Pan-a-mania....

Things to love and loathe about Panama:

Basically 'Little sugars'

This gel has a 'Long Duracion'



Timely store displays.

Yuca. Its FABULOUS in stews.

Children doing grow up things and wanting to.

Random people who talk to you when you're stuck in church
whilst its raining.

Kids playing football in the rain.

Alternative goal keeping...

This man was walking down the main 'street' in
Sambu carrying a deer over his shoulder. Cool.

Weird insects. This was about 2cms long.

Crazy leaf-cutter ants

The damn rain.

Mr Kitunga's keep fit class. 7am Sat, meet at the airstrip...

Houses with double glazed windows...but no doors.

Feet badly swollen from mozzie bites and sun burn.

Scratches from coral - actually much better than a week ago.

So there they are, a short list of things to love and loathe.

Goodbye Panama, I love you but you make me itch.

La Chunga - The Darien

8am we set off to La Chunga, a village nestled alongside a river branch, which is named after the palms leaves the ladies use to weave beautiful baskets. 

Marco, the guide (aged 5) scouts ahead.

45 minutes later.

The path to the Emberaa village.
If you think it looks as if they mow it its because they do...

Ricardo took me to his home village with his son, Marco. We stayed at the house of his mother. We got the chance to look around some of the houses, which were built in a traditional style.

Cooking

Pot storage.

Home sweet home.

Really home life is very simple. I asked about the living conditions and everyone sleeps in the same one or two rooms. This includes newly married couples who share not only a house but also a bedroom with their parents and siblings....

Rice store.

Rice, harvested annually.

Ugly chickens.

Beautiful children. Bad teeth.
Over-eating sugar products is a real problem here.

Then they wanted to use my camera.

Ricardo displays the BEST FRUIT IN TOWN. I love this stuff!
Don't know what its called but the name sounds like the word for shoes.

A hostile resident.

Don't stray from the paaatthhh

We went on a jungle walk. It was very good and Ricardo was very knowledgeable. He showed me all sorts of plants and stuff. I did laugh out loud when he cut this large stick (below) and said it was their method of birth control, but he wasn't joking. The women eat this once a month and don't get pregnant.

Obviously, no one had mentioned this to the woman with whom I was living - she has 14 children.

Birth control - the Emberaa way.

Women here earn about $200 per year. This is from selling small handmade items to tourists (few) and from doing small jobs or selling food items.

Having a paddy.

Most of the rice they grow is for own consumption. One they grow and harvest it the store it in a granary, which just keeps it off the ground. The women have to de-husk the rice in a pestle and mortar by hand before they can cook it.

Man models flowers.

I was a bit nervous when we took two guides into the jungle. What could be out there? Then I discovered the second guide was back up in case the first guide got lost. Which he did.

Woman eats non magic mushroom.

Child reconstructs pig pen which he accidentally breaks.

Actually the visit was really good. The village was relaxing and natural - if I'd have know I would have stayed for longer. There was a guy there from the States who is with the Peace Corps (think VSO) and he told me a lot, like how he is trying to help them expand their agricultural crop to coffee and cocoa so they can generate more income and how they want more tourists to come.

Then, all too quickly, it was time to go home.

Playing stuck in the mud.

Spot the alligator. Seriously! Or is it a caiman?

This was after I had been swimming with the children in a small branch of the river the day before.

Heading back...Marco gets bored of scouting out.

Steps back to Sambu.

Sambu - The Darien

When I was in the Kuna Yala (San Blas) I met two Italian ladies who told me about their trip to a little visited corner of Panama, called The Darien.

The area is very remote and, because of this, you need to book a flight and hope it isn't full. The flight is cheap because it's actually the postal delivery service and hospital flight. As demonstrated by the gentleman on my return voyage who appeared to be dead. The plane holds a maximum of eight people OR four people and luggage. Its about the size of an Alfa Romeo, with wings.

I considered what the Italian ladies had told me and decided to book myself a flight. The internet wouldn't let me, so I decided to go to Albrook Airport, where you can book in person. Lady at the desk refused to sell me a ticket to the destination of choice. Basically it was a case of 'Computer says no'.

So I bought a ticket to a nearby place (on her advice) figuring I may be able to get a taxi or bus the (Google Earth stated) 18 minute drive. Sadly Google Earth neglected to take into account the following considerations.
1. Miles of jungle between the two places
2. A rather large mountain, covered in miles of jungle between the two places
3. There is no road

Anyway, on the day in question I arrived at the airport and persuaded them to change my ticket. The plane did fly to Sambu - hoorah! (Well, they diverted it) and I set off. In honesty, I was really close to not going due to the uncertainty, but I knew there was a hotel or two there and the Italian ladies had told me a really helpful couple, so what the heck...?

This small plane..

..could be filled during a trip to Morrison's..

This is the runway. Yes, its grass.

40 winks. Yes, that is the pilot.

I arrived in Sambu about 70 minutes and three stops later. Basically this plane is like the bus, it stops everywhere. Man with a wheelbarrow rolls up, there is an exchange of post, man rolls off..

My room. $12 / 8 quid a night

A place to chill..

The centre of town (honestly),
you can see the airstrip in the background.

This is the town next door.

People were friendly enough, although a little reserved and obviously not completely used to tourists.

Rio not grande

The phone for the whole town. When I called the hotel
I was confused as to why I kept getting a different person answering.

This person recently moved to another town.
You just basically take your house bits
and build the skeletal structure.

Posh house

As I went for a wander I saw a few little stores, which sell rudimentary stuff..plantain, rice, pasta, canned milk, cakes, bread and (the best sellers)  fizzy drinks and sweets.

This woman was keen to show me her range of fish.

Kids playing footy. They asked me if I knew Wayne Rooney.

I had a chat with the nice man, Ricardo and booked to do a trip to a river side jungle village the next day.