Seeing Panama by Maps
Some basic information on the geography and layout of Panama, its various provinces and comarcas, and a few of its cities. I am using new video editing software as will become obvious! Oh well, as I often say, this is an informal conversation with my YT friends, so no surprise! I will try to do better in future videos,
Darien Jungle Rivers Panama
A Visit to Embera Indian Village of Panama
This is a visit to one of the riverside villages of the Chocó, or Embera people who live along the waterways of the Darien Province of Panama. This is just one of the multiple villages along these waterways, with each village about a days walk apart. This village is like many of the Embera sites, built along the waterway, with the main hut and residential huts set back and higher up the banks. Their huts are built on stilts above the ground to avoid the critters of the forest and rainfall. These open air huts are covered with thick thatched roofs which you will see the structure of in their large community room. We'll lunch on a prepared meal of fish, fruit and plantain, all staples of the Embera.
This village has opened up to passing tour groups as they recognize the need to raise money to exist, as they use some conveniences of the modern world such as outboard motors for their dugout canoes (an interesting combination as you'll experience in the video moving up river). Though in many ways it appears they have also managed to maintain their culture and living habits as you'll see in their housing and crafts (which are also for sale as another revenue source).
The chief talked to our group via a translator, he is an elected official with a 5 year term and seemed enthusiastic to explain the details of his tribe to our visiting group. Today, the children are educated outside the village under the direction of the Panamanian government, so they have exposure to some aspects of the outside world, and one teenage I was able to talk with had fairly good English, and although he was more than familiar with modern ways, he anticipated moving back to the village when he finished his schooling outside of the village, he was studying eco-management and wanted to bring his knowledge back to the village.
Enjoy this view of one village of the Embera people of Panama and seeing that some aspect's of this native people appears to have survived the test of time.
XplorMor travels to La Palma, Capital of the Darien Provence, Panama
During the XplorMor Photographic Expedition to the Darien Jungle, also known as the infamous Darien Gap, in the Darien Province of Panama, the Team visited La Palma. La Palma, capital of the Darien Province, is a small rustic river town surrounded by jungle frontier. The only way to reach La Palma is by air or water; flights into the small airport must be privately chartered so are very irregular. The Río Tuira, or Tuira River, is the primary access to La Palma, and is often very busy with boats of varying sizes that come and go with the extreme tide fluctuations. View further photos from the trip...
La Palma Slideshow:
Driving the Pan-American Highway from Panama to Colombia - Not the Darien Gap, via a Container Ship
Full blog post -
The Darien Gap between Panama (Central America) and Colombia (South America) is a 60 mile break in the Pan-America Highway. A road that connects Alaska at the top of North America to Tierra del Fuego at the bottom of South America. There are no roads through the Darien Gap and you can't drive between these two countries. This means that vehicles have to be shipped.
Here's video of our truck being loaded (stuffed) into a container in Colon, Panama and heading out of the container port in Cartagena, Colombia. Sadly I fudged the footage of the car being driven out of the container in Colombia.
Check out more of our adventures on our Trans-Americas Journey -
Darien National Park Jon_lyall's photos around Sambu / Pavarando, Panama (sambu river panama)
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Entry from: Sambu / Pavarando, Panama
Entry Title: Darien National Park
Entry:
Darien National Park - From Panama City we flew to Sambu in the Darien Province in a 10 seater place. Sambu is a small town/village set in the middle of the rainforest. Not having spoken Spanish for a number of years it was always going to be an adventure. The Darien Province has a reputation of being dangerous as it is used as a drugs route from Columbia to Northern America. After leaving the plane the first job was to find somewhere to stay. The Lonely Planet had only half a page of information on this is part of Panama so were very much alone. After wondering around for a little while we ended up speaking to the local Priest and found some space in the Church Hall. We wanted to get as deep into the nearby Darien National Park as possible, and we quickly found somebody who could get us information on a possible trip. To arrange this we had to go and see the chief of the village and discuss possibilities with my very rusty Spanish. After a couple of hours we had agreed a trip of a week up the river to the last village outside Darien National Park. The next day we met our guides, shopped for food and headed off to the Sambu River. The trip to the furthest village of Pavarando was about 8 hours up the Sambu River in a small canoe. We stopped at a number of villages along the route to stock up on fresh pineapples and to get some shade from the strong sun. The village of Pavarando was a bizarre mix of traditional with a splash of modern. The people still very much lived in traditional buildings, risen a few metres of the ground. But there was a basketball court, brought by previous missionaries, and a telephone box which hadn't worked for years. Some of the villagers wore traditional dress with natural made tattoos, but also there were lots of donated western clothes. We stayed in the the guest hut. We were told about 30 foreign visitors a year visit so we were quite unusual. The kids especially liked having their photos taken and seeing the images on the screen of the camera. Each day we would go into the National park and do some exploring with our guides from Sambu and one of the local from Pavarando, usually the village doctor. This included hikes through the jungle: and looking for animals: and visiting rock carvings: After a week of not seeing another westerner we returned back down the river to Sambu and flew out the next day back to Panama City.
