Embera Drua
Dear family and friends,
Our first day in Panama was an adventurous one. We started off by boarding our bus, which was intended to seat quite a few people, but unfortunately it's only a few of us. It actually worked in our favor because we got to have two whole seats to ourselves if we wanted. We made our way down to the supermarket and we're given a chance to pick out anything we thought we might need for the day. After re-boarding the bus, we drove about 45 minutes to the River Chagres. There we met some indigenous people who helped us make our way down the incredibly slippery hill to the canoes that we were to take to the Emberá Village. We spent about 30 minutes on the river and arrived at the village where we were welcomed by music from The Emberá. From there, we were given the history of the two families who established the village and learned more about the authentic handmade crafts, which we had a chance to buy later. After a lunch of fresh fish and patacones (fried plantains), we watched some traditional dances and swam in the river. Before we knew it, it was time to load up the canoes and head back to the bus. When we got back to the hotel, we had some downtime and then walked to dinner at El Pomodoro. After a long, exciting day, we are ready to get some sleep and see what tomorrow brings!
View of the Rio Chagres from the village
A musician in the village
Lunch!
The dance of the Jaguar
Another traditional dance
Zach and Gerry floating in the river
Melanie, Natalia, Abbey, Megan, and Steph in the wading in the river
