Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brief history
The
Ngäbe
and closely related
Buglé
- both recognizable by the women's brightly coloured
cotton dresses - were collectively referred to as Guaymí in colonial accounts, featuring prom-
inently as fierce warriors. Their various tribes, alongside many others that never survived the
colonial struggle, were pushed up into the mountains by the
Spanish
, who moved into the
region in the late sixteenth century. Founding major centres in Remedios (1589) and Alan-
je (1591), the colonizers also established numerous mission towns such as San Félix, San
Lorenzo and Tolé, located just off the Interamericana. Though some Guaymí succumbed to
their evangelizing efforts, others formed alliances among themselves and with passing pir-
ates, and the towns were regularly raided and sometimes destroyed.
Following the separation from Colombia, the province of Chiriquí, which had been estab-
lished in 1849, gained its own railway - though it folded around 1980 - in recognition of its
agricultural importance, which further increased once the United Fruit Company began ba-
nana production round Puerto Armuelles in 1927 and coffee plantations started to thrive. It is
on such plantations that the Ngäbe and Buglé now work, travelling great distances throughout
the provinces of Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro - migrant wage labourers on rich lands that
once belonged to their ancestors.
The Chiriquí Highlands
North of David rise the slopes of the eastern limits of the Cordillera de Talamanca, home
to Volcán Barú (3475m), the country's highest point. These are the
Chiriquí Highlands
, or
Tierras Altas, a region of forested peaks, fertile valleys and mountain villages. The cool, tem-
perate climate and stark scenery give the highlands a distinctly Alpine feel, an impression
reinforced by the influence of the many European migrants who have settled here since the
nineteenth century. Sadly, their agricultural success poses a threat to the survival of the re-
gion's spectacular
cloud forests
, which have been cleared at a devastating rate over the past
thirty years, while Chiriquí's picturesque rivers have attracted major hydroelectric projects,
which are beginning to cause serious environmental damage, as well as posing a threat to the
livelihoods and cultural heritage of the indigenous communities.
More positively, large tracts of forest are now protected by the
Parque Nacional Volcán
Barú
and
Parque Internacional La Amistad
, whose flanks are home to wildlife including
jaguars, pumas, tapirs and resplendent quetzals, and whose trails offer some of the best hiking
in Panama.
Two roads wind up into the highlands on either side of Volcán Barú. The first climbs due
north to
Boquete
, an idyllic coffee-growing town cradled in a picturesque valley, which has
become popular among foreign retirees and tourists and is the easiest place from which to
climb
Volcán Barú
. The second runs north from the town of La Concepción, 25km west of
David, snaking 32km through countless dairy farms to the smaller settlement of
Volcán
, be-
