the Amazon jungle with all the creepy crawlies and climb into wet beds under mosquito nets, so being in Panama was a wonderful way to experience the jungle without having to live in it. We made a day trip up the Chagres River to Embera Drua, an Indian village.
Our transport up the river was a 15 ft long dug-out canoe with an outboard motor. It was crewed by two handsome youths in loin cloths and bead necklaces who smiled and nodded at us. They spoke some Spanish but no English. The river was spectacular at this early hour (8.15 am). It wound around past towering old growth rainforest, and sometimes we would skim under low vine festooned trees close to the banks. The clouds were still low and there was the hum of cicadas whenever we stopped the engine, which we did periodically as we had to be poled over the shallow areas. There were some gentle rapids to make the heart beat faster, and every now and then a kingfisher or cormorant would skim low over the green water. Yellow and white butterflies danced around the prow of the dugout and it was a magical trip I never wanted to end.
After about 45 minutes we came around a big curve and there was the welcoming committee, complete with drums and flutes on the stony shore waiting for us. We climbed up some slippery steps to their village of thatched huts, elevated 10 ft off the ground and there they told us about themselves and their culture. They want their children to be educated, and the Government supplied two teachers, but they had to provide everything else, so they decided to welcome small groups of tourists for occasional day visits. For this they received payment and they could then buy books and pencils. They have built a school with two classrooms.
The people were most attractive, with straight black hair, brown eyes and coffee coloured skin. The women wore brightly coloured skirts, and both men and women adorned their bodies with beads and black body paint. We were taken on a 'botanical walk' and introduced to all the amazing plants that they have known about for years, eg lipstick plant, one for anaethetising, snake bite antidotes, murine plant for conjunctivitus etc. Then it was time for lunch. It came in a banana leaf and was fish and plantains. The fish was great. Our guide had brought a hand operated ice cream machine with him and the children went mad when they saw him. Apparently he does this each visit but some times his visits are 2 months apart. Even the adults were excited and they all lined up for their little cup with spoon. No fighting or pushing, just laughter and excitement.
The men are excellent carvers and the women make beautiful baskets with traditional geometric designs, with all dyes coming from natural sources. A couple of the men showed a great interest in Barry's fold up walking stick and collapsed it and reassembled it a couple of times. Our visit finished up with dancing and music, and then it was time to climb back into the dug-outs and make the river trip back to civilization.
Apart from our wonderful days in the Galapagos Island, this has been my favourite day so far. I had been worried it might be a bit commercial but it wasn´t.
Our transport up the river was a 15 ft long dug-out canoe with an outboard motor. It was crewed by two handsome youths in loin cloths and bead necklaces who smiled and nodded at us. They spoke some Spanish but no English. The river was spectacular at this early hour (8.15 am). It wound around past towering old growth rainforest, and sometimes we would skim under low vine festooned trees close to the banks. The clouds were still low and there was the hum of cicadas whenever we stopped the engine, which we did periodically as we had to be poled over the shallow areas. There were some gentle rapids to make the heart beat faster, and every now and then a kingfisher or cormorant would skim low over the green water. Yellow and white butterflies danced around the prow of the dugout and it was a magical trip I never wanted to end.
After about 45 minutes we came around a big curve and there was the welcoming committee, complete with drums and flutes on the stony shore waiting for us. We climbed up some slippery steps to their village of thatched huts, elevated 10 ft off the ground and there they told us about themselves and their culture. They want their children to be educated, and the Government supplied two teachers, but they had to provide everything else, so they decided to welcome small groups of tourists for occasional day visits. For this they received payment and they could then buy books and pencils. They have built a school with two classrooms.
The people were most attractive, with straight black hair, brown eyes and coffee coloured skin. The women wore brightly coloured skirts, and both men and women adorned their bodies with beads and black body paint. We were taken on a 'botanical walk' and introduced to all the amazing plants that they have known about for years, eg lipstick plant, one for anaethetising, snake bite antidotes, murine plant for conjunctivitus etc. Then it was time for lunch. It came in a banana leaf and was fish and plantains. The fish was great. Our guide had brought a hand operated ice cream machine with him and the children went mad when they saw him. Apparently he does this each visit but some times his visits are 2 months apart. Even the adults were excited and they all lined up for their little cup with spoon. No fighting or pushing, just laughter and excitement.
The men are excellent carvers and the women make beautiful baskets with traditional geometric designs, with all dyes coming from natural sources. A couple of the men showed a great interest in Barry's fold up walking stick and collapsed it and reassembled it a couple of times. Our visit finished up with dancing and music, and then it was time to climb back into the dug-outs and make the river trip back to civilization.
Apart from our wonderful days in the Galapagos Island, this has been my favourite day so far. I had been worried it might be a bit commercial but it wasn´t.
posted by Margaret & Barry Fisher | Sunday, May 21, 2006
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home