29th March 2015 – Tour to Indigenous Village – 2015-04-02 00:20

Today we are picked up by our tour guide at 8:30 for a trip to a native village. After traveling through some rural areas of Panama which seem to be covered in rubbish we arrive in the Chagres National Park at a place called El Corotu which is on the shores of Lake Madden one of the lakes that feeds the Panama Canal. At the lake we board a piragua (a motorized dug out canoe) and start our 45 minute trip to the native village of Embera Drua. The first part of the trip is uneventful as we motor through the lake past a multitude of bird life. Then we enter the Chagres River which is nice and deep to start with. After a while the river becomes quite shallow and the 30 foot canoe with 7 passengers and 2 crew has to be manhandled over some very shallow parts. We pass another village on the river.We then have to negotiate some small rapids with the native Indian at the front using a pole to push us over the rocks. We eventually arrive at the native village to be greeted by the villagers playing music for us. The chief of the village explained in Spanish that they had moved from their traditional area in the east of Panama called Darien. He told us about their lifestyle and some of their traditions. He introduces us to the village elder who he explains to us is the traditional healer. As he is talking it starts to rain gently.The villagers cook some fresh river fish and plantains (large non sweet banana) for us as well as serving us some fresh fruit. It is a really tasty lunch.By the time lunch is finished the rain is fairly heavy and the banana leaf roof is just managing to keep us dry.After lunch the villagers put on some traditional dancing for us by which time the rain is fairly torrential.Back to the dug out canoes and some enthusiastic bailing empties them of rain water and we don our life jackets and ponchos for the 45 minute trip back to the bus.More rapids and shallow water but the rain has helped make the river not so shallow. The trip back is a bit quicker however we still arrive back soaked to the skin.