Colon, Panama

Woke up to this sight!

Ships all around!

We are near the Panama Canal!  Our port today is the city of Colon,Panama. Although the city was named by Spaniards, itwas founded by Americans.  As with much of our own country, the lure of gold brought prospectors from the East Coast of the US to try their luck at treasure.The city itself seems to be very industrial, however, instead of exploring the city,today we will travel to the Chagres National Park where we will meet one of the few indigenous tribes who continue to live in thatched roof huts, travel by dug out canoe, and practice traditional living.  We board a 21st century bus to travel the hour and a half back to primitive times.

When we arrived and got off the bus these awaited us

Dugouts  carried ten passengers and two Embera` natives. (Young boys) One to carry a large stick in the front and one young man to man the outboard motor in the back. Thank goodness we didn’t have to paddle! 

The ride across the lake was absolutely beautiful. This National Park is certainly a special place.

When we arrived at the village we were greeted by the current chief. He is elected to the position by all members of the group.  There are four groups of indigenous peoples who call this park home.  They are encouraged to continue their way of life and even thought they regularly host cruise ship tourists daily, they do not go outside of their villages for much of anything.  They do trade with the other three tribes on the lake and have one member who goes daily into the town for supplies that cannot be grown. Because it is a national park there have been restrictions put on the amount of agricultural growth that can be done.  The adaptions of the tribal life to modern restrictions was interesting to observe.

One adaptation that was very visible was the attire worn by all members… we had been warned that they do not normally wear clothing that covers private areas of the body, however, when we arrived they all were covered.  So much for the influence of the White European society.

This tribe is quite short as  you can see compared to our interpreter.  As with most early civilizations such as Maya, Inca and Aztec the Embera` are also small in stature.

Lunch was served in banana leaves

Lunch was fried tilapia and fried plantains. It was delicious and eaten with our fingers. Afterwards we washed our hands in water with lemon leaves in it. 

Example of basketry. 

Another basket.  Surprising at how similar many of the patterns were to those found in the basketry art of the American indigenous tribes of the southwest.  Many of our tribes have roots in Mexico and Central America. Makes me think of the interconnected human existence and the fact that civilizations far removed from the one I’m part of have existed for centuries. Food for Thought !

Of course as with all tours, there was ample time to shop.  The tribe had each family with a table where they could sell their crafts. This family found a unique way to let their son nap while mom and dad sold their crafts. All proceeds go into the joint tribe money pot and everything is used for the tribe as a whole.  I did find some nice basket work to purchase along with a nicely made key chain from coconut hull as a souvenir. 

The final event of the day was to watch the traditional dances of the Embera` tribe. As with our Southwestern tribes, dances are named for the animal or event that they celebrate. We watched as they preformed the Eagle where the flute and voice echo the sound of the eagle flying during a hunt.  It was haunting and very realistic.  They preformed other dances and then sought volunteers to join in a dance of togetherness and joy.  After some prodding, Al joined in.

What a great way to end our day! Maybe we should get dancing and singing back into our daily lives. I can’t  imagine going to bed at night sad after having ten minutes of a good dance!

Next it was time to load into the dugouts and head back.  The view was just as enlightening as before although this time I was a little less anxious about the journey.  

  

Such calm and wonderful views of wildlife

We arrived back from our tour hot and tired but wouldn’t have it any other way. The beauty of this trip is Viking never wants you to be hungry.  We arrived aboard ship just in time to have afternoon tea. One of the fun things about sea days usually is the availability of afternoon Tea.. Today is was just the thing to revive us and give us strength to make it till dinner! (Tea is at 4pm and dinners start at 6) we are so spoiled!!!

Tomorrow we tackle the Panama Canal!