Slowing Down to Catch Up
The first thing that strikes you when you reach the Emberá village of La Chunga is not the green jungle or the palm-thatched cabins. It’s the tempo. Everyone gets things done at a slower, more measured pace. There is no ringing of telephones, no traffic, no harried schedules. Things here unfold to the rhythm of the river, the sun, and those around you.
For most of our travelers, who come to visit through Jungle Ace Adventures, that transition from the fast pace of daily life can feel startling. But once quiet sets in, something shifts. It’s there that the true lessons start. Not the sort that you learn from a flyer or a wildlife documentary, but the sort that quietly seeps into your bones and remains with you once you are back home.
Lesson One: Simplicity Isn’t a Sacrifice
We understand a simple life to mean a life without luxuries. Seeing the Emberá live with just what they require, and nothing more, is a wake-up call. Their homes, constructed of wood from the forest and palm fronds, are open-air dwellings raised above the forest floor, kept cool by the breeze. No electricity, no insulation, and still they are profoundly alive. Each part of the structure has a story, and a utility.
Food is shared, eaten over open flames, and comprises food that has been produced or harvested locally. Everything is used. Everything takes its time. You discover that simple does not equate to deprived. Simple means paying attention to what’s truly important and releasing the rest.
On La Chunga, you may not have access to the internet for a few days. Initially, that will make you nervous. But by day two, you’ll catch on to the fact that not everything must be recorded or shared. Being present, truly present, becomes a treasure.
Lesson Two: Community Is the Backbone of Survival
There is no isolation in La Chunga. Everyone plays a part. There are children running barefoot and unencumbered, elders reclining together trading stories, and neighbors flowing effortlessly into one another’s homes. It is not out of the ordinary to start the day and find someone out cooking for the whole village, or to be welcomed into a house simply to sit and chat or to share a ripe mango.
It’s remarkable how organic all of it feels. There is no schedule, no acting. It just is. People are leaning on one another, not from duty, but from instinct. That intersubjectivity disputes the west’s idea of independence, demonstrating that strength is also found in togetherness.
At the end of your visit, you could find yourself pitching in in the home’s kitchen, assisting in gathering wood, or learning to weave with elder members. It’s not so much that you feel like a guest, but that you are welcomed into a rhythm of life that is shared and generous.
Lesson Three: Nature Isn’t Separate, It’s Home
For Emberá people, the jungle is not a backdrop or a place to walk through. It is home, instructor, and healer. The vegetation that surrounds the village is not incidental greenery, but medicine, nourishment, shelter, and allies of the spirit. Kids learn how to recognize them from childhood. Adults are aware of how to bind a wound with sap, how to set a fish trap by observing the top of the river, and how to forecast rain by observing birdsong.
Being surrounded by life in this manner alters how you view the natural world. It is no longer a place to dominate or control. It becomes a place to honor, defend, and learn. You begin to see that our contemporary disconnection from nature is not a solely environmental concern, but a spiritual one.
At Jungle Ace Adventures, these are not simply learned. These are experienced. Hike alongside guides like Solrate Barqueño, who has been raised within these very woods, and discover how to navigate through the forest with reverence and competency.
Lesson Four: Time Feels Different When You Let It
It’s hard to explain how much our relationship with time shifts in the jungle. In La Chunga, there are no alarms. The day begins with the sound of birds and ends with the hush of nightfall. Meals aren’t dictated by clocks but by hunger and community. Conversations stretch without the pressure of having somewhere else to be.
When you’re not measuring your worth by productivity or worrying about the next appointment, something strange happens, you start to feel more grounded. Tasks like cooking, washing, or paddling down the river become meditative. You begin to notice things: the softness of plantain leaves, the scent of wild herbs, the way the river light changes hour by hour.
You realize that being busy all the time doesn’t mean you’re living more. Often, it means you’re missing it.
Lesson Five: Ceremony Connects Us Back to Ourselves
Spirituality is a part of daily life here, not relegated to an hour on Saturday. Emberá life involves songs, ceremonies, and rituals that occasion everything from healing to celebration. These are not performances, they are practices based in profound connection to land and spirit.
If you participate in a ceremony while you’re here, you’ll find yourself amazed at how comfortable it feels. It could be face paint from natural pigments or sitting around a sacred flame at a healing ceremony. The ceremony is not a show. It’s a reminder. Of something older. Something you may not even have known that you were missing.
That sense remains. It reminds us that meaning does not have to be grand or complex. Sometimes it resides in shared quiet, by the light of a campfire, or in the quiet thanks of simply being.
A Journey That Changes More Than Just Your View
Living with the Emberá of La Chunga isn’t a holiday. It’s not a case of ticking off points or taking the perfect picture. It’s immersion, it’s connection, it’s rediscovery. It’s learning to live with fewer things but to feel more. It’s leaving with fewer things but a full heart.
At Jungle Ace Adventures, these are not additions to a trip, but the pulse of it. Designed in collaboration with the Emberá community, each visit contributes to local projects, including education, clean water, and the preservation of their way of life. It’s not simply responsible travel. It’s meaningful travel.
So if you feel the call to something real, something grounded, and that lasts after the suitcases are unpacked, La Chunga awaits. The Learnings are not in a book. They’re lived, they’re shared, and they’re handed down with open hands and open arms.