Embera Village & Grand Circle Foundation: 1.23.20

This morning we took an hour and a half bus ride to Corotu pier. There our group donned life jackets and embarked in dugout canoes for the Embera Drua Village which was about a 45 minute ride south on the Chagres River. The settlement of about a 100 people is one of Panama’s seven indigenous tribes. They hold onto their traditional way of life and customs that have been carried on for generations.

The Emberas have allowed tourism since the midninties. About 90% of the children remain in the village as adults. The tribe originally was located along another river but had to relocate to their present site in 70’s because their land was turned into a National Park.

Our group divided in three boats to travel to the village.

When we arrived we were greeted by colorfully clad villagers. Our guide said then when we leave, these clothes will come off!

We were greeted by music from this band.

Andrea welcomed our group to her village and spoke to us about their customs and traditions. She was fluent in Spanish so Kenny, our tour guide, translated her words to English. She is showing us the typical men’s attire using this young man as a model.

Andrea would like to teach in the village. She has her teaching degree, but the government requires that you must complete four years of teaching called an entitlement at an assigned school in order to be certified. Even though there is a teacher shortage, she has been waiting for over four years for an assignment. She is not allowed to teach in the village until she has her certification.

The government requires that all lessons are taught in Spanish. The students enter school speaking their native tongue. As a result, the older children talk to each other in Spanish when they are playing. They are also required to wear the official school uniforms. It is sad to think that these requirements in time may undermine the tribe’s efforts to preserve their way of life.

Children were gathered around the roofed pavilion where we were seated. I had to laugh. They were having fun playing wheelbarrow in spite of the damp, muddy ground from the light rain. Kids are kids anywhere!

The villagers prepared us lunch. It was a piece of fried fish and fried plantains wrapped in a palm leaf with watermelon or pineapple for dessert. The fish was quite tasty, but messy to eat. No napkins for this meal!

Frank and I smiled with full tummies! This was NOT Frank’s typical lunch of a baloney sandwich and chips.

Our travel company has a foundation that is set up to help people around the world where they have tours. The Grand Circle Foundation provided funds for improvements to the village. The Panama government requires the village to have a school. Just recently the foundation paid for the construction of a two room block building to house the teachers. They are employed by the government and come Monday morning and stay until Friday afternoon. The school year is from March to December. Their “summer” vacation is January and February. The foundation also built restrooms for the tourists.

Here is one of the classrooms of the school built by the government. There were two, one for the lower grades and one for the higher grades up to eighth.

This is the block housing for the teachers built by the G.C. Foundation. .

This was my view as we traveled in the canoes back to the Corotu pier to our bus.

This is the Holiday Inn, at Clayton, where we stayed for three nights. Clayton is a town within the canal zone which was a five mile stip on both sides of the canal that the US controlled until the canal was turned over to Panama in 1997. Many of the buildings have typical U.S. base architecture. Our hotel is on the south side of the canal directly behind the Miraflores Locks.

After we returned from the village, we had free time to relax before walking to a nearby restaurant for supper. We had a lot to share with our fellow travelers, but the locals were so loud we had to shout to each other. In spite of that challenge, we all felt that our trip to the Embera village was one we would never forget.

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