	The Chácara of the Ngöbe Woman By Pam De Luco The Chácara is an elaborately patterned string bag made by the Guaymí women of western Panamá from fibers that they recover from plants in the nearby mountains and spin by hand on their thighs. The Guaymí are the largest group of indigenous people in the Republic of Panamá, living in the provinces of Chiriquí, Bocas Del Toro, and Veraguas, where their women's brightly colored dresses make them hard to miss. Primarily on the basis of language differences, two subgroups of the Guaymí are recognized, the Ngöbe and the Buglé. When I visited a Ngöbe village in the province of Chiriquí, I was fortunate to befriend, Rosa Sanchez, who patiently took me through the process of making a Chácara. The origin of the chácara is unknown although it has always been a part of Ngöbe life. Archeologist S. K. Lothrop discovered a petrified impression of a chácara in Panamá that he believed to be pre-Colombian (Schultz, 1996). Father Fray Antonio de la Rocha wrote in the sixteenth-century about the indigenous women who carry corn in large net bags strapped to their heads and sleep in hammocks made of the same material (Schultz, 1996). Today, every Ngöbe owns several chácaras of various sizes that they use just as did their ancestors. Medium sized chácaras are the most popular and are used daily as shoulder bags. Large chácaras are for carrying produce from the fields. The full bag rests against the back supported by a strap across the forehead, a combination that makes a heavy load reasonably comfortable. When a woman discovers that she is pregnant she begins constructing a gigantic chácara that takes nine months to complete. Her child will sleep and be carried in this chácara until age 3 or 4. The making of the chácara is an occupation exclusive to women, performed since girlhood. A pubescent Ngöbe girl learns to make her first chácara during the feminine ritual Mogön. The initial four days of Mogön are spent with four adult women in isolation. The women work day and night teaching the girl domestic activities such as cooking, cleaning, and sewing the traditional dress called 'La Nagua'. Most importantly, she learns to make chácaras and will produce one per day under her mentors’ instruction. The adult women spin the yarn for her first chácara and upon its completion she learns to prepare and spin the fiber for her subsequent chácaras. Her first chácara is simple, using only the natural color of the fiber. Next, she will make a chácara with a few colored stripes. The third chácara will have a basic design, and by the fourth she will have progressed to more complicated designs. The eve of day four, she presents each of the four women with one of the chácaras that she made under their supervision. For the following four weeks the girl continues to make chácaras while living in semi-isolation. She is not allowed to wear red, the sign of an adult woman, and she must eat a restricted diet. The fourth week culminates with a ritual bath in the river with the other adult women and when she returns from the river her family and friends partake in a big celebration. She is presented to the public wearing a red Nagua as a woman ready for marriage. The earlier chácaras were made from plant fibers that were not highly durable and disintegrated rapidly in the tropical sun. Over time the Indians began experimenting with various plants and discovered that a more resistant fiber came from Cabuya, Pita, and Cortezo and will last for many years in the harsh conditions of the tropics. The extraction process, fiber, and finished yarn differ in all three fiber plants, each plant having its own advantages and disadvantages. While a Ngöbe woman may prefer working with one fiber over another, local availability generally determines which she will use. Cortezo (Apeiba tibourbou) is a tree in the family Tiliaceae, the Linden or Lime Tree family that also has the genus Corchorus the source of the fiber, jute. Cortezo grows naturally in secondary forests in Central and South America and is used by the Ngöbe primarily for its fiber. The process for extracting this fiber is simpler than for the other two and is as follows: A trunk or branch approximately 1.5m long and 20-30 cm in diameter is cut down. The bark is carefully stripped with a machete and the log is submerged for 2-4 weeks in a calm river to leach out a sticky fluid found inside. Next, the log is removed from the water and the first layer is peeled off and discarded. The following layers are peeled off in strips and dried in the sun. The individual fibers from Cortezo are not separated out prior to spinning; instead, these dried strips are spun and plied into a coarse, medium weight yarn. Cabuya (Furcraea cabuya) is one of the many fibrous plants of the Agavae family, which also includes Mauritius hemp (Furcraea gigantea) and "New Zealand flax" (Phormium tenax), the principal fiber of the Maori people, which they recover by scraping away the flesh with a shell. Cabuya, which is ubiqutious in Central and South America, both as a native and in cultivation along hillsides to control erosion, is widely utilized. In Costa Rica its fibers are used to make coffee sacks, in Mexico the nectar of its leaves is used to make a liquor, and in Panamá its fiber is used to make chácaras and sombreros, and its nectar as a medicine. The large heavy leaves are cut at the base with a machete and the thorns are removed. The leaves are full of an irritating viscous fluid that must first be removed. To do this the leaves are carefully pounded with a rock until they can be folded. Then they are tied, placed in a pot of water topped with banana leaves and boiled for 30 minutes to an hour. Thereafter the flesh is scraped away, leaving individual fibers that are lustrous, thick, and durable. When dry, these are spun into a stiff, somewhat coarse, yarn. The softest and whitest fiber comes from the leaves of the Pita plant (Aechmea magdalenae), a bromeliad whose long narrow leaves and fruit resemble those of the pineapple plant. It grows naturally in the mountains and along streams and the Ngöbe also cultivate it for its fiber which is notably lustrous and as fine as silk. Although difficult to work with becayse the delicate fibers often break, the soft chácaras fashioned from its smooth silky yarn are worth the extra effort. Rosa, my Ngöbe mentor, agreed to guide me through the entire chácara making process, from plant to bag. I will forever be grateful to her for her patience and for sharing her knowledge and experience with me. She considers herself fortunate to live in an area with an abundance of naturally growing Pita