There Be Dragons!
That's our motto of the Darien, because it really is the wild west of Panama, and most Panamanians have no idea what it is out there. Here's the history of the region in which I live:
The Darien was important to European exploreres in the 16th and 17th centuries because of its wealth of resources: wood, rubber, and gold. The population began to increase the influx of Europeans. During the 18th century, the capital city was moved from Santa Maria la Antigua to Panama City and the Darien was forgotten. Immigration continued as black slaves escaped from the capital city seeking refuge in the dense jungles of the region. Sometimes prisoners from the city were shipped out to the Darien as their sentence. Choco Indians started immigrating illegally to Darien from Colombia to work in gold mines. From this time on, everything east of Panama City was thought of as dangerous jungle and forgotten.
In the 1970's the construction of the Interamerican highway to Yaviza began which changed the region forever. With the new road, (and still the only REAL road in the territory) the government declared that settlers in the region could own all the land they could clear, and 'interiorers' from western Panama moved east by the thousands. The Darien and Panama Este were deforested at alarming rates. Conflicts emerged between indigenous settlements and the new latino population over land rights and many of these disputes are still going on today.
In the 1980s the government gave permission to raise livestock in the Darien which further contributed to the deforestation. A hydroelectric dam was built on Rio Bayano causing many Kuna and Embera tribes to relocate. Today, the Darien and Panama Este are still considered the forgotten region of Panama. Poverty and infant mortality rates are higher than national averages. Government agencies often provide inadequate services because of rampant corruption. The Darien is home to the nation's largest national park and the Darien jungle has an important global significance due to its ecological and wildlife diversity.
Tribes in the Region:
Kuna Yala- native to the Darien, been here since the 1500s, migrating from Colombia. In the early 1900's they fled to their curent reservations by more aggressive tribes (likely the Embera and/or Wounaan) They are mostly artisans, agricultural workers, and fishermen. They are along the northern coast of Eastern Panama between the mountains and the sea.
Afro-Darienitas- Settlements of people of African descent, though where from is hard to say. Possibly escaped slaves from Caribbean islands during the Spanish colonization in the 16th century. Others emigrated from the Antillean islands to work on the canal and railroad. Many also were settled by Afro-Antilleans living in Colombia who crossed the border to escape the violence of the civil war there.
Latinos- Settlers from the interior who were among the poorest of the poor and decided to move in order to make better lives for themselves. Some have become rich off of the land, others have not. These settlers are still first and second generation settlers to the area as latinos were only allowed into the area in the last 40 years.
Embera and Wounaan- Often grouped together because they have similar cultural traditions. The women wear perumas (peru like the country, ma) which are basically neon colored wrap skirts. In the last 5-10 years most communities women have westernized by wearing shirts. They paint their bodies with a henna like paint called jagua (hogwa), and the two tribes generally have the same lifestyle- farming, fishery, artisan work. The Embera and Wounaan each have their own distinct language. Community life is new to these tribes, they used to be nomadic but formed family and community groups as the latino settlers moved in. These communities revolve around a river, the major life source of the village. The houses are stilted and typically of wood with zinc or penca (a type of leaf) roof. Cattle are not allowed in the Comarca (means reservation) Embera-Wounaan because they do not want the diseases from cattle in their lands. Therefore, there is no beef in the comarca and the major source of meats are fish, sometimes chicken, and a variety of animals from the monte (mon- tay, means bascially the uncleared wilderness that surrounds every community). These may or may not include large rodents, animals on the endangered species list, and crocodiles. (Armadillo, turtle soup, painted rabbit are others I have heard of)
In my community of 65 families, there are 4 Colombian refugee families, 3 Wounaan families, 1 Ngobe-Bugle family from western Panama, and the rest are Embera. Meaning they all speak Embera. Everyone knows Spanish, mas o menos, but they do not like use it. So a lot of my days in site have been spent trying to pick up the native language as much as I can without having a structure or grammatical rules to go with.
My community is at the top of a plateau over a river, which therefore doesn't typically flood. After a 5-7 hour bus ride down the Pan-American highway which is really a glorified concrete path once you get a few hours east of Panama, I take a $15 taxi or wait who-knows-how-long for a $2 chiva or walk the dirt road to my port. (the ride is 25-30 min, to walk it is more like 3 hours) At my port you wait for a boat then get into a hollowed out tree log with a motor on it and take the 5 minute ride downstream to my community.
The men work in fincas (farmland/fields) which are mostly rice and yuca. There is also a lot of boiled green bananas, which ranks in the top 5 of my least favorite things in the world, just in front of yuca. The women care for the children and home, washing clothes in the river, making Kanastas which are woven reed artisan bowls, plates, animal heads, etc. Everyone bathes fully clothed in the river, and is most often done in groups or considered good family bonding time.
Latrines are a new thing to my community. There are about 6 that I have found thus far, but they are pit latrines. This is a serious problem because as I discovered when watching the men dig holes for posts for a ranch to cook under at the school, the underground water level is only 2-3 feet below ground. Therefore, when the latrine hole gets dug, it quickly fills with water and the users of the latrine have major problems with splash back, not to mention it reeks, it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, maggots, roaches, and other nasty things AND each latrine full of water becomes another place to contaminate the underground aquifer. So naturally, the community would prefer to use the river for their business rather than the nasty latrine.
But remember, we use the river for bathing and cleaning. It is also the only water source. All water for cooking, cleaning, and straight up drinking comes from this river. Ninos de Darien have given each family in my community a 5 gal bucket with a filter on it, so the majority of the water we directly consume is at least filtered drinking water. There are also a variety of rain water catchment systems for water in the community as well.
In 2007 USAID came and installed a several thousand dollar hydroaulic pump to pump water from the river to a pluma in each house. It broke before 2010. Not sure how or why or what it would take to fix, but in reality, it is a really unsustainable project since there is no one around for miles and miles who could maintain it nor are there resources to pay for that maintenance.
The current project in my community by the current volunteer who I will be in site with until he lives in October, is to install composting latrines. There is currently 1 in the community put in a year or so back by the ministry of health in Panama, but few people in the community know how to use it nor understand why it is better to use than the river. Also, I realize that you guys probably need a composting latrine 101 rundown as well, seeing as I did not know what they were when I got to Panama. However, this post is already massive and thats a long topic, I post about it later.
So that's the culture that I have moved into. My new world in the Panamanian jungle frontier. It's exciting. It's hard. It's scary. And I totally love it.
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