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Piragua Canoes
We really had no idea of how a Cultural Exchange starts until we got down the shutle and saw our Emberá guides were there ready, wearing traditional clothing, welcoming us and telling us to come aboard the traditional piraguas canoes.
Piraguas are long wooden boats, traditionally made by the trunk of a single tree and passed from generation to generation. Today’s piraguas keep the essence of the tradition but equipped with an off-board motor.
Our guides handed us our life vests and seated us in rows of 2. As soon as we were in the boat we were ready to go.
These guys are really masters of their craft. The piragua canoe ride was safe, fun, entertaining and giving us the sensation that we left all our comforts behind to go deep into the jungle.
During your piragua trip, you’ll see how the scenery changes with intense tones of green, sounds and smells of the jungle giving you a perpetual state of wonder.
This is a landscape that is constantly changing throughout the year. And unlike the forests we see elsewhere where there are predominant species, here you’ll see so many different tree species in one glance.
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Getting to the Emberá Community
As soon as we unload our piraguas, we have do make a little walk of about 20minutes. The terrain isn’t demanding per se, but it might be slippery. You’ll find a helping hand beside you to help you pass any obstacles. The Emberás has prepared the trail so it’s very well maintained without tall grasses or anything that could entangle you.
After the walk, you’ll have the chance to dip in the Chagres river’s waterfall with cool clean waters and deep enough to have a little swim. You can sit on the rocks next to the fall for a refreshing shower and an opportunity to make great photos.
You’ll spend between 30 minutes to an hour at the waterfall. After this visit on our route to the Emberá Community we became even more anxious (and hungry) because the presentation card was so perfect, so “untouched” that it just raised our expectations on what was waiting for us at the end of this road.
The presentation card was so perfect… that it just raised our expectations
After the waterfall, we had to walk a little more to get to the community and we never imagined what was coming next.
I hear… d-drums?
The walk wasn’t that long, we did had to cross water, have our feet wet, but it’s all part of the adventure. After some minutes, scenery changes again, sounds of children playing, people talking and.. drums?
We heard faint drums on the distance and we started to see the Emberá people dressed in traditional clothes with bright colored Parumas that is a 3 meter long fabric with beautiful designs and some of them with Jagua tattoos which are temporary and produced from a fruit of a local tree.
Emberá people are warm, friendly, well spoken and respectful with the tourists. As soon as we arrived the sign we heard so many people giving us the usual “Buenos días”.
A few more steps and we could smell something sweet but couldn’t recall it at first, but I knew that was going to be delicious.
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Dancing with the Emberás
We had talented musicians playing traditional instruments. At first, we were like … dunno, I might not dance. Let me tell you, it’s impossible not to dance. Emberás take you out to the dance floor and after warming up and without knowing it, we were dancing, laughing and having the time of our lifetime.
Even I made some awesome moves leaving everyone in aw… but no one recorded it. But trust me, I remembered my teenage years when we enjoyed the very moment as if there was no tomorrow.
The taste of the local produce
When we first step in a piragua, we were already amazed of our surroundings and environment. But it was at lunch when all my senses unified to explode all together.
We got served fresh watermelon, bananas, papayas and everything was from their own crops right there from the community, with organic fertilizers… well, the difference between these and the ones you get from the super market is that the taste, the sweetness of each fruit it’s something you enjoy each bite as if it were the first time you tasted them.
For the main “plate” we got fried tilapia from their own aquaculture projects, and again, the taste was really delightful. This fried fish was served with fried green plantains known as “patacones pisa’os” as a version of the Panamanian fish and chips, ain’t it?
