Page 286 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

284 The Darién anD easTern Panama Around Golfo de SAn MiGuel
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Hotel Biaquirú Bagará C Principal T299 6224. This places in La Palma it can close early and suffer from a lack of
basic, family-run hotel is your best bet, with a dozen neat provisions. Mon–Sat 7am–3pm & 6–9pm.
wood-panelled rooms, some with fan and shared (cold- Pension Tuira C Principal T299 6316. For shoestring
water) bathroom, others en suite with a/c. There’s a shared travellers who fancy being in the thick of the noisy action
waterside deck with hammocks. $25 – there’s a cantina next door – this friendly hotel provides
Lola’s Grill C Principal, near the basketball court. The rooms with fan or a/c ($5 extra) and communal balconies
ebullient Lola serves inexpensive seafood with coconut rice overlooking the estuary. $20
or yuca (from $6) in her upstairs restaurant, but like most

La Marea
Forty minutes’ boat ride southeast from La Palma up the sinuous tree-lined Río La
Marea, the small, welcoming community of LA MAREA provides a perfect introduction
to the Emberá way of life. The “marea” (tide) is crucial to village logistics since the
place is only reachable at high tide, and even then, at the backend of the dry season,
the piragua scrapes along the riverbed. Traditional open-sided wood-and-thatch
dwellings are dotted across a sloping expanse of neatly trimmed grass ending at the
riverbank, where a small rancho is used for dance performances and craft displays;
opposite this, a tiny shop sells beer and a few tinned essentials.
An infectious tranquillity pervades the settlement – aside from the two hours in
the evening when the generator is on – and for most of the night it is illuminated by
8 starlight and kerosene lamps. Unlike in some communities, many of the 160 villagers
choose to go about their business clad in traditional attire, except when heading into
town. The surrounding forest abounds in wildlife, worth exploring with a guide
following a trail leading to a waterfall or a lake, or embarking on a substantial hike or
a shorter horseride. Otherwise, the days can happily slip by interacting with villagers,
getting your body painted in jagua dye and cooling off in the river.
arriVaL anD aCTiViTies La marea
To visit the community, contact the tourism coordinator Turiano (T6742 3615).
By boat Ask around at La Palma on a weekday and you Hiking The village trail goes straight into the rainforest
may be able to catch a piragua colectivo ($15). ($10); guiding services cost $20/group.
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Community accommodation A traditional house is set (which they prefer you to provide; $10–20/group or solo
aside for visitors, with space to hang a hammock or spread traveller) or lend you their fire pit and utensils to prepare
a sleeping bag, and a family allocated either to cook food your own meals. $8

Mogué
There’s a Heart of Darkness feel about entering the Río Mogué, enclosed by forbidding
walls of mangroves, flecked with perching white ibis, which eventually clear at a scenic
mooring, ten minutes’ walk from the village of MOGUÉ. The name derives from
Mogadé, a mythical Emberá creature that lived in the mountains and ate people –
though Panama City would seem to have devoured more of the dwindling village
population as they leave in search of employment. Besides a little tourism, agriculture –
plantain, yuca and a variety of other fruits and vegetables – constitutes the economic
mainstay of the community, though a minority still fish or hunt iguanas, agoutis and
other small animals with traditional arrows or a gun. Another important source of
income is basketry – especially masks – for which Mogué is justifiably renowned.
Mogué is also the most likely community to have an active harpy eagle nest (see box
opposite), where a willingness to stake the place out for several hours can often be

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