Grand Tour to Native Village vs Portobello?

[sounder]

I read a great review of the Grand Tour, that takes you to see the Umbera Indians. Has anyone done this and the Portobello tour? I am a bit torn between the two. They both sound like great insights into Panama history but very different - natives vs pirates? I was originally thinking of doing the train trip to the Atlantic, but think I would prefer one of these other tours. We leave in 8 days!!!

[Papa Dick]

Hi, Sounder

 

The side road to PortoBello takes off from the highway that connects the Atlantic Coast of Panama and the Pacific Coast of Panama. The turn-off point is closer to the Port of Colon on the Atlantic side than it is to the Port of Balboa on the Pacific Side. It can take well over an hour to get to PortoBello from the Pacific Side.

 

Once in PortoBello, there is a small museum which is interesting but a long way from a first class museum. In my opinion, one hour would be plenty for the museum, even if you can read the Spanish language descriptions. There are also some ruins to climb around and a Catholic Church from the colonial period to visit. Perhaps the tour arrangers will see to it that the local people put on a small dance show.

 

The town of PortoBello does not offer much of interest unless you enjoy wandering around just to get a feel for what daily life is like for the people.

 

There are also some beaches in the vicinity but I do not consider them terribly inviting.

 

Although I have never visited the Umbera Indians, I would think that this would be more adventursome and enlightening than spending the day at PortoBello. The Indians of Panama remain much closer to their culture with respect to clothing, housing, and life style than what you might encounter in the United States. The Indians of Panama have not generally assimilated into the mainstream. And I would think that any dance or folklore show that the tour agency might arrange for the tour group would be more interesting than a comparable show in PortoBello.

 

The decision is yours. Hope this gives you some help in arriving at that decision.

 

Papa Dick

[sounder]

Thank you soooo much, this is really helpful! We will definitely try the Umbera Indian tour as our first choice, and leave the other as a back up incase the first one sells out.