Native embera doing a tattoo in the Village of the Indian Embera Tribe, Embera Village, Panama. Panama Embera people Indian Village Indigenous Indio indios natives Native americans locals local Parque National Chagres. Embera Drua. Embera Drua is located on the Upper Chagres River. A dam built on the river in 1924 produced Lake Alajuela, the main water supply to the Panama Canal. The village is four miles upriver from the lake, and encircled by a 129.000 hectare National Park of primary tropical rainforest. Lake Alajuela can be accessed by bus and mini-van from the city of Panama. It lies an hour from the city, close to the town of Las Cumbres. From a spot called Puerto El Corotu (less a port than a muddy bank with a little store that serves as a dock to embark and disembark from canoes) on the shore of the lake, it takes 45 minutes to an hour to climb up the Rio Chagres to Embera Drua ina a motorized dugout. The village was founded in 1975 by Emilio Caisamo and his sons. They first called it community 2.60 as it was the name of the meteorological station constructed by the Panama Canal Commission located a little up river from the present community. The sons married and brought their wives to live in the community which later attracted more families. Most of the villagers moved out from the Darien Region--increasingly dangerous due to incursions by Colombian guerillas and drug traffickers--and to be closer to the city to have better access to its medical services and educational opportunities. In 1996, villagers adopted a name that reflects their identity and began to call their community Embera Drua. In 1998, the village totaled a population of 80. The social and political leadership of the village is divided between the Noko or village chief, the second chief, the secretary, the accountant and all the committees. Each committee has its president, and accountant, and sometimes a secretary. Embera Drua has a tourism committee that organizes itineraries and activities for groups of visitors and an artisans committee to assist artists in selling their intricate baskets and carvings. Such organization is a relatively new phenomenon but it is inspiring to see how the community has embraced it. The village of Embera Drua has its own NGO. Its goals are to support the village and promote tourism and its artisans. Thanks to their efforts, villagers of Embera Drua now own titles to their land. Their main goals are to assist the village in becoming economically self-sufficient. People from the village of Parara Puru lower down Chagres, have joined the NGO as well. If you would like to support their NGO, contact them directly.The climate is tropical with two distinct seasons. The rainy season lasts about seven months from April to October and the dry season is from November to March. The temperature is fairly constant during the year and varies from the high 80's (high 20's C) during mid-day to the 70's (low 20's C) at night. The landscape protects the village from the strong winter winds yet keeps it breezy enough that the village is almost free of biting insects.