Panama! Part I

The last week of February we went on vacation to Panama. You are probably thinking "why Panama?" We have definitely been asked that a lot. We definitely felt like the minority when it came to tourists from the US. One thing that we found out while we were there is that the majority of Panama's tourism comes from Canada. At least that is how it seemed. Every tour we went on the tour guide spoke English, Spanish and French. It was quite impressive.

On the subject of tours we were able to go on 3 different tours while we were there. The first tour we went on was to the Embera Indigenous Village. The Embera people live in the Chagres National Park in Panama but are native to Columbia. Here is a map showing the area they live in.  

There are no roads to their village so we had to ride in boats called pirogues. The Embera make them out of trees that they hollowed out and stuck a motor on the back. We didn't get a very good picture of one but these pictures give a pretty good clue as to what they look like.



Here is a shot of their village as we were pulling up to it.

When we got there the Embera people were very welcoming. Their chief greeted us and told us a little bit about the history of their tribe and what goes on in a normal day in their village. Here is their chief and our tour guide Victory who translated everything he said into English and French.

Next a woman from the tribe explained to us the role of the women and showed us the materials they used to make their bowls and plates. They basically "shred" up leaves and let them lay out to dry and then they dye them with different colored plants and dirt to give them color.

Once they are all dry they weave them into these bowls and plates.

Next she told us about their clothing. The only thing I remember her saying is that the coins on their "shirts" are US quarters. We thought that was kind of interesting.

After that they fed us lunch. A traditional meal that they prepare in their village... fish and fried plantains served in a rolled up banana tree leaf. 

I am not a fish fan, but I was brave and gave it a try. I didn't want to offend them by not eating their food. I was surprisingly impressed. It tasted pretty good despite the fact that it didn't smell very good. They also served us fresh pineapple and cantaloupe. I don't think I have ever had cantaloupe that tasted so good. It was a amazing.

After lunch they treated us to some tribal music and dancing.

(I tried to upload a video of them dancing but apparently blogger doesn't like the format our movies are in. Lame.)

I did take one picture of Brian joining in on the fun!

And last but not least we got tattoos. Not real tattoos of course but ones that stay on for about 12 days. I'm not quite sure what they use to make the tattoos but it was some kind of dye. I got a nice little flower on my foot.

And Brian got a manly design on his arm. (I never got a chance to take a picture of it while we were at the village but I got one a fews days later while at the pool.)

When the nice lady was done with Brian's tattoo he asked her in his broken Spanish if he could give her a tattoo on her arm. I'm not sure she knew what she was consenting to but she was very kind and let Brian draw a tattoo on her arm. He is quite the artist. He may need to change professions.

After watching children play with a beach ball someone brought....

we put on our life jackets and headed back to the pirogues.

That is the end of day 1.