June 10, 2010

June 10, 2010

Mrs. Paula fought for us and we got to sleep in and leave around 8 in the morning to drive to where our canoes were on the Chagras River. Once we were there about 8-9 people to a canoe were given a life jacket which became very useful later on and we were on our way. We were taking these canoes up the river to eventually go hiking in the rain forest, and later on in the day travel to go see the Embera tribe. We had some troubles along the way. My canoe flipped over (Juan said that was the first time in his 8 years of being a tour guide) and the day had to come to come to a short end because we got rained out (Juan said we were the first for that as well). But live and learn right and I learned to pack a poncho and why they call it a “rain” forest.

Once we finally made it to the rain forest we hiked to a waterfall and it was the most amazing view and the most refreshing feeling when I jumped right in. But not before long the rain started to come and we had to quickly hike back to the canoes. Once in the canoes on the river the rain stopped and we decided to still continue with our plans to go to the Embera village. Once at the village the Embera tribe prepared us a variety of fruits and fried fish and showed us part of their culture. For example the tribes men played instruments while the women danced for us. It was all very interesting to see and take part in. Afterwards we were able to explore the tables that were set up with different souvenirs that were available for purchase. It had things for sell like hand woven baskets, bracelets, necklaces etc. And the interesting part was every family within the tribe had its own table and a large percentage of their income is dependent on tourism. The rain came back and this time the rain was colder and a lot more of it and we promptly had to leave before we ended up having to stay with the tribe over night due to the rain storm that was coming. It was an interesting day to say the least.