Comarca Naso Tjër Di

This is the fourth day we've been in Boca del Drago on Colón Island. 

a monkey in a tree right next to one of the three restaurants in Bocas del Drago

Me and three other girls got extremely lucky because we are in a beach house RIGHT on a private beach. This is the view from the window!

I have service again and this is the final post that I wrote without service on February 15th. I wrote it the night I was in the Comarca Naso when I was feeling extra introspective haha. I decided not to bring my phone anywhere so I don’t have many pictures of my own, but I'll add photos that other people took!

Written Feb 15 

The dark here is a lot different than the dark in Costa Rica and even the dark in the highlands of Chiriqui. It’s almost like a blanket over the vast stretch of rainforest and without a flashlight, you can’t even see your hand in front of you. The sounds of the forest are very loud because I’m IN the forest. The buzzing and chirping of 1000s of animals is less than 30 feet from the house I’m staying in within the comarca Naso Tjër Di. The house is situated on top of a hill, which was an hour and forty minute walk from the banks of the Syerkin community, which was an hour  and half canoe ride from the entrance of the comarca. 

The first leg of our journey to the interior of the comarca Naso was breathtaking. Each motorized canoe contained two Naso men and three people from our group. The men were incredibly skilled and seemed to be reading the river at each turn. The man in the front seemed to be the main guide who would point or whistle to signify which way the man holding the motor in the back should turn. When we reached a mini waterfall, the guy in front would use a very long bamboo pole to propel the canoe upstream. When the water got too shallow to use the motor, the guys would hop out into the river and pull/push us until the water was deep again. 

The views from the river situated between heavily forested mountains were something I can’t explain. Everything was green and there were layers and layers of the forest. The river moved very quickly in some places and in others it seemed to be made of glass. I never stopped gaping in awe at the beauty of the Naso land the entire ride. I kept thinking about how I could have ever had this experience if I hadn’t been with SIT. I’m so so grateful for the relationships that were built before I was even born that has allowed SIT to keep coming back to this comarca. Right when we got off the boat, we were welcomed by a large group of Naso people and given the best oranges I’ve ever had. We then made our way into the forest to the center of the Syerkin community (I'm not sure if this how you spell it but that's how it is pronounced). 

The Syerkin community of the Naso people are one of the few in the comarca that are trying to open their homes to more tourist groups little by little. (By the way, the comarcas in Panama can not be touched by the Panamanian government and all business, laws, and justice systems are created by the indigenous groups living in them.) SIT is one of the few groups that make frequent visits. We walked in the rain for about 45 mins and then listened to a quick introduction to the Naso people and were welcomed by the highest authority of the Syerkin. We also learned the traditional Naso greeting: miga. In return you say: cóve. 

Five out of twenty six couldn’t come on this one day excursion because they were sick, so we had re-assign the homestays last minute. Aly asked if anyone wanted to be alone, so that every family could still participate in having SIT kids at their house. I decided to be brave and volunteer. I was placed in the home of Epifaña, Eugenio and their seven kids. From the community meeting place, Eugenio and I walked 45 mins (mostly up hill) to get to his house. As we got father and father away from the other groups, he started talking to me more and more. I’ve always gotten flustered when I have to speak Spanish so I was terrified to be alone. But Eugenio has been extremely patient and understanding and I’ve spoken the most Spanish I have in my life in the few hours I’ve spent at his house today. 

my room!

their house

The minute I walked into the house, Epifaña set down two HEAPING plates of rice, beans, and plant that, Eugenio later showed me, grows every where. Eugenio said that the Naso eat fast to get going to the next thing, so I tried to eat my food fast. I couldn’t eat all the food and I also deeply regretted scarfing it down because I was so full it hurt for the next hour or two. We then met everyone in a shaman hut where the community shaman/medicine man showed us the way that Naso make a traditional drink (kinda like less sweet hot cocoa). He also showed us some other Naso goods like cocoa butter (Eric our professor told us after that the amount of cocoa butter that was passed around for us to try on our skin, was made with 20 pounds of cocoa!!!!). 

After, we got a tour of some medicinal plants, were able to buy handmade jewelry, listened to a Naso legend about birds, and watched a traditional dance called baile de los tigres. I then walked back to the house with Eugenio asking questions about the Naso the entire way. I found out that the Costa Rican border is an hour away and that he owns a farm an hour and a half away. When we got back, he had to go have a meeting with one of the community leaders.

I went to the kitchen (the entire house is open air but the two bedrooms are closed in for the most part) and talked with Epifaña for almost two hours. I’m so grateful that my Spanish has progressed enough for me to have the conversations I had with her. I asked her about the comarca and how she felt about traditional medicine and what foods were typical for the Naso and her thoughts on a nearby community called Nbage infringing on their territory and about the voting process and the typical family structure and the rainforest animals and many more things haha. She was also the first homestay parent to ever ask me a lot of questions about myself. 

When Eugenio got back, we ate dinner (yuca, fried egg and a yummy cocoa drink) on the floor which is traditional for Naso dinners and talked some more. I’m now laying in bed and reveling in this once and a lifetime opportunity. I'm so grateful to have spent a day with these amazing people! We leave tomorrow at 8 so it was a quick turnaround but I loved every second of it.

views on the way to the house

view from the house

The next morning, I continued my conversation with Epifaña and had a delicious banana bread type dish with yummy lemon tea. Before I left Epifaña gifted me a wooden licuadora (blender) that's used for making many Naso chocolate drinks. We left after a brief farewell in the same boats we came in, but this time the trip was MUCH faster cuz we were following the current. Overall, my experience in the Comarca Naso was incredible and I'm so grateful that Epifaña and Eugenio shared so much information with me about their lives and land.