THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 326

THE NGÄBE AND BUGLÉ
The province's most high-profile indigenous peoples are the Ngäbe and the Buglé . These
two related peoples speak mutually unintelligible languages, and are probably the oldest
surviving ethnic groups on the isthmus, descended from the great Guaymí warrior tribes,
whose best-known chief, Urracá , graces the one-cent coin. Forced into remote and moun-
tainous lands by the Spanish, where many have remained, the majority live within the Co-
marca Ngäbe-Buglé, a semi-autonomous area established in 1997, covering almost seven
thousand square kilometres in the eastern half of the province and pockets of Veraguas and
Chiriquí. With poor access to potable water, health care and education, the comarca suffers
Panama's highest levels of poverty.
Most Ngäbe and Buglé practise subsistence agriculture , supplemented by hunting, fish-
ing and limited cash crop cultivation. Struggling to survive in an increasingly cash-based
economy, some make seasonal migrations to the banana, coffee or sugar plantations, where
they carry out the harshest jobs for the worst wages. A few produce traditional handicrafts
- the distinctive colourful cotton dresses ( nagua ), necklaces ( nguñunkua ) and woven bags
( kri ) - to sell to tourists; others have abandoned the rural areas altogether.
Traditionally, both groups have lived in small kinship groupings - half a dozen thatched
huts with dirt or wooden floors, though coastal communities prefer rectangular lodgings
built on stilts - which control access to land and work in cooperation. These, and other cul-
tural practices, such as the Ngäbe custom of polygamy (the Buglé have always espoused
monogamy), have been eroded by missionary and other outside influences. One of the tra-
ditions that clings on in some places, despite attempts to outlaw it, is the krün ( balsería in
Spanish), a violent “sport” in which members of two teams take turns to try and knock their
opponent off-balance by hurling a wooden pole at their calves. The contest is a core part
of the four-day chichería , which involves plenty of its namesake, the potent maize-based
chicha fuerte brew, alongside dancing and music.
Playa del Istmito
The nearest stretch of sand and general town beach is tatty Playa del Istmito , on the eastern
side of the causeway that links Bocas with the rest of Isla Colón, which is a decent place for
a beer, especially during September's Fería del Mar festivities.
Playa Bluff and around
Three kilometres north of Bocas Town, the road divides at “La Ye”; left takes you over the
hilly terrain to Boca del Drago, 12km away, while the dirt road to the right (4WD needed in
the rainy season) hugs the coastline for another 5km past surfing hotspots Playa Paunch (or
Punch) and Dumpers , until the start of the glorious 4km swathe of sand that is Playa Bluff .
An important nesting site for leatherback and green turtles , it can be visited at night during