4


Stamp a new home into existence in Pedasí


The Azuero Peninsula on Panama’s Pacific coast is best known for its surfing, but the sleepy town of Pedasí has another attraction: the annual junta de embarra, held in mid-January. Roughly translating as ‘mud gathering’, this event preserves a long tradition of house building, where the whole community comes together to construct a quincha (mud) house for a newlywed couple. Nowadays, the buildings are dismantled, leaving the ground open for the next event, but it’s still an important community revival of tradition. Everyone slips off their shoes and treads straw


into the wet earth, churning the two together to create a thick mud that’s used to cover the wooden frame of the new house. It’s then left to dry in the sun. Plentiful fuel — including food and seco (a sugar cane spirit) — and tamborito music buoy the festive atmosphere. Visitors are welcome to join the event; shoes aren’t. HOW TO DO IT: Pedasí’s annual junta de embarra is free to attend and usually takes place in January; enquire locally for exact dates.


5


Raft down the Teribe River to meet the Naso people


One of the last remaining Indigenous monarchies in the Americas, and with a population of just 3,500, the Naso people primarily inhabit Panama’s Bocas del Toro region, best known for its scores of forested, beach-fringed islands. Their comarca covers the vast tropical forests of the Teribe (known as the Tjër Di to the Naso) river basin and Parque Internacional La Amistad, an area with remarkable biodiversity, home to 10,000 flowering plants and more than 215 mammal species. A clutch of remote Naso villages exists deep


inside this wilderness, most accessible by water. Visitors can travel by traditional raft with Naso guides to reach the communities, followed by cultural experiences including spiritual purification rituals and traditional hunting demonstrations. Led by local hosts, these encounters offer a way for the Naso to share their traditions and keep them alive. HOW TO DO IT: Ogaya’s multi-day Indigenous Cultural Journey starts from £1,710 per person. ogayatravel.com


6


Release endangered turtles into the ocean on Mata Oscura beach


Five of the world’s seven sea turtle species can be found in Panama’s waters, with many returning each year to nest on the sands of Mata Oscura in the Azuero Peninsula. Olive ridley, green, leatherback and critically endangered hawksbill turtles all rely on these beaches, where local nonprofit Fundación Agua y Tierra works to protect nests from threats including sand mining, egg poaching and predators such as dogs. From June to January, visitors can join beach


patrols to help relocate vulnerable eggs to the foundation’s nursery, before returning between August and February to release hatchlings into the ocean. The Turtle Eco Route also connects travellers with other community-led experiences in the area, including mangrove tours, farm visits and cooking and folk-dance classes. In mid-September, the annual Feria de la Tortuga (‘Festival of the Turtle’) brings the community together for a weekend of conservation talks and folkloric performances. HOW TO DO IT: A two-hour turtle beach patrol is 20 PAB (£15). aguaytierra.wixsite.com/fundat


NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER – LATIN AMERICA COLLECTION 19


IMAGES: ALAMY; OGAYA TRAVEL/LEYGH ALLISON


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