INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF PANAMA
One stark difference between Playa
Muerto and the Old Lahaina Luau is that this place is real. In
Lahaina there was a stage and we parked our rentals in a nearby shopping mall.
Playa Muerto was a jungle and these Embera and Wounaan were people living in
the jungle with all of this nature surrounding them. They lived this way, and
we were fortunate to see some of their daily life.
My pictures don't portray Playa Muerto as well as their gallery.... Here's a link to more pictures: PLAYA MUERTO PHOTO GALLERY
Before the Coronavirus
Pandemic, life for Team VFH was merrily, merrily, merrily sailing along the
Pacific coast of Central America and we were fortunate to visit Playa Muerto. A
modest settlement of the Embera and Wounaan, two indigenous people of Panama,
is at this remote area on the Pacific coast of southeastern Panama.
Before there was a
Panama or a Colombia, the Embera and the Wounaan lived in the tropical
rainforest that is now known as Darien National Park. This massive, protected
area forms almost the entire border with Colombia and is so thick and
impassable that the Pan-American Highway, that starts in Alaska, and ends in
southern Argentina, is interrupted by this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Darien Provence is one
of the largest and most protected areas in all of Central America and sparsely
populated. For hundreds of years, the Embera and the Wounaan, two culturally
similar people, but speaking different languages, lived a semi-nomadic life of
slash-and-burn subsistence farming and hunting in this rainforest. At times
they would log valuable timber which they converted into hard currency. All of
this has been stopped or is now severely limited because of the Darien’s
protected status.
Conversely, the Embera, Wounaan and
other native people like the Kuna are impoverished and alarmingly their unique
cultures were dissipating with emigration out of the Darien Provence to the
modernized areas of Panama. Indigenous rites, traditions and even native
languages were slowly being lost.
ECO-TOURISM TO THE RESCUE
Cultural tourism has
proved to be extremely helpful in saving the uniqueness of these native people.
After creating Darian National Park, the Panamanian government realized that
the culture and art of her native tribes was as valuable as the tropical
rainforest and helped start a modest tourism project to save these cultures
from extinction. The idea though welcomed by the Embera-Wounaan was difficult
to implement at first and started very slowly. After all, Playa Muerto is very
remote. There are no roads leading here and though hiking in with a guide is
feasible; a tourist can make arrangements to spend the night at Playa Muerto;
the only reliable way here is by boat.
Sadly, it was a long
time before cruise ships like the M/S Panorama began stopping there and the
fate of the Embera and Wounaan people suffered. Despite being open to tourism,
there were no tourists and no income. Impoverished families began to move away
from Playa Muerto again.
It is remarkable how
much the community at Playa Muerto benefits from visits like ours. Just three
visits a year from a small cruise ship like the M/S Panorama provides the
Embera-Wounaan with enough income to sustain themselves, but most importantly
it also inspires them to revive traditions like dancing and body painting and
handicrafts. Visits like ours have brought Playa Muerto, literally, Dead Beach,
back to life. The Embera and Wounaan who live in this area number approximately
200 and theirs is a simple, sustainable, harmonious place and well worth the
effort to get there.
EMBERA-WOUNAAN v. KUNA
Our 6-hour immersion into another
way of living began when a sturdy wooden boat from the village picked us up at
the M/S Panorama and sped us to the black sand beach, timing the Pacific waves
so we’d land between curls. It was still a ‘wet’ landing and we had to wade to
shore in shin deep water. The beach was beautiful, but desolate. The jungle
came right up to the sand and as we waited for the Embera to greet us there was
an ominous glowering, untamed quality to it all. Leaning in and murmuring to
Janet I assured her the Embera were not cannibals.
Emerging from the jungle two
Panamanian rangers or soldiers, they were wearing uniforms, stood off to the
side as our guide spoke about the people of Playa Muerto. He told us that they
originated from the Choco region of Colombia and the Embera were closely linked
to the Wounaan tribe; both culturally the same but speaking different
languages. We were told the Embera were the sworn enemies of the Kuna tribe, that
they once battled each other hundreds of years ago but that today the conflicts
were really about the tourism trade and the dollars they bring. Many of the
Kuna live on the Caribbean side of Panama.
Each of these tribes create
beautiful handicrafts, which they sell to visitors. The Embera and Wounaan
weave beautiful colorful baskets called canasta that are so tightly woven they
could hold water and also fashion carvings of animals from the tropical
hardwood cocobolo. Both are sold in Panama City and at the airport, but here at
Playa Muerto they are much cheaper. At the end of our tour the villagers
gathered around with their wares displayed for purchase.
The Kuna are famous for colorful
hand-made textiles called Mola. Several layers of cloth are sewn together and a
design is formed when parts of each layer are cut away. Later in Panama City we
were able to purchase several place-mat sized mola from a Kuna street-vendor
Our guide described the
Embera-Wounaan as very short people and the women traditionally went topless
while in their village and draped colorful strands of beads around the neck and
wore brightly patterned cloths around their waists. They wore their coarse
straight black hair long while the men had their hair cropped in a bowl shape
and wore red loin cloths around their waists. Everyone, even the children, had
tattoos made from the black dye of the Jagua fruit. For special occasions, like
the M/S Panorama dropping by Playa Muerto for a visit, the Embera-Wounaan
decorate their skin from the waist up in different geometric patterns. The dye
is painted on their skin and lasts for a few days. Guests to Playa Muerto can
also get Jagua “tattoos”.
