When the English pirate Henry Morgan plundered and razed Panama Viejo in 1671, the first European settlement in the Pacific was lost, only to be rebuilt two years later a few miles away. His onslaught from the rear, the side of the Río Chagres, took the inhabitants by surprise as they had braced...
Kuna women are rolling up their molas for the night, and lovers are strolling the old sea wall atop the Bóvedas in the Casco Viejo sector of Panama City. A mango-colored sunset reflects off the bay, casting a deep shadow onto a ship just finishing its journey through the Panama Canal.
This...
Behind you is thick, misty forest. In front of you, the sea. Moored beside a rickety wooden pier is your “taxi”— a precarious looking dugout canoe. Your destination lies a mile offshore: the mysterious Kuna island of Achutupu. Achutupu isn’t large, but is densely packed with thatched...
Running the Chiriquí Viejo means bouncing and bobbing through umpteen rapids. It might mean flying through the air, getting sucked under the boat and spat out the other side. It definitely means having the time of your life.
The Río Chiriquí Viejo flows through Panama’s southwestern...
There are not many places left in the world where outsiders can sneak a peek at another culture seemingly lost in time, a place where inhabitants live off the land, dress in native attire, practice ancient pre-Columbian traditions and use medicinal herbs still undiscovered by western...