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Photos from this trip:
1. Darien - Travel up the Sambu River
2. Darien - our boat on the Sambu River
3. Darien - village
4. Darien - Pavarando Village
5. Darien - Pavarando kids
6. Darien - Pavarando kid
7. Darien - village doctor and son
8. Darien National Park treking
9. Darien National Park
10. Darien National Park - animal spotting
11. Darien National Park - guides
12. Darien National Park - getting water
13. Darien National Park - cat print
14. Darien National Park - rock carving
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Discover Panama
A film by Anywhere Panama and Anywhere
Red Frogs Island Panama - Vlog 5
HD 1080P DISPONIBLE
Mon début de semaine dans la Province de Bocas Del Toro .
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Bon visionnement !
Costa Rica and Panama Canal Cruise
Early in 2013 I went on a most wonderful Tauck Small Ship Cruise which included Costa Rica, Panama, and the Panama Canal. Prior to embarking our ship, the beautiful Tere Moana, we toured areas in San Jose, the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, the Doka coffee plantation, and the Sarchi Village. The itinerary aboard ship included the Osa Peninsula, Granito de Oro Island, Coiba Island, an Embera village in the Darien, and the Pearl Islands. After transiting the canal, we stopped at the San Blas Islands, where we visited a Kuna village. After disembarking the ship in Colon, we spent a couple of days touring areas in and around Panama City. At the end of the trip each of us was presented with a DVD with this slide show of pictures and videos that the two Tauck Directors had been taking during our journey. It is very well done, and a wonderful chronicle of the trip. Hope you enjoy it!
Parque Nacional La Amistad, Chiriqui Region Lizmariek's photos around Guadalupe, Panama
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Entry from: Guadalupe, Panama
Entry Title: Parque Nacional La Amistad, Chiriqui Region
Entry:
We arrived in Guadalupe after a looooong bus journey from Panama City. It rained all day (apparently all over the country), so it was a good day to be on a bus. For a country with a tropical climate where it rains often, Panamanians sure do not like to get wet...I find this pretty funny. Nobody is out and about when it is raining...porque se puede resfriar. The Chiriqui region is beautiful...terraced green hills that peek through the clouds, and virgin forests dripping with life set the scene here. I hiked through La Amistad National Park today on a gorgeous trail (El sendero de las tres cascadas). My mom hiked up to the trailhead and waited for me at one of the cabanas in the forest that also serves as a bird observation deck. The hike was really steep and strenuous and I actually slipped and fell three times! I got to wear some really cool rainboots for the first time ever and they served me well. My guide, Elias, and I hiked through streams and shallow parts of the river that divides La Amistad Park and Volcan Baru park. We could hear the elusive quetzales throughout the forest though we didn't spot any during our hike. After hiking, we rested a little and then my mom and I went horseback riding on some of the trails. It was quite a memorable day in this ultra-tranquil town in the cloud forest. Tomorrow we are off to Bocas del Toro, our final stop before la salida de Panama City.
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Photos from this trip:
1. At Los Quetzales
2. Back to the stables
3. En el bosque
4. En el sendero de las tres cascadas
5. En los senderos
6. Entrando al parque
7. Flores
8. Grounds of Los Quetzales hotel
9. Guadalupe
10. Hotel grounds
11. Llegando a la primera cascada
12. Mom on her horse
13. On my horse
14. On the observation deck
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