You’re probably picturing older men in sagging khakis combing the sands of the nearest beach for lodging and missing wedding rings. You picture their metal detectors beeping like possessed crows as they get down on their knees and dig up what can appropriately be described as a muddy can. However, in Panama, treasure hunters are faced with something much more impressive.
Pre-Columbian artifacts, whether textiles, ceramics, metal, bone, leather, and stone objects, are considered illegal if owned by anyone in Panama other than the government or government officials. Certain National Stolen Property Laws require that anything, if found, be turned over to the government. However, there are thousands and thousands of pieces floating in Panama, owned simply by people like you and me. They are treasures, illegal treasures, that are as chilling to hunt as they are to keep.
In the interior provinces of Panama, such as Coclé and Veraguas, there are people who can help you find these artifacts, but the process is far from being a metal detector on the beach. It basically consists of asking enough questions until you find a local who is willing, even for a few hundred dollars, to personally take you on the hunt. You will spend your nights perched in tents in the dense jungles of Panama, trekking through thick bushes and thorny bushes as no trail has been blazed on this hunt.
You will eventually come to a point where your guide will advise you to sit back and wait for nightfall. Once it gets dark, he is taught to look out for a variety of signals, primarily lights shooting from the ground. Lights that shoot up from the ground?
This is because what you are essentially looking for are graves. If you didn’t know, this journey you’re on is a tomb-robbing tour, a journey to find ancient pre-Columbian burial sites charged, and where methane gas from millennia-old bodies still rises. through the earth and into the atmosphere. This gas can only be seen at night and produces a subtle detectable glow that marks the spot.
These civilizations, similar to the Egyptians, buried their people with relics in an effort to ward off evil spirits or, come to think of it, people like you. You and your guide go digging, carefully trying not to break your shovel through the ribs of any ancient skeletons. This practice is highly illegal, extremely unethical, and is not a typical tourist attraction. Basically, in an effort to get a little gold statue placed on his cloak, he’s digging up dead Indians and stealing their stuff. This probably involves some kind of spirits messing with you like they should.
The sad part is that the Panamanian government has yet to take this seriously and preserve these tombs. They haven’t done much research themselves or, which could be great, they dug up the remains and created a giant museum for all the world to see. So, for now, the invitation is open to people like you. To go deep into the jungle heart of Panama and rob some graves, all in the name of art.