Has anyone heard from Anne Gordon lately?

[BillB48]

We have booked with Garceth Cunampio www.emberatourspanama.com

He has great reviews from CC members and Anne herself called on him to lead a tour that, due to unforeseen circumstances, she couldn't.

 

I'll come back with my impressions after our tour with him in December.

 

 

Love to hear from you when you return... have a great cruise!

[talyanka]

I see that people booking tours with Garceth Cunampio and interested to here opinion about his tours.

We were on the tour with Garceth Cunampio in November. He goes to the same village where Anne Gordon takes her groups. We saw her group in another canoe going to the village and later in the village. Garceth is native Embera and very enthusiastic about Embera culture.

It was very nice tour -fun and at the same time introduction to the different culture that still can live without electrisity, computers, telephone. Funny, they actually have a telephone buth in the middle of the village but it doesn't work.

We had a ride in a comfortable van to the river where we got into motorised canoes. We had 8 people in our group. Canoe ride was about an hour. There are 3 Embera villages along this river and we visited the last one. Ship tours usually go to the closest village.

I didn't follow Garceth's recommended to wear special water shoes but was perfectly fine in running shoes.There were very little water in the boat mostly from splashes.

In the village Garceth introduced us to local people and they told us how they make their crafts from leaves, wood, nuts and how they build their huts. Later we had an opportunity to shop on the small crafts market for souvenirs.

We had lunch - fried fish, plantains and fruits. At the end of our visit local people performed their dances and invited us to participate. We were welcomed to walk around the village and people were very friendly.

Local healer offered us to go on the tour to the jungle where he could show us different medicinal plants. But the soil there is red clay and after the rain it was slippery so we declined this offer.

If anybody worries about moscitoes - I haven't seen any. I had moscito repellent with me but didn't use it.

So if sombody looking for Embera Village tour and couldn't book it with Anne try Garceth. I think you won't be disappointed.

www.emberatourspanama.com

[TMLAalum]

Love to hear from you when you return... have a great cruise!

 

The previous poster pretty much described our experience. We were a group of 8 gathered thru our roll call- all were very enthusiastic about our trip to the Embera. We had experienced a virtual monsoon the prior day in Puerto Limon, so we were very leery about being drenched again when we left the ship in the rain to meet Garceth. He suggested we drive to where we would board the dugout canoes and make a decision as to whether to proceed once there. The sun emerged enroute and we journeyed over water to the Embera Puru village.

 

We did bring small toys and school supplies for the village kids (@50 of them!) and their joy and ours was heartwarming. While under the shelter of a small raised hut, where women prepared our meal and Garceth and the Embera census taker explained their culture and answered our questions, a big thunderstorm rolled in, but we were dry under the woven roof. When it had stopped raining, we ventured uphill in the mud to visit the schoolhouse. Our visit concluded with dancing and the 4 women in our group were adorned with floral headpieces- I wore mine to dinner on the ship that evening! We did have rain on the canoe ride back, but it was nothing compared to the deluge in Costa Rica.

 

While we were in the village, a group of about 20 French-speaking visitors arrived, but we were separate until the final dance. Garceth said their guide was an employee of Anne Gordon's.

 

I 100% recommend booking with Garceth. Those who had booked the ship excursion had it cancelled due to the weather, so we were very fortunate that Garceth encouraged us to persist despite the rain in port.

[nycessex]

We did a tour with Anne in February, and it really was a fantastic day. We had our kids with us (ages 9 and 7) and it was a really good experience for them. The Embera people were great to spend the day with, and Anne was a great intermediary!

[chaser1]

I sent Anne another email yesterday and I received an email back today. Yea!! She was receiving so many requests for tours that she had to hire someone to take care of setting up the tours.

Just took a tour w/her 2 wks ago. By far the best tour ever. Take toys for the kids, they love them. Loved the people, village, and Anne. It was out of national geographic.elaine

[Jade13]

We have Anne scheduled for tomorrow! Will let you know how it goes.

[5326jan]

Just took a tour w/her 2 wks ago. By far the best tour ever. Take toys for the kids, they love them. Loved the people, village, and Anne. It was out of national geographic.elaine

 

Anyone have videos or pictures?