Paso a paso : Darien

Besides Panama City, I had never been east of the Canal. The Darien is the province furthest east in the country and shares a border with Columbia. The history is interesting with rich latinos, poor indigenous, drug traffickers, tourists and the national guard. It is also the least touched province in the country, with the fewest roads and the most vegetation. We took a week vacation to explore and get lost in the depths of the Darien.

The Darien is historically interesting because as government and drug problems worsened in Columbia, the Darien was abandoned. The government over years wanted to repopulate the area so sold land for super cheap. This motivated many latinos to buy land, slash and burn, and make profit off cattle ranching. This being noted, the area is mixed with wealthy latino populations next to struggling indigenous huts. The indigenous group is called the Embera and actually migrated from Columbia less than 100 years ago. There is also a national guard group living there to protect against drug lords-but with the corruptness and lack of authority, the guards are commonly seen throughout the community smoking marijuana and trying to score with a young indigenous
woman.

Two elderly brothers telling about their travels from Columbia to Panama

Even thought they are poor, they use natural resources to make elegant houses

From the city, we traveled 6 hours by car and 2 hours by boat to reach Sambu, a fairly developed town (and when I say developed I mean electricity and questionable-potable water) where a current volunteer hosted us. We saw large mammals and a plethora of bird species along the river.

Sambu River

Volunteer with counterpart wearing traditional clothing

Women traditionally wear parumas (basically a sheet that is made and imported from Japan) wrapped around the waist and the men wear a loin cloth. They paint their bodies with a plant jagua that is also used for medicinal purposes. Each design signifies a different story and meaning. We were not embarrassed to take integration to the maximum, strip off our shirts, and be painted. The woman’s chest for the Emberea is not sexualized, but seen as a symbol of family and motherhood, as the children are fed from the breast. In their cultural, thigs and legs are seen as the sexual symbol so it is important that you cover them up with a beautiful peruma. Since we were not used to wearing a sheet wrapped around our waist (no elastic) we had some trouble keeping the damn things from falling.