DFR Travels: Native Village

Monday, January 9. Amador Panama. 82 F. Tropically very warm, just fine.

Today we were on another excursion, this time to a native village where the indigenous people living in the jungle along the Chagres river, [which feeds the Panama Canal], have an encampment done up with most buildings as they existed here 500 to 600years ago. The families who were in the village today were dressed as they did in days gone by, but with apparel modified over the years. Most notably was the women now were not bare-breasted. We were here in 2014 I think, and at that time they had not completely covered up.

They lugged us up the river a mile or so with nice outboard motors hand-built boats holding maybe 10 people. They had a talk on how the tribe lived and dressed years ago, they also has some dancing, then music. They served us Fish and Chips [which was fried banana and the fish was Tilapia, I think], then watermelon and pineapple. Just right and delicious.

The natives were quite short, everybody, the men not stout but well built, the women we saw were all the same chocolate colour, short, not Polynesian beauties but sort of pretty but not curvaceous, but easy on the eyes. Is that a bad description? They were all cut from the same bolt of cloth and not of mixed race: that we saw.

They of course have some wonderful crafts for sale at very modest prices, I thought. All in all it was a lovely day, rather long again. The trip to the river craft site was about 1 1/4 hours, total village experience time maybe 1 1/2 hours. Good to be out and not in masks!

Note: the captain came on the speaker a short time ago and announced that the ship had been hit by lightning that happened a few minutes ago during the recent squall. Cool! No damage done.

Great Day…