Page 289 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

Around Golfo de SAn MiGuel The Darién anD easTern Panama 287
TOURS FROM SAMBÚ AND PUERTO INDIO
in Puerto Indio, the tourism committee, based in the oficina del Congreso, offers a range of day
excursions to the Distrito Sambú (for which you’ll need to provide your own food and water).
These include a guided walk round the village, taking in a nearby lake, a half-day excursion to a
waterfall involving a 45-minute boat ride and a modest rainforest walk, and lengthier ventures to
the communities of la Chunga or Pavarandó. in all cases, overnight stays can easily be arranged,
either in the casa comunal or in someone’s house. Arquinio dogirama (Eemberaguia@yahoo.es)
and domicilio Cardena (la Chunga public phone T333 2516) are guides authorized by the
comarca’s tourism committee, though each village has its own guide.
Sambú guides are not allowed to guide within the comarca, but can offer excursions to
rainforest and emberá communities that lie outside the comarca boundaries.

Sambú and Puerto Indio
While SAMBÚ and its counterpart PUERTO INDIO, connected by a footbridge, are
pleasant enough places, they serve more as a gateway to swathes of primeval forest and
a serpentine waterway leading to Emberá and Wounaan communities further upriver.
The contrast in mood and architecture between the two villages is striking. In
bustling Sambú – where all accommodation and eating options are located – cement
pathways wind between tightly packed houses of various architectural styles,
accommodating a mixed population of Emberá, Wounaan, mestizos and Afro-
Darienites. Across the river, quieter Puerto Indio, at the western limit of the Distrito
Sambú, of which it is the capital, comprises an indigenous population living in 8
traditional wooden housing raised on stilts, where afternoon social activity centres
round the basketball court or football pitch.
arriVaL anD inFOrmaTiOn samBÚ anD PUerTO inDiO
By boat Most commercial boat traffic to Sambú and along the dirt road ($5–6/person for a colectivo, $40–60 in
Puerto Indio ($20 from La Palma, $25 from Puerto Quimba) total if a special trip is necessary).
leaves on Mon and Fri. SENAFRONT registration The SENAFRONT checkpoint is
By boat and 4WD If there isn’t a boat going directly to halfway down the disused airstrip in Sambú.
Sambú, in the dry season you could go to Garachiné (see Fees The $10 entry fee to the comarca should be paid at the
opposite), where you can usually hitch a ride to Sambú Oficina del Congreso in Puerto Indio.
aCCOmmODaTiOn anD eaTinG
Aquí me Quedo Close to the airstrip. In a sturdy cane restaurant offers cheap meals. Tours to Emberá village of
building behind the shop, Benedicta prepares good Villa Queresia can also be arranged. $15
breakfasts and solid lunches for around $4. Evening meals Villa Fiesta By the airstrip T6792 9493. Four bright,
are a case of what’s left over. Daily 7am–8pm. good-value rooms (two with a/c, two with fan) with
Mi Sueño By the airstrip T6902 8327. Eleven small, excellent beds, private bathroom and fridge; meals can also
wooden-fan-ventilated rooms with shared bathroom, be arranged. Former Emberá cacique Ricardo Cabrera, the
and a large communal balcony affording a pleasant view genial owner and proprietor of the downstairs shop, is
of the surrounding hillside. The occasionally functioning fluent in English and a mine of local knowledge. $25
La Chunga
Closer to the mouth of the Río Sambú, a small tributary navigable only at high tide
leads to the hamlet of LA CHUNGA, named after the ubiquitous palm used for basketry.
At other times, you land at a pontoon on the main river, from where it’s a twenty-
minute walk along a boardwalk through mosquito-infested swamp to the village.
An avenue of cedar trees marks the entrance, opening out onto an overgrown basketball
court surrounded by a handful of traditional homes. Basketry is still widely practised by
the women. Make sure you check out the village stocks (sepo); miscreants who commit an
offence and are unable to pay the fine are placed there for a couple of hours, an experience
made particularly painful by being made to sit on a pile of cooked rice, which attracts

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