learn from the master
They do not know the Internet, although they have a Facebook fan page. They only allow themselves the luxury of storing the occasional Coca-Cola for their guests. Their culture is protected by the government. We spent a day with the Panamanian Emberá community (and with a flash).
9:47.- Arrival at El Corotu port The time it takes to go from Panama to the shores of Lake Alajuela, in the heart of the Chagres National Park . The road to here gradually replaces aluminum and cement with the green foliage of the jungle. Yes, this is pure jungle, but there is nothing to fear. Corotu is called a port because of the need to name things. It is nothing but a small hill where the road ends and where the canoes rest their heads waiting for intrepid adventurers. Above them, young indigenous people dressed in a loincloth that leaves little to the imagination stoically await tourists. there is a trap, the boats are motorized, although underfoot the fragility of the wood and its professional carving are perceived. However, the Chagres River does not present itself as a threat. There are stacks of life jackets. Everything seems safe. Let the ride begin.
Arriving at Para Puru
10:23.- Folkloric reception in Parará Puru
The canoe ride helps to get rid of all urban longing. The Chagres River seems to be painted on purpose to be beautiful, to draw meanders where you can find beaches and the occasional town until you reach your destination. The Parará Puru community is made up of a dozen large cabins emerging from the trees . This is how it looks from the river. And you can hear it, since the most musical Emberá await the arrival of visitors playing happy songs based on a rhythmic ostinato palpitate. It's not Hawaii, but the welcome comforts and helps to forget that there is no coverage or internet connection.
The Emberá huts emerge from the vegetation
11:15.- Surprise excursion
At mid-morning the canoe engine roars again calling all those who dare to enter the jungle by going up the course of a slight tributary . And no, not everyone is encouraged. A mini-adventure that has a pleasant and, for now, secret reward. The Chagres falls in love again with small dunes where young indigenous people play splashing and with sculptural trees that twist at the limits of the channel. Little by little the river narrows until it becomes a tiny torrent through which the canoe can no longer navigate.
Children play in the tributary of the Chagres
11:34.- Disembarkation and hiking
The landing at this point is not as friendly as in the town. The mud makes an appearance as an uncomfortable but unavoidable traveling companion. Pristine sneakers get older, mature with stains and splashes. It is the moment in which it is discovered that everything is real, that there are no decorations, no papier mâché or anything like that. This is tropical nature in its purest form . The path that is taken accompanies a trickle of water in low hours but that overflows with the rainy season. Trees are crossed, small wooden walkways are crossed and the most worthy way to cross the stream is sought over and over again. The walk is not very long and comforting , makes one earn the level 3 explorer badge. It makes callus and humanizes the visitor, who covers with scabs the evidences of his urban condition.
12:08.- Arrival at Quebrada Bonita
The reward is a small waterfall called Quebrada Bonita , a name that was made up so that tourists would not be intimidated. In fact, the Emberá knew it as Quebrada fea since the violent water gives them a bit of cosica. The landscape appears after overcoming a rock and at that moment it seems El Dorado, the promised land . Decontextualized, it is nothing more than a stream of water that slides caressing the stones, but in that idyllic environment and with the sweat dignifying the traveler, it seems that it rewards the efforts. The dip usually catches you unprepared and without a swimsuit , so even the most foreigner stays in his underwear and dives as if he were the fountain of eternal youth. And there, in that pool with natural jets, the morning is spent, with the complicity of a remote place and the excitement of pure contact (skin to skin) with the jungle.
pretty creek
13:12.- Market and tattoos
At noon in Parará puru the market is in full swing. It is the capitalist moment of experience , the point where the Emberá bring out boxes and boxes of pseudo-crafts in which you can find some requalified souvenir, with the consequent overprice. But since it seems that paying a child dressed in folk costume is a selfless act, the visitor falls into temptation and consumes . If you dig deep, you can find some 100% artisan object and manufactured like the local flutes or the small kettledrums just like the ones used for sonorous welcomes. Nevertheless, The must of this moment of turmoil and consumerism is that of tattoos. There are queues, anticipation and nerves at the possibility of wearing an Emberá symbol on the arm… for 10 days. That is the key to success, in that one can repent and nothing happens. At first he is not a quinqui or a slum, and if he ends up looking like it, it doesn't matter! It ends up erasing. For this they use jagua, a liquid concoction that they obtain from a plant: the American genipa.
14:00.- Lunch with show
In these parts they neither know nor are familiar with concepts such as Michelin Star, Hipster or Gastrobar. food focuses on a breaded river fish, rolled in a green palm leaf and accompanied by strips of yucca . It eats the primitive, devouring the fish in bites with the clumsiness typical of the meticulous urbanite. They smack their lips and finish off the banquet with fresh tropical fruit. Pineapples taste like pineapple and mangoes taste like mango! A luxury in the transgenic era. At the end of the binge, the show of local dances starts. They are dances that imitate the animals of the jungle and in which the indigenous do not put too much enthusiasm. Normal, repeating them day after day for the enjoyment of visitors is very tiring. To top off the folkloric ecstasy, the attentive spectators are encouraged more insistently than gracefully to participate in the jumps and dances. But don't be fooled, there is nothing like what you can find in any club at 4 in the morning.
Emberá, with a Facebook fan page, even if they don't know what the hell that is
15:17.- Gossip walk
With the excuse of going to the bathroom, downing the food or whatever, the post-binge torpor becomes the ideal time to go to gossip and learn more about the 'real' life of the Emberá . East voyeur safari It is done between the imposing cabins where they spend their lives. Along the way, the younger ones lurk, imitating the dances of the older ones or playing at going crazy. They are usually nice and friendly with foreigners. Some confess that when they grow up they want to be a police officer to go "for those who steal, those are the worst." others directly they run away from the flash and the target, making a game out of it. The Emberá do not live badly. ** They do not know the Internet, although they have a Facebook fan page **. They only allow themselves the luxury of storing gasoline cans and the occasional Coca-Cola for their guests. Their culture and way of life is protected by the government, which makes it easier for those who want to stay to stay and for those who want to study a career to do so in the universities of the cities.
16:25.- Return
The return is a succession of feelings completely contrary to the arrival. There is sorrow, but why not say it? Also need for comfort and asphalt. What remains is a subjective but not idealized memory of a day hand in hand with some indigenous people. Cast, As much as we insist on talking about hotels, restaurants and spas, it is a true luxury in the XXI century. Of course, no one and nothing guarantees that the Emberas will not laugh out loud at the clumsiness of the average tourist. It's their prize and they deserve it.
*** You may also be interested in...**
- Photographic gallery of Panama, Emberá territory
- All our destinations 'au natural'
- Silent destinations: here you put the noise
- All articles by Javier Zori del Amo