Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ARRIVAL AND TOURS: LAGO BAYANO
By bus
Buses depart from Albrook bus terminal for Puente Bayano (daily every 40min,
4am-4.40pm; 2hr), which hosts the first of several police checkpoints.
Boat tours
It's worth reserving your launch in advance (especially at weekends) as organ-
izing a boat and guide on the spot (from $60/boat) may take time: for lake tours, contact
Noy Ortega ( 6959 6833, prefers 24hr notice), who also runs the small bar by the bridge, or
Mateo Cortéz ( 297 0157). Increasingly, tour companies are also offering excursions here
from the capital (around $150), but it's far cheaper and not too difficult to organize a visit
yourself.
ACCOMMODATION
Guna community hostel
Akua Guna.
You can stay on a camp bed at the basic community
hostel by the bridge (there's an equally basic
fonda
over the road), a single large room with a
TV/DVD player the centrepiece, where
so
me Hollywood action film is likely to be drawing
a crowd even as you try to sleep. Dorm
$10
/person
Ipetí
Guna and Emberá communities exist either side of the highway at
IPETÍ
. South of the road
by the bus stop, a dirt road leads a kilometre down to what was formerly a single community
- relocated after their lands were flooded by Lago Bayano - which has split in two, situated
on the very picturesque banks of the Río Ipetí. The first and larger settlement announces it-
self as
Ipetí-Emberá
; it's more set up for tourists, offering a range of
activities
, including
horseriding and birdwatching ($10). The smaller splinter community of
Bahu Pono
is even
more delightful than Ipetí-Emberá, in a cleaner, quieter (lacking the noisy generators - and
electricity), shadier spot, and offers body painting in jagua dye, purchase of
artesanía
and the
opportunity for intercultural interaction. Both make an ideal weekend excursion from Panama
City, at under three hours from the capital, but with more time it's worth pushing on much
deeper into the Darién proper, especially in the dry season, when the river here is too low to
swim in and the countryside too denuded to enjoy.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: IPETÍ
By bus
Any eastbound bus from Panama City heading for Metetí or Yaviza, or westbound
bus returning to Panama City, will drop you off at the entrance to Ipetí. From here it is a
20min walk down a dirt road.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Village accommodation
Accommodation is provided in the
casa comunal
of both com-
munities in a hammock or tent with mattress. Contact Secairo Dojirama (
6014 6161) for
Ipeti-Embera a
nd
Esther Caisano (
6374 3281) for Bahu Pono. Basic meals are available
($3-4/person).
$10
/person
