Biodiversity is the single word that best sums up the country of Panama. We have always considered the United States to be a major melting pot of peoples and cultures, but, mile for mile, Panama certainly has us beat!

Judy and Tedo each commented at different times how beautiful the Panamanian people are. Perhaps it is because Panamanians smile so generously or wave to tourist strangers passing by on a bus.

From Panama City where people on the street and in the shops and public areas dress well to the Embera Indian Village where people wear hardly anything at all, Panamanians seemed healthy and happy.

The indigenous people are shorter than urban Panamanians, but we did not see examples of the obesity that so plagues modern America. Fresh fruit and vegetables combine with beef, fish and chicken to provide a healthy diet. I know that each of our meals was more American fare than South or Central American. Our guide speculated that it was the years of outside influence that helped determine the diet. However, we were assured that our meals were typical Panamanian food.

Fast food restaurants were available along with soft drink products, but they were not a major presence. Grilled food seemed more common than fried. We ate well and enjoyed the variety in our hotels and the restaurants on our tour.
 

Only the dogs in Panama are skinny! I never saw a house cat, but some people had monkeys as pets. We saw monkeys wild in the jungle trees which lined many roads, and learned that a family of monkeys is called a “tribe.”
 

Tattoed Embara Women and Baby

A Rare Golden Frog makes an appearance

Judy poses by the Square Tree

There are many national parks, animal sanctuaries and biological study centers in Panama. We visited our share and saw the rare golden frog which is almost extinct. It is being studied by researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in their last natural habitat in the town of El Valle. This town is located inside the crater of an ancient volcano and is a popular tourist destination.

 In El Nispero, a plant nursery in El Valle, we saw the frogs, fed a capybara, the world’s largest rodent, a tapir and a variety of pheasants, peacocks and other multicolored birds. A harpy eagle, the largest of the raptor species, perched sullenly at the back of its large, screened enclosure.

When you visit El Nispero, take a moment to see the orchid-filled greenhouse, the fish-stocked wishing well and the square trees. More trapezoidal than square, they are El Valle’s famous one of a kind tree and are a favorite photo stop.

Many of the most colorful flowers in Panama grow wild or are used decoratively around the hotels and homes in the country. We passed by small nurseries featuring bougainvillea, palms, canna lilies and decorative bushes.

I took many flower photos but only remember the name of the cannonball flower because it hangs from a vine with a cannonball-like pod beneath it. The frilly white umbrellas part of the flower reminded many of us of an ethereal scene from the movie Avatar.
 

We took a leisurely hike on “Pipeline Road” with a professional birdwatcher naturalist and saw a bumble bee hummingbird, electric-blue morpho butterflies, the rare helicopter damsel fly, and a toucan, and heard other birds calling that only the naturalist or serious birdwatcher could identify. Pipeline Road is listed by the Audubon Society as one of the best birding sites in the world.

It is hard to say whether it was more educational to see the animals up close in zoos or barely visible in the wild, but Panama offers a wide variety of each experience.

Our interface with indigenous people was enriched by a visit to their village in its natural setting on the Chagres River. We had met some Kuna Indians at their urban market place, but to understand the Embera people, we would sail in a small boat upstream to their village. Their drums and whistles welcomed our arrival, and the Embaras lined the riverbank above the dock.

Things are changing in Panama for the Embara. Today the Embera have freedom of movement and rights to build villages, but they may not cut down trees in the watershed areas. The children attend public schools and speak Spanish and Embera languages. The women make clothing of woven cloth instead of tree bark and are famous for their woven baskets. The men fish from dugout canoes and hunt in the surrounding jungle. Some things do not change!

We were free to wander in much of the village, take photos and examine some of the thatched roof, stilt-raised and open-sided family dwellings. The people wear geometric designed painted tattoos in place of some upper body clothing and add beaded necklaces and cloth tops for adult modesty.

Modern Christianity co-exists with some shamanistic spirituality in these warm, generous people who welcomed us with music, history and dance. After we gathered in their communal roundhouse, Danny translated the chief’s grandson’s Spanish as he narrated his grandfather’s account of their history and culture. Then it was time for the guests to join in the welcome dance. I sat that one out to take photos, but Judy and Tedo gamely stomped along!

The Embera sell their crafts but ask for no donations for photos or help to the guests. Their wood carving from cocobolo trees are surpassed by the baskets woven of naturally dyed fiber and the carved “vegetable ivory” from the tagua nut. I bought Judy a necklace of natural beads with a carved and painted Jaguar hanging by its paws and a colorful golden frog on a rock for our grandson, both works of art at bargain prices.

We could have enjoyed the people, plants and animals of Panama for a considerably longer time, but we were only in country for 7 days. The other 2 of our vacation days were travel days!
In the next, and last, article about our Panama adventure I will describe the unexpected surprises of our trip.