Ngöbe-Buglé Indians Living in Rio Cañaveral, Panama

The Ngöbe-Buglé Indians live in a very remote area of Rio Canaveral, Panama. It is only accessible by boat, and at times the ocean is too rough for the boats to navigate the mouth of the river. The Ngobe-Bugle Indians live almost entirely off of the land. There are about six people employed as teachers (usually not from this area), and a few of the men travel 4 hours by boat to mainland where they can work as laborers.

The houses sit off the ground three or four feet which helps them with the insects. The houses are made from poles cut from the jungle, and palm tree fronds for thatched roofs. These roofs are well constructed, not only are they water tight but they can last up to ten years. They use enough poles to support the roof and a few more along the bottom to keep the small children from falling out. They do not divide the house up into bedrooms or separate living areas. They usually have a kitchen area that has a raised platform with a piece of tin on top where they keep a cooking fire. Often there is no furniture only handmade hammocks. The floor is flattened bamboo which is not only rough but has a lot of give and open cracks.

Ten to twenty or even more people live in one house. Each house often consists of three generations. Adult men that can afford to support their children on their own and want to make their own house can build a house near their parents house. People sleep on the floor near each other, some have a sheet to cover up with, and some sleeping without. They do not have mattresses of any type or blankets and pillows. Although there are mosquitoes and something they call chitre that can bite them all day and night they do not use mosquito netting of any kind. This is partly because they cant afford it and also mosquito netting does not keep out the chitre.

Men do most of the machete work around the villages which has to be done very often. Some of them use their handmade boats to go to the ocean for fishing or to dive for crabs or lobsters. Small groups of men go hunting for monkeys, wild pigs, toucans, or nearly any other animal. Meat mostly goes to the hunters household but any extra is given to others.

Younger men and older boys go fishing also. The youngest boys stay in the river to fish instead of going out into the ocean. They fish with a single hook and lightweight line wrapped around a soda bottle or an oil container. They catch small fish for bait with a circular throwing net. Sometimes the boys will also use small strips of white cloth on their hook when they cant get other bait. Later in the day they collect firewood for their households or help the family tend to gardens. Any fish they catch they can decide on their own whether to sell it to the small stores for money or to bring the fish back to their family.

The girls help prepare food, keep fires going, cook, and clean. They also help with washing laundry and supervise younger siblings. They also help the parents tend animals or work in the garden.

Women do nearly all work inside the house with children helping out from a very young age. It is not unusual to see children as young as five using a machete to open coconuts or to cut the grass around their house or garden areas. Clothes are washed in a small stream that flows through the center of the village, each household has an area they use with a wide piece of wood set up to smash wet clothes against until they are deemed clean. A well off family might have a bar of laundry soap to assist in this process. Clothes are then carried back to their house where they are hung on lines strung from house to house. This is often a daily chore as people do not own more then one or two sets of clothes.

Very young babies spend most of their time in a hammock type of bag that hangs from a single point on a hook in the ceiling of the house. They first put a sheet in this hammock which protects them from the rope and also works as their diaper. If the baby cries and it is not hungry they rock it while continuing on with their work. If the adults are all leaving the house the mother will keep the baby in this hammock and hang it across her forehead with the baby hanging on her back so she will still have two hands for her chores.

Most houses keep chickens for the meat. They eat eggs from the store but let their chickens lay on any eggs of their own so that they will have more chickens. Women chop up coconut very finely to feed the chickens a few times a day inside the entrance to their house. A few families have pigs, and fewer yet have cows. There are many dogs in the village that help keep the chickens safe and some help with the hunting as well.

Each family has an area of land they claim as their own and there are also areas that belong to everyone. On their own land they tend yucca, digging the mature roots to eat and replanting at the same time with pieces of the stock put back in the soil. They also tend banana plants, pineapples, rice and other food crops. They can gather a lot of food from the trees around the village such as coconuts, mango, and lemons.

They typically wear American style clothes, except men who tend to wear handmade pants. Children under five only wear underwear and occasionally a t-shirt. In other areas of Panama the schools require uniforms but this village does not require it or there may not be anyone able to send their children to school.

The stores that are run out of some of the families houses carry goods that come in once a week on a boat from the mainland. Most of the stores carry noodles, sugar, flour, salt, rice, beans, bar laundry soap, cooking oil, garlic, eggs, matches, and candles. Stores usually have scales to measure out small amounts of rice or flour (enough for one meal).

This village also has a school supply store (paper, pens, pencils), two churches, and a gas station over the water that supplies the boats with fuel. They also have a large covered area near the school where they hold any festivals or celebrations.

Most of these people work very hard to have food and clothing for everyone in the family. Overall they are happy peaceful people.