Exploring the Rivers of the Darién Jungle

We took the Dinghies up two separate rivers in San Blas. This was a great way to explore deep into the jungle without having to go on foot (which was often times impossible).

The sights and sounds of the jungle are amazing. We saw lots of wildlife including cayman (river crocodiles) monkeys, lemurs, insects, lots of tropical birds, and many huge beautiful butterflies. There's something going on in every square foot of space. You just have to look long enough and close enough to see it.

We saw many Guna men paddling up the river and docking their canoes on different banks. They were from the villages on the islands but would come to the mainland daily to hike up to a plot of land where they would tend to their crops. Many people would have plantains and coconut trees they would pick from. The crops in Guna Yala were pretty simple (plantain, coconut, lime, yucca and onion). That's all you could purchase in the villages so you had to get creative but you knew everything was fresh organic.

There were many low lying trees in the rivers due to heavy rainfall washing them down from the higher hills. They were difficult to navigate around but possible if you got out of the canoe and pulled it up river sometimes. The water was cold and fresh. We'd find a deep spot in the river to swim in for a fresh water rinse. The water felt amazing.