The Embera

The majority of the Embera continue to live a traditional lifestyle, but they also welcome visitors. They are not as well known as some Native american groups in Panama as they have traditionally lived in the dee[p rain forest of the eastern Darien province, but that is beginning to change. Parara Puru is a small village of Embera on the Chagres River ab out an hour from Panama City that welcomes tours from the outside.

Depending on which village you choose to visit you will meet Anne, a US citizen with a 20 year career as an animal trainer in film and TV. She met her husband while working on a films in the jungles of Panama, and is now married to a member of the village.

The Embera is one of seven recognized tribes in Panama. They first migrated from Colombia to Panama's Darien region. Then over the last quarter-century some of these families established villages on the Chagres River.
Normally you will arrive in the village by canoe and are greeted by music and kids. Embera Puru has about 100 inhabitants, 15 or so thatched roof huts, a gigantic "town hall" and a small "guest houe" for visitors. You are allowed to wander around on your own during your visit, you will also hear about their history and culture. Then lunch over an open pit fire which is served in banana leaf "plates." You also enjoy a trip into the jungle to hear about medicinal plants, just the Shaman and what nature provides. Ladies attend basket weaving which they are so famous for.
They explain that crafts are priced at $1 for each day it took to make the item. They also dance and play music.

If you want to visit the Darien province itself, it is for the cautions adventurer. There are no hospitals, clinics or pharmacies. You need to make arrangements to go with a guide as danger ebbs and flows in the Darien. These people made their way from Colombia in 1830 and are proficient hunters using poison dart blowguns. They are renown for making canoes so stable that the Panama Canal Authoirty buys them for transportation to up-river areas. Women are considered among the world's best basket makers.

The Darien National Park is one of Panama's jewels with 576,000 hectares of rain forest rich in wildlife.