PASS THE PATTACONES
A number of Embera women and
children greeted us on the beach and we lingered there waiting for the men. All
were dressed in native costume, but one of the girls also wore a modern
backpack, a reminder that although this was a display of Embera-Wounaan
traditions, these people were not living in the stone-age. (Hence the motor
launch that picked us up from the Panorama).
I learned later that the colorful
beaded necklaces were plastic, although many wore wide silver bracelets around
their wrists and ankles. Some of the women wore earrings. The
beautiful colorful skirts the women wore were not created by the Embera but
were from dyed cotton fabrics imported from south-east Asia. The Embera
originally made their skirts from palm fibers. Though they could speak their
native tongues they also spoke Spanish, and this native way of dress is
replaced by pants and shirts when they go into modernized areas of the country.
Later as we strolled the village of open walled houses built on stilts, I saw a
number of people in western dress and shorts. Long heavy pants are impractical
in the heat and humidity of Playa Muerto.
So, on this day at Playa Muerto
there was a theme park quality to it all, that the Embera and Wounaan were
playing dress up for our entertainment. I was reminded of the Old Lahaina Luau
that we attended on Maui a few years back. At the time I was at first
embarrassed for the native Hawaiians playing dress-up for the “haoles”, and
where “Pass the Poi,” was heard often at the meal, but I quickly realized the
Hawaiians, like the Embera and the Wounaans here in Panama, were proud of their
heritage.
Tourism instills a sense of pride
for the people of the Darien and encourages them to maintain their traditions,
cultures and languages. Rather than being ignored or forgotten the Embera now
realize there are people from all over the world that are interested in their
way of life. Just on our little passenger ship, there were people from Canada,
Australia, England, France, the Czech Republic and the United
States.
SAFETY DANCE
Typical of Embera celebrations, we
were welcomed by several musicians playing percussion instruments and flutes
and were led off the beach to a hill where we saw a demonstration of milling
corn and squeezing sugar cane. All the while we were encouraged to photograph
the Embera. The rangers trailed discreetly behind our entourage. I saw a fresh
print of a large cat in the mud not far from where the demonstration was going
on and went back to photograph it. The rangers confirmed it was a Jaguar
footprint. I had then the sneaky suspicion that the musicians not only
“greeted” us, but also served to alert any critters to get away.
After the demonstrations on the
hill, we walked to a waterfall to swim in the cold refreshing water before we
were led down to the village which was really just a collection of scattered
homes with a large communal hut in the middle. All the homes were built high on
stilts, several feet off the ground. Traditionally this was to offer protection
from wild animals and to avoid flooding during the rainy season. To catch
cooling breezes homes are often built with just one or two walls, with the rest
open.
At the communal hut we were seated,
fed fish and rice, and entertained by Embera dances and music. Afterwards
seemingly everyone from Playa Muerto came to sell their handicrafts. Sitting on
the ground with blankets the villagers displayed their baskets and carvings and
we bought a basket for $30. Later at the airport we saw a similar one for $100.
MAINTAINING A LIFESTYLE
Beyond this communal area, life at
Playa Muerto gets more modern. It was like stepping through a portal in time.
Over here topless women are pounding corn with a massive mortar and pestle and
men wearing nothing but red loin cloths beat drums, and over there is a soccer
pitch, a playground with a swing set and jungle gym, a macadam basketball court
and a rustic school built by the government that really seemed out of place
here.
Panama requires all children to
attend 6 years of school; beyond that education is expensive and requires
travel away from Playa Muerto, another cost subsidized by the eco-tourism.
Another modern convenience was a
commissary that sold cigarettes and beer and foodstuffs, and where personal
device batteries can be recharged for a few cents. The only lights in the
village are solar battery-powered although they have a gas generator to power
lights when necessary. The village of Playa Muerto even has its own Facebook
page, where videos of dance parties and photos of players in a sports
tournament are displayed!
Because Playa Muerto is very remote
only a handful of visitors come each year and so the tourism of the community
is very basic. Still, the revenue generated keeps the Embera and Wounaan
cultures alive and prevents them from being fully assimilated.
As we waited in the Embera boat for
the right waves to launch from shore back to the Panorama villagers came to
play a final time for us. A few girls danced; their colorful skirts brilliant
against the black sand.
I was struck by the friendliness and
overall happiness of the people. They seemed very proud of their culture and
pleased we were here to visit them as if it was as pleasurable for them as it
was informative for us. But, the allure of Playa Muerto is not just with the
Embera, but the beauty of the land and her remote location. We were only there
for a half day shore excursion, but it is possible to stay longer.
A few years ago, as an effort to
maintain revenue streams for the community, three bungalows were built for
lengthier stays. Amenities are spare but clean and comfortable. The bungalows
are maintained by the locals 100% of the money stays within the community.
For reservations and inquiries, go
here… (just make sure you speak Spanish) :
THANKS FOR COMING
The hardest part about seeing Playa
Muerto on your own without a small cruise like ours is getting there. It’s
either a tough two-day hike through the jungle or a long, expensive and
uncomfortable boat ride, but you’ll be rewarded by a pristine paradise of
incredible beauty and the brilliant smiling faces of the Embera and Wounaan.
They will truly be happy to see you.
The Playa Muerto website gives tips
on how to get there as an individual, but they also recommend Ancon
Expeditions. Here is their website:
Thanks for reading. Panama has
proved to be an incredibly beautiful, diverse country.
My pictures don't portray Playa Muerto as well as their gallery.... Here's a link to more pictures: PLAYA MUERTO PHOTO GALLERY
© 2020 by Greg Dunaj
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