The Trader Ric non-fiction series continues, with this edition, The Adventures of Trader Ric,
Part IV: In the Darién Gap; Trading with the Emberá, Wounaan, and Kunas Bravas.
This Part VI is an account of my travels in the Darién villages and caserios (small Wounaan and Emberá family compounds) along the riverbanks of the Chuqunaque, Tuíra, Tupisa, Tuquesa, Chico, Capetí, Paya, Púcuro, Cupe, and Balsas Rivers. Over the years, I visited every Kuna, Emberá, Wounaan, and “Colono” village in Darien several times and many of the caserios.
Things have changed greatly in Panama and its Darién Province since I was working there over 40 years ago. The tiny villages I visited back then only had a few thatched-roofed huts sprinkled around. No electricity, water wells, or cement buildings with zinc roofs, let alone internet and cell phone coverage. Places like Lajas Blancas, once a sleepy group of huts, are now bustling refugee centers and the seat of the Emberá comarca’s government. The village (indeed, the entire area) is now overrun by thousands of people from Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, Africa, and beyond, all making their way north to the US border. The Colombian revolutionary guerillas (FARC) have settled down some, but killings and kidnappings have become even more commonplace than when I was there. US Army no longer has priority over the small landing strips in the province and their presence has been replaced by Senafront (the Panamanian border police) and forest rangers. Neither group does much to control the area.
The selva (jungle) is now divided into national parks and reserves, but it is still a nearly impenetrable and inhospitable place. Rivers have changed course, the Pan-American “highway” got paved in asphalt all the way to Yaviza, and some villages I visited have disappeared while others have sprung up in places there never was one. The riverbanks are now clogged with garbage and refuge the migrants throw away and the river water is polluted with rotting bodies and tons of human waste.
The Wounaan and the Emberá dress, rites, customs, and nearly all other aspects of their respective cultures have changed as well. Men rarely wear the loincloth, except for events they put on for tourists in the northernmost villages. Women wear bras or cover their breasts with non-traditional tops made from new coins and beads. Most villages no longer have a practicing shaman. Naming and coming-of-age ceremonies are very rarely held anymore. Young indigenous men often work as “coyotes,” herding immigrants from the Colombian border to refugee camps in Panama. Others act as drug mules. Many now have Facebook accounts and email addresses. “The times, they are a-changin’.”
Reading Part IV of the Trader Ric series will give you an intimate view of the old lifestyle and customs of these rainforest cultures that have so drastically changed in the past couple of generations.