Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui and Verraguas - Guaymi Indians
Darien - Wounaan and (formerly known as Choco) and Emberá Indians
San Blas - Kuna Indians

BOCAS DEL TORO, CHIRIQUI AND VERAGUAS - NGOBE-BUGLE (formerly GUAYMI) INDIANS
The Ngobe-Bugle Indian men's ancestors were the formidable fighters the conquistadors rated among the most skilled of all the warriors in the Western Hemisphere.
No longer the fierce warriors of yore, the present-day Ngobe-Bugle live under the laws of Panama in the provinces of Veraguas, Chiriqui, and Bocas del Toro. Their children attend Panama schools, but they still keep aloof from people not of their own culture and retain many of their aboriginal customs and practices.
The Ngobe-Bugle's chaquira was first mentioned by European historians in documents dating back from the early part of the 17th Century. It was quite different from today's ornament. The colors were dull and it was not so tightly beaded... it was fashioned of pebbles, pieces of bone, seeds, and sea shells which the Indians colored with homemade dyes. The brightly colored beads and varied designs of the modern-day chaquiras reflect the Indian's present-day ability to buy beads of whatever shape, size, or color needed.
Fray Adrian de Santo Tomas, who ran a mission in 1622 in what is now the town of Remedios, Chiriqui Province, described the chaquira as the ornament worn by Ngobe-Bugle men during their major festivals - a sort of emblem of Ngobe-Bugle nationality.
The Spanish conquistadors found three distinct tribes in western Panama; each named after its chief; each spoke a different language. The three big chiefs were Urraca, who ruled in what is now Veraguas Province; Nata, in the territory of the Province of Cocle; and Parita, in the Azuero Peninsula.
Of the three, Urraca is the most famous. He not only defeated the Spaniards several times, but was the only one among the rebel Indian chiefs who forced a captain of the Spanish Empire, Diego de Albitez, to sign a peace treaty. This was approximately 1522. A measure of Urraca's temper is provided by the account of his feats after Albitez's successor betrayed and imprisoned the Indian chief. Sent in chains to Nombre de Dios on the Atlantic coast, probably for transfer to Spain - according to historian Bartolome de las Casas - Urraca escaped and made his way back to the mountains, vowing to fight the Spaniards unto death. And he fulfilled his vow. In his last years, Urraca's name was so feared by the Spaniards that they avoided combat with his men. When Urraca died in 1531, surrounded by friends and relatives, he was still a free man. He probably was laid in his grave with a chaquira covering his shoulders. After Urraca's death, the other Indian chiefs carried on the fight against the white invaders, taking refuge in the steep mountains of Veraguas and the Tabasara Range where the Spaniards cavalry could not maneuver.
By the 18th Century, the Ngobe-Bugle were divided into two large groups: those of the tropical forest (in the highlands of Veraguas and Chiriqui) and those of the lowlands (along the Atlantic coast, from Rio Belen to Bocas del Toro). They never surrendered, fighting until the collapse of the Spanish domination in the Americas.
When Panama broke away from Spain and joined Colombia in the early 19th Century, the Ngobe-Bugle remained in oblivion in their mountain villages. Slowly they are now being incorporated into the national fold. Ngobe-Bugle teachers and law-enforcement officers help the effort. While the chaquira remains a symbol of the Ngobe-Bugle culture, it is no longer a treasured warrior's ornament fashioned painstakingly by female hands within the closeness of the family circle, but a vastly sophisticated commodity to which mass production techniques are being applied. Its production is an established source of income for the Ngobe-Bugle.

