Richard Detrich’s Boquete, Panama Weblog

In 1956 five missionaries were killed in Equador and their story was immortalized in a book written by the wife of one of the martyred missionaries called, “THROUGH GATES OF SPENDOR.” In 2004 a Christian movie company decided to make a movie about that story and used the Embera village of Rio San Juan de Pequini as a setting for filming, using the Embera to play the role of the Ecuadorian Indians.

Some of our Embera friends are recognizable in the film.  The people of the village enjoyed the interaction with the crew and at the end the production company gave the village several much needed outboard motors. 

The movie was eventually released in 2006 as “THE END OF THE SPEAR.”    The movie had some limited release in theaters.  I suspect the producers were counting on churches to push the movie, however they had cast Chad Allen in the leading role(s) playing both the martyred missionary and his son, who would later go back as a missionary to the very tribe who had killed his father.   Chad was well-known as the TV son on “Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.”  Apparently the film producers didn’t know that Chad is also very “out” and a spokesman for various gay causes.  Ooops!  Given the hostility many evangelicals have against gays . . . I suspect this accounts in part for the cool reception of “THE END OF THE SPEAR.”

Now Chad Allen stars in an independent film that premiered at Sundance called “SAVE ME.”   Allen plays a sex and drug-addicted young man who overdoses and finds himself at the mercy of his disapproving family.  Their solution is to check him into a Christian-run ministry that promises to cure him of his ‘gay affliction’.  What is interesting to me is the response of some of the evangelicals who attended the premier at Sundance.

“One of the things that struck me about this film was how the filmmakers (some who are themselves gay as we learned during the question and answer time following the screening) portrayed the motives and stories of the conservative Christians who lead the ex-gay ministry with tenderness and grace. Is it possible that many in the gay community are more gracious in their understanding of Evangelical Christians than we are towards them?” CHRISTIANITY TODAY

Bob Davidson, Fuller Theology Student and Sundance participant.

“It was at the film’s conclusion that I found myself, a professed ‘Christian’, surrounded by the tears from numerous individuals, both gay and straight—completely distraught by what I had just experienced. I could not help but be embarrassed of my faith and its ‘typical’ response to the gay community.

However, as actor Chad Allen and actress Judith Light shared, I was taken aback by the non-threatening posture of the cast and crew (and the film for that matter). Nobody was enraged. Nobody was protesting. And nobody was blaming . . . This was a profound gesture on behalf of the filmmakers, who had clearly succeeded in creating a diffused space of interaction, grace, and reconciliation—an environment that the Christian community often fall short in creating.” Bob Davidson, Fuller Theology Student and Sundance participant

Magical words on a Canal cruise!  This is it: the reason why people book a cruise that includes the Panama Canal.

It’s still dark as people begin arriving on deck.  They want to see the entire process from the moment the pilots come on board.  The VOLENDAM serves coffee on deck and “Panama Rolls”, something which I’ve never been able to find in Panama but are never-the-less delicious with their lemon filling.  People are jockeying for space to capture the best shot.  As the sun comes up everyone is up on deck and we are entering into Gatun Locks. 

There is no one best place on board from which to view the process.  My best advice is to move around the ship so you get all the perspectives.  People are always asking on Cruise Critic which side of the ship is the best side to book a balcony stateroom.  My answer: why would you want to stay on your balcony?  Move around and get the total experience.  If you are on the promenade deck for example you can almost reach out and touch the sides of the Canal or tell if the driver of the engine or “mule” had garlic for breakfast!

The ship will cruise around Gatun Lake and then when the Canal authority can squeeze it in the schedule return through Gatun Locks to dock in Colon (somewhat like the “armpit” of Panama in terms of ambiance - sorry, Colon).  About half of the passengers will disembark the ship in Gatun Lake to take advantage of the opportunity to see some part of Panama.  Of those who remain, few will show much interest in the locking process on the return.  Those who were jockeying for the best spot in the morning will be jockeying for position in the buffet line!

My advice: take a shore excursion!  It is a unique opportunity to see a small slice of life in Panama.  And I always recommend that folks, if possible, take the Embera Village tour, but be forewarned, there are two villages.  One is best described as an “Embera Experience” that gives you a taste of Embera culture in a village created to cater to tourists.  The other, and the one I recommend, goes to the authentic Embera village on Rio San Juan de Pequini.  It is an experience out of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and well worth the hour long boat ride.  [If the tour is billed as having an hour plus long boat ride it probably goes to the authentic village, but ask . . . not that the shore excursion folks will know the difference, but . . .]

Embera “demonstration” village: someone has determined that bare male buttocks and female breasts are not tourist appropriate.

Authentic Embera village at Rio San Juan de Pequini.

We visited their home . . . .

 
So we thought they should visit our home!

My adventure in Panama began on a cruise through the Panama Canal.  At a stop in Gatun Lake I met Erito and his brothers, Embera Indians who had come to Gatun Lake to sell crafts and pose for pictures with passengers for the ship’s photographer.  Five hours and lots of beer later, we were all fast friends and I promised to visit their village.  I went back to California and started researching the Embera on line and in the process discovered all the benefits Panama offers retirees!  I not only ended up spending the night at their home deep in the Chagres jungle, but retiring to Panama!

Erito is the chief of the Embera Puru village at San Juan de Pequini. Since we had visited them in their home, we invited Erito and Sulaka to visit our home and much to my surprise they accepted!  We spent a wonderful five days together in Valle Escondido in Boquete.  As I explained to Erito our way of life is, “Different, not better.”  This was the first time they had ever crossed the Bridge of the Americas or seen most of their country.  Erito is the chief or “jefe” or “number one” man in his village and Zulaka is the teacher.  They are both intelligent and articulate people who have made a choice to preserve a culture and a lifestyle. 

