Jungle riverboat arrival to remote Wounaan village in the Darién rainforest, part of RFB Woven Art’s cultural travel stories

Stories from the villages behind the woven art

Tales & Traditions

From canoe trips down jungle rivers to fire-roasted meals and rooftop sunsets shared with parrot companions, these stories bring you inside the life and rhythm of the Wounaan and Embera communities we work with.

You'll find tales of dancing in the dust, carving cocobolo under the stars, and the quiet, steady work of preparing palm fiber by hand. These aren’t just behind-the-scenes—this is the heartbeat of RFB Woven Art.

Tales & Traditions

Meeting Yenny in Bogotá: a Werregue sourcing trip diary.
Meeting Yenny in Bogotá
Notes from a sourcing trip in Bogotá to meet Yenny, a Werregue weaver. From the airport hotel to the studio.
Visiting the Wounaan weavers of Majé in Panama's Darién rainforest.
Visiting the Wounaan Weavers of Majé
A sourcing visit to Majé — the Wounaan village in Panama's Darién that anchors RFB's basket sourcing.
Travel day: from Denver to the Darién. Planes, layovers, the slow handoff to Panama.
Travel Day
A day in transit on the way to a sourcing trip — planes, layovers, the slow handoff from one country to another.
Packing for Panama: a sourcing trip checklist for Wounaan and Emberá villages.
Packing for Panama
What goes in the suitcase for a sourcing trip into the Darién — practical notes from a decade of trips to Wounaan and Emberá villages.
Postcards from Panama: a sourcing trip diary through Wounaan and Emberá villages.
Postcards from Panama
Small dispatches from a sourcing trip through Wounaan and Emberá villages in Panama. The trips Ed used to take while Jen stayed home with the twins.
Panama, 2015: First Wounaan sourcing trip to the Darién. The trip that started RFB's decade of work.
Panama, 2015
Notes from RFB's 2015 sourcing trip to the Wounaan villages of Panama's Darién — the trip that started a decade of work.
Meeting Dionila: a first trip to Majé in 2012. Courtship dance, elder who taught the girls, the floor itself.
Meeting Dionila
A 2012 memory from Majé: a courtship dance at sundown, and the elder who scolded the girls into dancing before taking the floor herself.
Haai Hi Jeujem: a Wounaan canoe ceremony from Majé. A small vessel enters the home carrying prayer instead of cargo.
Haai Hi Jeujem
A Wounaan canoe ceremony from Majé: a small vessel enters the home, carrying prayer instead of cargo.
Crab, Wounaan-style: a day spearfishing on the river and a village meal with Raquela.
Crab, Wounaan-Style
A day spearfishing crabs on the river with Arturo, and a meal back in the village with Raquela.
Lovejoy, a flightless parrot — the only animal allowed inside a Wounaan home.
Lovejoy: The Only Animal Allowed Inside
Village dogs and chickens stay outside. Lovejoy, a flightless parrot, lives inside — a small story from one Wounaan home.
Small things on the beach: tide wait near Majé. Shore crabs, hand-dug clams, and a village rhythm.
Small Things on the Beach
What the beach gives while you wait for the tide at Puerto Coquira: tiny shore crabs, hand-dug clams that become soup the next day, and the quiet hour before the boat moves upriver.
Getting to Majé: six hours upriver by boat from Puerto Coquira to a Wounaan village in Panama's Darién.
Getting to Majé
How we reach Majé, a Wounaan village in Panama's Darién: a pickup to Puerto Coquira, a six-hour boat ride with Captain Jacobo, and the tides that set the schedule.
Green oranges and sugar cane: a Darién treat. Family sharing networks in a Wounaan village.
Green Oranges and Sugar Cane
Two favorite Darién treats — green oranges and fresh sugar cane — and the family sharing networks that move food, fiber, and skill through a Wounaan village.

View Curated Collections

Handwoven basket from Colombia’s Wounaan artists featuring palm fiber and copper wire detailing — part of RFB Woven Art’s Copper Collection
Copper Collection: Woven with Fire.
Example collection
Embera woven hummingbird and toucan masks handmade with palm fiber and natural dyes in Panama — symbolic Indigenous bird masks by RFB Woven Art
Bird Masks: Woven Sharp.