Dinner and some ancient wisdom

We were all brought under the same roof and introduced to their culture by way of a presentation and Q&A, with Anne as translator.

We learned that this village is part of over 100,000 Empera in Colombia and Panama, and that a woman can be chief as easily as a man.

They explained how they extract the materials they make their crafts from and showed us how they weave bowls that are virtually watertight out of local plants.

After that we were invited to join in a simple lunch of fried fish and plantains, with fresh pineapple and papaya served in bowls made of palm leaves.

We rinsed our hands in the basil-water and were offered tattoos - either simple wrist or arm decorations or full-body illustration for the bold among us! They used a 2-pronged piece of bamboo and ink made from a special palm-nut.

Once painted some of us went on a tour of the jungle with a shaman who showed us some of the many medicinal plants that they use on a regular basis. Treatments for snakebites, dementia, toothache (my mouth was numb for half an hour! LOL), diarrhea, erectile dysfunction (although this remedy takes about 3 days to work - plan ahead!) and an antibiotic cream for cuts. All of these plants were found within 100 metres of the village.

We meet the village

After the waterfall, we continued upriver until we reached the village. The sounds of music and laughter rose over the birds and insects to greet us. Thatched roofs atop the river bank and children swimming in the river.


We met Anne's father-in-law and mother-in-law and several other members of her adopted family - none of them much taller than 5 ft. tall but all adorned in beautifully patterned dress and beads.



A large, thatch-roofed structure served as a meeting place and display centre for woven and carved crafts made from died plant materials. We were free to move around the village and take pictures.



The people were engaging and anxious to try broken English with us although their Spanish was much better.

We also tried to learn some of their words:
meera chaba = Hello friend

An inspiring odyssey back in time

Yesterday was a remarkable day. After a 1 hour drive to meet up with our tourguide, Anne Gordon, we arrived at our embarcation point on the river where we caught the first sight of the dugout canoe that would take us to the Embera Puru village.

These are remarkable people with a simple life focussed around family and nature. They were as curious about us as we were about them and the whole day was a rich and meaningful experience.

The dugout ride took us across a lake that has been damned to supply water to the Panama Canal, but these people were here long before that.

As the lake narrowed into a winding river, our drivers found a small stream off to the side which lead up to a beautiful little waterfall.

We got out of the canoe and walked upstream to appreciate it's beauty up close. Warm, fresh water coming out of the jungle that we didn't want to leave.