Panama Indigenous Wisdom Immersion

We will welcome you with a VIP reception at the airport gate, expediting immigration and customs process. You will wait at a comfortable lounge while our staff gathers your luggage and takes it directly to your vehicle for a 30-minute effortless private transfer to your hotel.

Check-in at the charming colonial Amarla Boutique Hotel in Casco Antiguo, where you will stay for 2 nights, with breakfast included a la carte. At the hotel, we will meet you for a 30-minute orientation to review your transformational itinerary for our Guna Indigenous Wisdom Immersion.

In your first night in the city, you will be met by your English-speaking guide for a stroll in the old town to the restaurant of your choice, to enjoy dinner and for drinks at a rooftop bar, and appreciate the beautiful Panama City skyline (we will provide a list of suggested restaurants and rooftop bars at walking distance).

 

After breakfast, at 9:30 am you will be met by your driver to visit the world’s first biodiversity museum (Biomuseo), Latin America’s only museum designed by Frank Gehry (married to a Panamanian), which shares the story of how Panama changed the world when the isthmus emerged from the ocean, a true marvel of the cycles of our Mother Earth.

You will then be transferred for lunch at Fonda Lo Que Hay, one of Latin America’s 50 Best restaurants of 2022, where Chef Jose Carles’s culinary offer is Panamanian author cuisine.

After lunch you will start your connection with the Guna indigenous people by visiting the Mola Museum. You will be introduced to their craftsmanship, showcasing their worldview, connection to the spirit world, through the theme of the Mola, their traditionally designed fabrics.

To finalize the afternoon we will have a coffee tasting experience at Sisu Coffee Studio, where you will have the chance to taste geisha coffee, considered the most valuable coffee in the world. Dinner will be at leisure (we will provide a list of suggested restaurants and rooftop bars at walking distance).

On the third day of your adventure, you will be met by your driver for a 2-hour and 30-minute private transfer passing through the jungle and panoramic views of the Guna Yala indigenous territory.

Once you get there, your English-speaking local Guna cultural expert guide will take you to the island of Gardí Sugdub, a short 10 minute water taxi ride.

Your on site immersion in their ancestral wisdom will begin with a presentation from the elders of the community, who will give you an introduction to Guna spirituality and their worldview (cosmovision) in their sacred assembly space, told in their original language with an English translation.

Later, you will have the opportunity to learn from their inadule (traditional botanist) and receive lessons in their sacred medicine. Lunch will be served with a traditional Guna meal.

Your guide, raised and born in this community, will share the extraordinary case and story of their indigenous territory: the Dule Revolution in 1925, becoming the first indigenous politically autonomous territory in Latin America, along with the story of Gardi Sugdub as the region’s first documented case of indigenous people that are being forced to move to mainland because of climate change.

To finalize your experience in this community, the elders will share the mystical and inspiring ancestral chants of the story of Ibeler, their mythical hero who fought to liberate Mother Earth from the chaos that had been sown by humanity. 

On your second and third day in Guna Yala, you will explore one of the most beautiful marine territories in the country, Cayos Holandeses, where you will spend two days enjoying the catamaran, delighted by the pristine beaches and snorkeling your way through crystalline waters and coral reefs joined by our local Guna marine expert, who will also share the traditional Guna names for marine species in the area. At the end of your days, you will have the opportunity to witness the sunset and take in all the beauty that surrounds you.

The fourth and final day in Guna Yala you will visit Digir (Tiger Island), an authentic and small community that will welcome the group with a purification ritual guided by the local botanist and healer in their sacred community house.

After a stroll in the small island, the group will meet at the beach and venture into a 15-minute ride in a traditional and artisanal sailboat to a nearby island, a true immersive experience of their old ways!

Later, you will have the opportunity to talk to the local medicine woman and midwife, ask for advice and listen to the ancient way of treating women. After this inspiring encounter, the group will visit the local botanist and medicine man, listen to special chanting and talking about herbalism and their traditional remedies. Also, you will attend a dance presentation with the community, where you will have the chance to be a part of.

At 2:00 pm, the catamaran will take a 45 minute ride to the airstrip in Corazon de Jesus, which will take you to Albrook Airport in Panama City, so you can take a 3:30 pm private flight that will transport you to Albrook Airport in Panama City, and we will then drive you for 30 minutes to board your flight back home from Tocumen International Airport.