Fishing

In the summer the river is very dry and makes it ideal for fishing and spear fishing.  It has become one of my favorite activities and has made this summer tons of fun.  If you are going to fish you usually leave during the mid morning, armed with your roll of fishing line, hook, and sinker.  The Chucunaque River is huge and has a ton of fish.  Almost every time you go out, you are guaranteed to catch something. 

For bait, you can dig out worms, net small sardines from the river, or look for river shrimp on the banks.  The river shrimp dig holes into the bank and you can use a spear to pull them out, or if you are a badass like Atilio, you use your hands.  I love the simplicity of using nothing but a hook, line, sinker, and fresh bait.  No fiberglass rod, rubber worms, or fancy metallic hooks.

One day I went down river with my friend Chicheme (nick-name which means corn drink) and his two sons.  As we floated down river, we would stop and fish.  He pulled out tons of river shrimp that we used for bait.  I am so amazed by how well they can do it; every time he went down he came back with one. I tried and caught nothing!  After a long day of fishing we found a place to camp on the riverbank.  We salted cooked the fish over an open fire and it was absolutely delicious!  No doubt, the act of fishing and working for the meal, made it that much more savory and satisfying. 

Another day, a group of about 15 of us went up river to spear fish.  The water is much clearer up river and makes it ideal for spear fishing.  However it also gets drier as you go further up, and at points we had to get out and push the boat.  It was so cool to see all the guys jump out with their spears and face masks, dive down for 1.5 minutes, and come back up with a fish.  Of course, even the 9 year olds come back up with fish.  They were specifically looking for a fish called Savalo, which could also be caught with a net.  As they caught the fish, the women cooked, and I was again treated to a delicious meal of fish and boiled plantain.  The day started at 8:30AM and we got back at 7:30PM.

These two trips made me think a lot about how humans learn to survive in their environment and the importance of its preservation.  The Emberá and other rural communities in Panamá (and across the world) live so close to the environment, and that relationship becomes clearer as you are sitting on the riverbank watching them dive.  Coming from a world where I bought all my food, I would live a harsh subsistence lifestyle until I reorient my relationship with food.  It’s so unfortunate to see Plastics and Styrofoam floating down the river.  It is so important that we educate and create infrastructure to allow ourselves to keep living off the land.