As with every weekend, Saturday held yet another adventure for the Bell (and Wrightson) family! We didn't want to pay $80+ dollars per person for a tour of an Embera village, so, with word from someone at James' work, we attempted the visit on our own. There are seven indigenous groups still living in Panama. One of such groups are the Embera. While the tribes are originally from the Darien province of Panama, many have relocated along the Chagres river in central Panama. For the most part, the Embera live their lives much as they have for centuries. However, in order to earn income, many Embera villages have opened up to tourism, allowing visitors to see how they live and share in their culture. It does seem a bit "Staged" ... okay, very staged...but in reality, it is all in the name of their heritage and making others aware of it. To be honest, my mom and I thought James was nuts, driving us out to the middle of nowhere and I was actually starting to make plans in my head for what we were going to do the rest of the day when we would have to turn around from a failed attempt and a jarring car ride over unfinished roads to see some Emberas. But, after getting out to talk to a few people along the way, James finally got us to Madden Lake where, lo and behold, there were Embera villagers, in their traditional garb, ready to "take us to their leader" in motorized dug out canoes. (And for only $35 per person, might I add!).
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Once we were ready to go, an Embera suited us up with life preservers and ushered us into a canoe. Then we were off!
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| The Embera paddler holding onto our baby backpack :) |
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| On our way! |
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| Mom, headed to the Embera village! |
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| tortuga |
We first stopped off at the main village to pick up a couple that were on a guided tour (Total rip off for them...the guide doesn't do anything!). Then we headed down the river to a beautiful waterfall! Blogger is being difficult, so the pictures below are out of order (that drives me crazy, but what are you gonna do?!).
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| Embera Village |
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| G, James, Steph, and Annie after getting out of the canoe |
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| We were greeted by a group of Embera men playing instruments, including this little boy who was using an old dried out turtle shell as a drum of sorts. |
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| The Embera band! |
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| The Embera loved Genevieve! |
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| Hi! |
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| Notice the "Adidas" logo sharpied in on the life jacket... haha, and it looks like James has a "little" hand :) |
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| Bells at the waterfall! |
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| Some explanation is necessary here... When employees of KPMG go on a tax trek, they give them this backpack. There is a contest to see who can submit the best photo of where this backpack has been. So, we figure we have this contest in the bag with an Embera Indian wearing the tax trek bag in the middle of the jungle! :) |
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| Headed back to the Embera village after the waterfall! |
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| Genevieve was pretty upset with me before this picture was taken...then I gave her some pretzel sticks and life was good again! |
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| Embera children reading some books and checking out the "visitors" |
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| James gets a tattoo from a tribesman...it is similar to a henna tattoo that stays on for 14-15 days. It kind of looked like he allowed a 5 year old to draw on him, haha. |
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| This beautiful little Embera girl loved Genevieve and held her almost the entire time we ate our lunch! |
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| Our lunch of fresh caught and breaded tilapia with some patacones (fried plantains) wrapped in a banana leaf and garnished with a hibiscus flower! |
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| The fish was AMAZING! Probably the best I've had! |
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| Bells in the Embera village! |
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| A parrot was just walking around under one of the houses |
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| G loved this little boy and he loved her! |
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| Embera handcrafts...yes, we bought lots of things here! |
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| Genevieve makes some new friends |
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| love this little one! |
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| This was our "guide" who spoke English during our trip to the village. He is holding his 6 month old daughter, Madeline...so cute! |
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| Their village...there are 20 families who lived in this particular village |
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| Getting ready to eat lunch! |
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| Mom in the Embera village! |
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| Fresh fish catch drying in the sun |
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| mmmm bananas |
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| Traditional Embera dances put on by the villagers. This one was called the "Turkey Dance" |
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| This is the chief of the village and our guide |
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| Cute little kiddos again! This little boy kept giving me the biggest smiles! |
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| Then they made everyone get up to dance with them! There's James getting dragged up to dance! They didn't make me get up there because I was holding Genevieve, hahaha |
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| Mom dancing! |
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| Please take notice of the tourist from Missouri with his little dog that he brought all the way from Missouri! He totally thought that dog was a child and was one of the first ones to get up and start dancing with it! |
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| Love them! |
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| Last shot before heading back to the mainland! |
We had a great time experiencing some Embera culture! We took some naps and showers when we got back and then went to experience some "Trump" culture at the Trump hotel tapas bar! Mmmm...great food and again, great sangria! Pretty sure we were all in bed by 8:30pm!
Sunday morning we woke up early to head to Soberania National Park to hike the Pipeline Road! The Pipeline road is especially famous amongst the bird watching world as there are hundreds of bird species that inhabit this park. James really wanted to see some monkeys and while we could hear them howling in the nearby forest, we never actually saw any. We did see some amazing birds and butterflies as well as some "real jungle" as my mom would say!
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| When we were first entering the Pipeline road, we heard a bird calling in one of the trees. The guy at the entrance to the park said it was a toucan. We finally spotted it! Can you see the toucan? :) |
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| A bird watching group that we passed pointed out this bird to us. It is called a "Mott Mott" (sp?). |
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| Another picture of the Mott Mott |
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| Some bird...no idea what kind of bird this is other that the flying kind! |
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| Butterfly! |
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| Annie and Mom in the jungle |
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| Pipeline road entrance |
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| I have been trying to catch one of these blue morpho butterflies on camera since we've been in Panama! I FINALLY got one, although you have to look closely to see it! It is bright blue! |
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| Listening for birds |
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| Genevieve is happy after our hike :) |
We ended our day with another trip to Panama Viejo to see the artisans market, the museum, and to go up in the tower. It was pretty hot so we didn't hang out around the ruins too long!
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| In the Panama Viejo museum...Mom and I thought this looked pretty inappropriate...so why not take a picture of it! |
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| The bell tower that we would be walking up! |
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| Mom on our way up the tower! |
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| Annie on her way up the tower! |
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| Views from the top of the bell tower! |
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| G is loving the breeze up here! |
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| Grandma Steph in Panama Viejo! |
In addition to going new places this weekend, Genevieve has a new trick up her sleeve...climbing up onto the couch! It is all she wants to do, which clearly makes us nervous. But she gets quite excited and proud of herself when she gets up onto the couch on her own! Now if only she'd learn the trick of walking...
Until next time! Chau!
2 comments:
Your pictures are amazing! I love watching little Genevieve grow up and all of your adventures in Panama.
I'm not sure if you'll still blog after you return to AZ (I hope you do) but Scottie and I would love to invite you to our blog as well- keep in mind it is not as exciting as your blog but it serves its purpose :)
email me at scottandtasha@gmail.com and I'll send an invite your way.
Hi Annie,
I work for the National
Mississippi River Museum &
Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. We are
putting a new exhibit together on
turtles of the world. We would
like to use your image of a Emmera
boy playing with the empty turtle
shell for display on an exhibit
panel. Could we have your
permission to use this photo?
Michelle Kilgore
mkilgore@rivermuseum.com
NMRMA
Education Dept.
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