Chagres is Panama's second-largest and least explored National Park; only an hour north of la capital, Panamá City.  This dense jungle terrain is drained by el Río Chagres, which is one of the most important water sources of the nearby Panamá Canal.  Tribes of Emberá Indians were allowed to remain living in the area after park status was established.  These tribes have been in the region for more than 300-years after migrating from Colombia to escape the on-going civil wars.

The Emberá are allowed to live in the National Park and grow crops, but are not permitted to fish or hunt.  With trouble sustaining their growing populations, they turned to tourism as a means for earning money to buy what they need. My contact in Panamá had been friends with the Emberá for quite some time, and I jumped at the opportunity to meet these people.  Lucho said everyone spoke Spanish, in addition to tribal dialects, so there would be no communication problems.   

I was expecting to casually hang-out with these people.  Instead, we arrived when the village was preparing to receive a group off a Canal cruiseship!  The entire experience felt like something out of DisneyWorld where everyone had shown-up for work, gotten into costume to entertain the crowds, and would clock-out to leave as soon as we did!  During the two-hour period, the natives explained how they survive living in the jungle and gave numerous demonstrations of which plants are used for foods, medicines and other daily necessities.  Tribal customs and rituals were performed through song and dance. 

What was going on behind the scenes was what spoiled the experience.  Some of the natives even had cellphones!  And from walking around the village, it was obvious these people wore normal clothes when no one else was around.  I can understand that tourists pay money and expect something primal, without ever knowing or noticing all the other, but I came looking for the 'real deal'.

Not only would I have appreciated the opportunity to casually spend time with these people in their every day lives, I'd have much rather learned about the realities of the current and future activities rather than staged performances involving customs they're quickly leaving behind.  Progress is inevitable, even in deepest realms of the jungle; especially when welcoming in the outside world on a daily basis!

My favorite part of the day was joining Lucho and a couple of his friends for taking a ride further up river in a dug-out canoe.  It was so hot and steamy, I kept wanting to stop for a swim.  They kept telling me to wait, and sure glad I did after cruising by humongous crocodiles sunning themselves along the banks!  We stopped at several places for jungle treks, but all the birds and wildlife were hiding from the mid-day heat.  Best part was eventually coming to this Fantasy Island-type waterfall cascading into a shaded pool at the basin.  To get some perspective on how big this place was, look how small the Emberá is sitting at top/middle portion of the falls.