Erito is patient with my tenuous attempts at Spanish and somehow we manage to communicate  . . . generally quite well.  Our wide ranging discussions included Shamanism, baptism (they are Catholic but in Embera tradition not baptized), spiritualism, world geography, healing arts (Erito is the doctor for the village), and the role of a community like the tiny Embera pueblo at Rio San Juan in our modern day world.  Interestingly people from all over the world (US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Asia) beat a path to visit Erito’s village and hear his wisdom. Very interesting!

Since that first visit, Erito and Zulaka have visited us several times.  The last time Erito spoke to the “Tuesday Morning Meeting” of mainly gringos at the Panamonte Hotel.  The response was enthusiastic with several people proclaiming him the “best speaker” we’ve ever had!

We have had lots of adventures!  These people don’t have hot water, so getting Erito into my hot tub was quite an adventure!  Boquete is a lot colder than the jungles of Chagres, and these people kept complaining they were freezing at night.  Before long they had every blanket in the house and they were still cold.  Finally we discovered the problem, and explained that you need to sleep under the blankets not on top of them. 

All of the Embera crafts on this page were created by members of the Embera Puru village at Rio San Juan de Pequini in Chagres National Park.  Most of the baskets shown were created by Zuelaka Barrigon (left), and the carvings were  by members of her family.

The Embera take great pride in their handiwork.  Baskets are woven from natural palm fibers and colored using natural dies.  Wood carvings are carved from cocobolo, a rare and extremely hard wood.  Tagua nut carvings are carved from the tagua nut (uncarved, lower left of the photo) and for permanence of necessity use regular paint for coloring.

Sale of craft items is a primary source of revenue for the San Juan de Pequini Embera Puru pueblo.  Cruise passengers can purchase Embera craft items on shore excursions to the authentic Embera Puru at Rio San Juan de Pequini or at the “demonstration” Embera village. Members of the Embera Puru often offer their crafts for sale at the Christobal Pier. In Panama City at Old Panama there is a craft market with items for sale by the Embera, Wounan and Kuna.

No trip to Panama is complete without the adventure of visiting the Embera Puru village at San Juan! It amazes me that most Panamanians have not made this trip and know nothing about this group of indigenous people who live very much the way they did when Columbus arrived.  They are intelligent and articulate people who are struggling to preserve a way of life that is threatened on all sides.

Civilization has encroached again and again on the Embera.  The Embera are closely related to the Wounaan, but with different languages.  In all of Panama some estimate that there are less than 30,000 remaining.  The folks of the Embera Puru  live in the Chagres National Park.  Great, we’re all for national parks, but the Embera have had to pay the cost of the creation of the park.  Since 1984, these Emberá have had to abandon agriculture as a way of eking out an existence due to park regulations.  They were virtually starving when they turned to tourism as a form of communal income.  The Embera Puru community of San Juan, with only 123 people, is the least touristy of the Embera villages, probably because it is a little more difficult to reach, but these are wonderful people, warm, hospitable and anxious to share.  It is well worth a visit!

Passengers on cruise ships stopping in Panama often have the opportunity of visiting an Embera village. But, be aware, there are two villages often used. One is best described as a “demonstration” village, or what I would refer to as an “Embera Experience”. This village was created to give cruise passengers a taste of Embera life. Yes, people live there, but the village was created as a tourist attraction and during the cruise season will have visitors 4 or 5 days a week. It’s a couple hour bus ride from the ship and then a 5 to 10 minute boat ride by dug out canoe to the village.

The other village, at San Juan de Pequini is also a long bus ride, but then an hour ride by dug out canoe. This is an authentic Embera village that may see 2 or 3 groups of visitors a month. Shore excursion staff on board ships often don’t know the difference. The way to determine which village they are using is to ask questions about the length of the dug out canoe ride. 15 minutes or so - its the demonstration village.

I recommend visiting the real thing!

You can also make the journey yourself.  From Panama City you take the road to Colon, outside the city past where Corridor Norte intersects the road to Colon, you turn off to the tiny village of Nuevo Vigia, on Lago Alajue or Madden Lake.  From here you take a dug out canoe across the lake and up the river for a spectacular 1.5 hour trip.  On our most recent trip we saw amazing birds, turtles, even a monkey and a huge alligator! 

Anne Barrigon [http://www.emberavillagetours.com/] does conduct independent tours to the authentic Embera Indian village at Rio San Juan de Pequini. You can contact Anne directly for information. Hers is an interesting story. In 1956 five missionaries were killed in Equador and their story was immortalized in a book written by the wife of one of the martyred missionaries called, “THROUGH GATES OF SPENDOR.” In 2004 a Christian movie company decided to make a movie about that story and used the Embera village of Rio San Juan de Pequini as a setting for filming, using the Embera to play the role of the Ecuadorian Indians. The movie was eventually released in 2006 as “THE END OF THE SPEAR.”   Anne Barrigon worked on the film . . . and ended up falling in love with and later marrying one of the Embera men.

And and her husband live in Panama City and she conducts tours to the village.  Prices depend on the number of participants, but for 6 to 8 people run around $75-80 per person. 

I recommend getting to Nuevo Vigia about 9:00am which will put you back about 4:00pm.  The Embera have spectacular baskets and carvings that they offer for sale at the village.  Tourist  money is pooled and this is the only way the Embera can survive since the park does not allow them to grow food.  You will be amazed to learn of the many plants the Embera use for natural healing and to hear the stories of modern pharmaceutical companies who have visited to learn the secrets of jungle plants.