May 29, 2011

        Here is the description for the trip I did today. We went to an Indidan Village: “This adventure to the Chagres National Park and the Emberá Indian Village begins with a drive to the Corotu Pier where a dugout canoe, or cayuco, will be waiting to transport the group up the river through spectacular rainforest. Here is an experience for immersion in the unique native traditions of a remote Emberá Indian village, deep in the heart of the rainforest. On arrival at the village and surrounded by lush forest, be greeted by the traditional music of this fascinating culture. After experiencing several ceremonial dances, learn more about the customary lifestyle of a people virtually unchanged by civilization. The local shaman will describe some of the medicinal plants and herbs found in this environment, many of which are still a vital part of everyday life. Feel welcome to use the body paint as the Emberá do, with a natural fruit dye called Jagua. Enjoy food served and prepared in the Emberá community, such as fish, fried plantains and tropical fruits. Finally, there will be an opportunity to purchase finely-crafted artifacts made by these skilled artisans. After spending the day in the village, return to the shores of the Corotu Pier for transfer back to the ship. Note: If you would like to swim there will be an opportunity”
        All of this was actually true. We drove almost 2 hours to get to Chagres National Park. When we got to the pier there were dugout canoes waiting for us to transport us. These canoes surprisingly were not the type of canoes that you row. They had a Suzuki engine on them. We were then transported to where the people lived, yeah it was the rainforest, but it was very clear where the rainforest part of the wilderness and the river was. The water in the river was very brown from the sediment running off into the water from all of the rain. When we arrived they were playing traditional music for us. We then moved into the “marketplace” and then the shamans did a traditional dance, and then they showed us one of their traditional dances that they do when they “party”. We used the body paint, one of the younger girls painted a traditional symbol on my arm. We then enjoyed fried plantains and tilapia served in a life shaped like a cone. I decided I am not a huge fan of the plantains, but the tilapia was really good and fishy. It was very rich though so I couldn’t eat too much of it, and it still had all of the bones in it. We then had an opportunity to buy souvenirs from the people who had made all of them. The part that wasn’t necessarily accurate in the description is that we would have a chance to swim. Well I suppose we could have swam if we had wanted to, but there was no way I wanted to when we heard that there were crocodiles in this river up to 3 meters long! As soon as I heard that in the bus on the way over I was like, NO WAY am I going to swim there! While we were in the motorized dugout canoes headed over to the Indian Village, we saw a decent sized crocodile on the river bank. Unfortunately I didn’t end up getting a picture of it because I didn’t really see it until we were almost past it. They do a pretty good job at camouflaging.
        After the Indian village we headed back to the bus and it was siesta time. Basically that meant that everyone was exhausted and it was nap time on the way back. I didn’t sleep on the way back because the bus ride was too bumpy. I then came back and took a shower. I had talked to a friend about maybe going out to go get some local food so we went down to the gangway. On our way we found a group of people who were also going out so we decided maybe we should go with them, but they seemed to be taking forever, and they couldn’t make up their minds. They then finally decided that they didn’t want to go out because there weren’t many places around. My friend Erin and I, decided we were going to go  anyways and just see what was around, and if it wasn’t anything good we would come back and eat dinner on the ship. Then this girl named Rachel asked if she could come with us just to look around, so she did.
        We then started walking outside and someone asked where we were going, and we said we wanted Panamanian food, so this tour guide named Louis walked with us all the way down to the other side of the wharf to get the Panamanian food. On the way over we asked what time it got dark and he said “Oh about 45 minutes from now”. So we said “We should eat fast and get back before dark.” And he said, “Oh no! I wait for you to be done!” and we said “OK”. But got there and the place was closed. While we were walking over there we were asking how much it would be for a taxi ride to Panama City, a tour when we got there, him to wait for us for lunch, and then bring us back. He gave us a reasonable offer. We honestly didn’t think this was a bad price because we had heard that it could be up to $100 each way just for the taxi ride, and there were 3 of us splitting the bill. He told us that he would be out there at 7AM waiting for us to come down in the morning.