Rio Mogue, Darién, Panama
The wake up call announced that we were approaching our first destination, Darien. A lot of questions came to mind, but the main one was “What are we going to see?” Well, the answer didn’t take long. A group of pantropical spotted dolphins began to escort us while we navigated along the Gulf of San Miguel. Suddenly, the announcement of the sighting of a whale brought everybody up to the bow and upper decks. A Bryde’s whale! It was feeding and making sudden direction changes while swimming. Their swimming style often gives the impression of a large dolphin rather than a whale. What a way to start the morning.
Brown boobies, royal terns, brown pelicans, and many other sea birds joined the trip towards Darien. This area makes up one of the biggest national parks of Panama. A pristine area that was extremely important for the Spaniards during the colonial time, it was through this land that Vasco Nuñez de Balboa hiked until he got to the Pacific, looking for the land that had a lot more gold than Panama. Darien is one of the richest regions on Earth and considered to be an ecological bridge where the South American animals and plants are found at the extreme north end of their range. UNESCO has declared the area a “World Heritage Biosphere Reserve.”
It’s within this vast tropical rain forest, forming the untamed heart of the Darien Gap, where we are going to find one of the seven indigenous groups of Panama: The Embera Indians, anciently known also as the Chocoes Indians. We were anxious to meet them, so right after lunch we a boarded dugout canoes and motored up the Mogue River. After traveling through beautiful mangrove forest we arrived at the community of Mogue. “Mena Chapa, Mena Chapa Weena!” (Hello Brother, Hello Sister), were the greeting phrases they gave us as we arrived at their village. Their culture is unique, men dressed in loincloths and the ladies with just skirts, the rest of their bodies painted with “Jagua,” a locally made vegetable dye. Their art craft, their music and dances were just a glimpse of who they are and what they do for a living. Something we might always remember will be the friendly smiles on their faces, and then our time was up and we had to return with the falling tide back to the Sea Voyager.
The wake up call announced that we were approaching our first destination, Darien. A lot of questions came to mind, but the main one was “What are we going to see?” Well, the answer didn’t take long. A group of pantropical spotted dolphins began to escort us while we navigated along the Gulf of San Miguel. Suddenly, the announcement of the sighting of a whale brought everybody up to the bow and upper decks. A Bryde’s whale! It was feeding and making sudden direction changes while swimming. Their swimming style often gives the impression of a large dolphin rather than a whale. What a way to start the morning.
Brown boobies, royal terns, brown pelicans, and many other sea birds joined the trip towards Darien. This area makes up one of the biggest national parks of Panama. A pristine area that was extremely important for the Spaniards during the colonial time, it was through this land that Vasco Nuñez de Balboa hiked until he got to the Pacific, looking for the land that had a lot more gold than Panama. Darien is one of the richest regions on Earth and considered to be an ecological bridge where the South American animals and plants are found at the extreme north end of their range. UNESCO has declared the area a “World Heritage Biosphere Reserve.”
It’s within this vast tropical rain forest, forming the untamed heart of the Darien Gap, where we are going to find one of the seven indigenous groups of Panama: The Embera Indians, anciently known also as the Chocoes Indians. We were anxious to meet them, so right after lunch we a boarded dugout canoes and motored up the Mogue River. After traveling through beautiful mangrove forest we arrived at the community of Mogue. “Mena Chapa, Mena Chapa Weena!” (Hello Brother, Hello Sister), were the greeting phrases they gave us as we arrived at their village. Their culture is unique, men dressed in loincloths and the ladies with just skirts, the rest of their bodies painted with “Jagua,” a locally made vegetable dye. Their art craft, their music and dances were just a glimpse of who they are and what they do for a living. Something we might always remember will be the friendly smiles on their faces, and then our time was up and we had to return with the falling tide back to the Sea Voyager.