DARIEN - EMBERA AND WOUNAAN (formerly known as CHOCO) INDIANS

The Emberá
With an estimated population of 15,000, the Emberá inhabit the Darien rainforest of Panamá. This tribe along with the Wounaan were formerly known as the Choco because they migrated from the Choco province of Columbia in the late 18th century. Both the Emberá and the Wounaan have a similar river basin culture.
The Wounaan
There are about 2,600 Wounaan indians who also live in the Darien rainforest. In 1983 the government of Panamá recognized the Comarca Emberá-Drua, a semi-autonomous Indigenous territory for both tribes. This territory overlaps the Darien National Park and Biosphere Reserve.
Defying change, the Darien indians live in the wildest, most primitive existence ... very much as the Spaniards found them early in the 16th century. Scattered along the banks of the many rivers that crisscross the Darien, far from the comforts and problems of civilization, they seem to be in complete harmony with their surroundings. Proud, peaceful, honest, but suspicious of outsiders, they live a day-to-day existence in which there are few economic pressures.
Ignoring government procedures and regulations, and usually make their own laws. They are the Indians most often maligned in stories about the Darien. Possibly because of their savage appearance, they have stirred the imagination of the mythmakers. They are, however, more friendly than their Kuna cousins.
Both men and women go about practically nude. The men have a muscular frame, an abundance of straight black hair and wears earrings. The rest of the attire of the men consists of a small G-string and a generous coating of dark body paint made from the dye of a native berry from the genip tree. They also use a red paint made from achiote, the orange-red seed pod which is commonly used to give color and flavor to Panamanian cooking.
They are semi-nomadic and dwell independently in small one or two family groups. They build their shelters along the banks of rivers which serve as their highways and source of livelihood. The dwelling is a platform raised on posts several feet above the ground. Overhead is a roof of thatched palms, the joints tied with vines. There are no protecting walls. To reach their house, one climbs up a ladder made by cutting notches into a pole or a log. At night, the family turns the steps to the underside of the log to bar dogs and other unwanted callers. At one end of the floor, which is made of flattened-out split cane, is the "kitchen." It consists of a cement or clay platform approximately a yard square. three logs placed spoke fashion rest on the square and the cooking pot sits over a small fire burning at the hub. A calabash tree provides the kitchen utensils. Scooped out small calabash are for drinking and eating or used as spoons, though ordinarily they use their fingers to eat from the common kettle. Another one with a hole cut into the top and a piece of oily twisted bark stuck in the hole serves as a lamp. And still another good-sized calabash with holes punched into it is a colander. Long seed pods serve as graters.
Women wear only a simple knee-length sarong, their ink black hair falling on copper shoulders, their breasts, bare. Both men and women have a great fondness for adornments. They wear quantities of glass beads around their necks or draped over their shoulders, and on special occasions, flowers in their hair. For additional adornment, they paint the lower part of their faces and their bodies, often making intricate designs with different colors of paint.
Scattered about the floor and hanging from the posts of the dwelling and those supporting the roof over the "kitchen" are baskets, earthen pots, bows and arrows, spears, knives, and other handmade hunting and fishing and household items. The baskets are made of strips from the fronds of a palm tree which are light on one side and darker on the other. The women weave them turning the strips and making an attractive twill pattern. Earthen pots are slowly being replaced by "pailas," the cast aluminum or iron pots found in Panamanian kitchens.
They sleep on the floor of the shelters. Their beds are the bark of trees which women have made soft by beating it under water. There are no bed covers. A wooden block serves as a pillow. There is no protection from the excessive heat, the insects or frequent downpours, and the Darien is one of the world's rainiest regions. The shelters are easily replaced making it possible for them to disappear deeper into the wilderness. Navigating their long narrow dugout canoes, they will select another spot on the same river or another stream which will provide laundry and bathing facilities and also serve as the fish market and water supply.
Fish are caught with nets, spears or bows and arrows. If not consumed immediately, they are smoked and dried. The rivers also provide turtle and caiman, some of their favorite foods. They shoot the turtles with rifles or swim under water and catch them with their hands, tossing them ashore. A wooden wedge is driven between the head and shell to prevent it from getting away before it reaches the cooking pot. To save the turtle for a future meal, it is tied near the water. The forests furnish wild game which provides them protein food.
Born hunters, they use bows and arrows to hunt the jungle animals. The tapir, peccary, deer, armadillo, iguana, and monkey are favorite jungle fare. Jungle trees provide balsa for making rafts and the bark of certain trees is used to make remedies for snake bite, skin ailments, malaria, etc. Other trees furnish fruit and dyes for painting their bodies. Palm fronds are used for the roofs over their shelters and the juice of the green coconuts providesthem with "milk". They cultivate mainly corn, rice, yucca, potatoes, yams, beans, and otoe and grow plantains, bananas, pineapples, papayas, guavas, avocados, and other fruits and nuts. Their diet is rich in vitamins and high in roughage.

SAN BLAS - KUNA INDIANS
The Kuna Indians are a strongly-knit tribal society living on a chain of islands called San Blas Archipelago, on the Atlantic side of the Republic of Panama. Believed to be decendents of the Caribs, the Kuna Indians still live in much the same manner as their ancestors.
The San Blas people have cleverly managed to retain their tribal identity and contentedly lead a moral balanced life, free from the complexities of modern, highly-organized societies. The Kuna have a matriachal society in which the line of inheritance passes through the women. A young man, after marriage, must live in his mother-in-law's house and work for several years under apprenticeship to his father-in-law. Divorce is uncommon, although it requires no more than the husband to gather his clothes and move out of the house. The daughters of the Kuna people are prized because they will eventually bring additional manpower into the family.
For some unknown reason, there is a high rate of albinism in the Kuna men. Because of the intensity of the sun in Central America, the albino men are not able to do the work expected of a Kuna man. In order to contribute to their community, they assume duties traditionally assigned to the women, including mola-making. Although encouraged not to marry, the albino men are accepted in the community and their work is respected by their peers.
There is a traditional division of labor within the families. The husband gathers coconuts, cultivates the food, provides firewood, repairs the house, makes his and his son's clothes, weaves baskets and carves wooden utensils. The wife prepares the food, collects fresh water from the mainland rivers, unloads the boats, sews female garments, washes the clothes and cleans the house.
The Kuna have a custom for every event and happening in their life and these customs are passed on to their children through dances and chants. These events are also documented in their Molas.
The Kuna language (unwritten) is spoken throughout the community, however, Spanish is fast becoming the second language. Due to the United States influence since the building of the Panama Canal and with the influx of tourists frequenting the San Blas Archipelago, English is being spoken more and more by the Indians.
The traditional dress of the women in the San Blas is spectacular. The gold nose rings, arm and leg bands of beads, sarongs and the colorful "mola" blouses worn in combination are a work of art in itself. The Kuna men have adopted a clothing style more traditional to the men of the western world and appear drab beside the Kuna women.