Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mi Sueño
By the airstrip 333 2512 (public phone).
Eleven small, wooden-fan-ventilated
rooms with shared bathroom, and a large communal balcony affording a pleasant view of the
surrounding hillside. The occasionally functioning resta
ura
nt offers cheap meals. Tours to the
Emberá village of Villa Queresia can also be arranged.
$12
Villa Fiesta
By the airstrip 333 2512 (public phone) or 6687 2271.
Three bright,
good-value rooms (a/c & fan) with excellent beds, private bathroom and fridge; meals can
also be arranged. Former Emberá
cacique
Ricardo Cabrera, the genial ow
ner a
nd proprietor
of the downstairs shop, is fluent in English and a mine of local knowledge.
$25
La Chunga
Closer to the mouth of the Río Sambú, a small tributary navigable only at high tide leads to
the hamlet of
LA CHUNGA
, named after the ubiquitous palm used for basketry. At other
times, you land at a pontoon on the main river, from where it's a twenty-minute walk along a
boardwalk through mosquito-infested swamp to the village.
An avenue of cedar trees marks the entrance, opening out onto an overgrown basketball
court surrounded by a handful of traditional homes.
Basketry
is still widely practised by the
women.
While you're here, a village guide can take you
birdwatching
upriver, or you can make a
six-hour round trip to a
harpy eagle nest
. Make sure you check out the village
stocks
(
sepo
);
miscreants who commit an offence and are unable to pay the fine are placed there for a couple
of hours, an experience made particularly painful by being made to sit on a pile of cooked
rice, which attracts vicious ants that tuck in to the penitent's buttocks.
ARRIVAL AND ACCOMMODATION: LA CHUNGA
By boat
Although La Chunga has its own motorized transport that occasionally travels to
and from La Palma ($20) on weekdays, you can also catch a ride in the Sambú/Puerto Indio
boats, which will drop you at the La Chunga pontoon on the Río Sambú, from where it is a
20min walk.
Village accommodation
333 2516 (public phone).
Overnight guests are made comfortable
in someone's home on mattresses with mosquito nets and even sheets and
pillo
ws. Bathrooms
are shared and rudimentary. You pay $12 to someone to do your cooking.
$10
/person
The southeastern Pacific Coast
The Darién's
Pacific coast
is as remote and unexplored as the jungle-filled interior: to the
northwest of the Golfo de San Miguel, the coastline is dominated by mangroves, but to the
southeast it comprises miles of deserted beaches interspersed with rocky outcrops, cliffs and
expanses of pristine forest, with the brooding serranías del Sapo and Jungurudó a dramatic
backdrop. Three places of interest stand out here: the Emberá village of
Playa de Muerto
,