and has been making chácaras as long as she can remember. Her older daughter has learned to make a chácara, but her younger daughter shows no interest and this concerns Rosa; she fears a tradition is being broken. The first step in making my chácara was to collect Pita leaves and remove the flesh from the fiber. This all had to be done in a single day or the leaves would dry out making it impossible to remove the flesh without damaging the fine fiber. Of the two varities of Pita, Rosa claimed that the superior one grew in the forest near her mother’s hut, a three hour’s walk away. According to the Ngöbe the best time to work with Pita is during a full moon when the leaves contain more water. So, in the pre-dawn before a full moon, Rosa and I set out, equipped with a machete and two pieces of hard cane previously gathered from the coast. We reached the forest by sunrise and got to work immediately. Rosa used her machete to cut down the 8 foot long Pita leaves and I removed the thorns along the lateral edges. She then cut down a small tree, stripped the bark off one side making a flat, smooth surface and braced the log upright against the trunk of another tree. This was to be my work surface. She made a 'seat' for me from large fan-type palm leaves and used her machete to sharpen my 'scraping tool', a piece of hard cane split in half. For the next 8 hours we sat in the forest scraping leaf after leaf. First I laid a leaf along the log, holding it in place at the base with my knee. Then I scraped upward with the sharp edge of the cane, hard enough to remove all of the green flesh, but with care not to break the fibers. I advanced the leaf until one entire side had been scraped and the fibers could be peeled away from the other side, which was left behind. By the end of the day I had a sore back, sore arms, and one small hank of fiber. We washed the fiber in the river, letting the current carry away the fleshy green clumps that had accumulated from scraping. Next, I was instructed to hang my fiber out in the moonlight to help whiten it (!) The following day I was to leave it in the morning sun beating it with a stick every half-hour to shake loose the remaining bits of leaf. I had to repeat this moonlight/sunlight process for the next three days and in the end I was supposed to have beautifully clean white fiber. Only mine was sort of greenish with bits of dried leaf embedded in it. For dyeing the Ngöbe use of various leaves, fruits, roots, vines, and bark to produce an extensive palate of colors. Most of the plants are indigenous to the surrounding mountains although a few were introduced by the Spaniards. The fibers of Pita and Cabuya must be mordanted before dying. For this the Ngöbe use an acidic solution made from locally gathered materials: seeds of the banana tree, fruit of the marañón (cashew) tree, or fruit of the lime tree. First these are pulverized with a large mortar and pestle, then boiled in water for 30 minutes to an hour and, finally, strained. The fiber is simmered in the strained liquid for 15 to 30 minutes and then removed from the fire to cool. The dying process is similar, but the cooking time may vary from plant to plant. The dye and mordant plants are generally available year round and they must be used within two days after collection. The Ngöbe believe that fibers dyed during the day of a new moon result in more pure and intense colors and many dyers wait for the correct moon phase. Oral tradition states that the dying of the fiber is to be done by the oldest woman of the household who is neither pregnant nor menstruating. Other women of similar status may be present but absolutely NO men are allowed within eyesight of the dye pot. Since I am a young, single woman, Rosa felt that it would be a waste of both time and fiber to go through the dye process with me. Almost every woman that I met had a horror story of a hank of fiber that was brewing beautifully in the dye pot when someone, usually a man, had approached and the color was suddenly ruined. I'm not superstitious, but my day in the forest gave me a new respect for Pita fiber and I didn't want to risk ruining even one precious ounce of it. Several women were willing to sell me dyed fiber for $0.25 per leaf, so I purchased my colors and started spinning. The fiber is spun 'leaf by leaf' if you're a novice or several leaves at a time if you're experienced. Each leaf contains hundreds of fibers yielding approximately ten two-ply 8' lengths of finely spun yarn. To spin the fiber one sits on the floor, with one leg outstretched. The 'leaf' of fiber is folded into thirds, secured at one end with a slipknot and slipped over your big toe. The third with the bitter end is placed off to the side and the remaining two-thirds form a large 'loop'. Grasping the loop in the center, you separate out approximately 10-25 fibers. Placing these fibers in the palm of your hand and applying tension, you roll the fiber off of your palm, forming 'pre-threads'. When all of the pre-threads are formed, the knot is slipped off of your toe, untied and re-knotted in the center of the pre-threads leaving you with two unequal lengths of yarn. This knot is slipped over your big toe and working, the longer length first, you separate out the pre-threads and spin them one by one. With the palm of your right hand, you roll the long, parallel, fibers along your thigh in a downward motion while the left hand keeps tension on the fiber and allows for take up of the twist. Each length is worked the same until all of the singles are formed. Plying is worked in the same fashion; taking two spun strands and rolling them in the opposite direction. Any short fibers encountered during the spinning process are removed and crumpled up into a wad that is ran along the plied yarn to 'smooth' it out. The Ngöbe women make it look so easy as they sit together conversing in their dialect without even glancing at their work. Even with my experience as a hand-spinner I found it necessary to keep my eyes on my work at all times, otherwise I ended up with an entangled mess. The chácara is usually constructed without the use of a needle although many women choose to stiffen the bitter end by doubling over the last inch and twisting it on to itself. The base of the chácara is formed of a series of connected figure eights and the body consists of row after row of connecting single loops. Additional lengths of yarn are spliced on as the work progresses or whenever a change of color is desired. The strap is assembled from several lengths of yarn that have been spliced together producing one continuous loop. Once again the big toe is used to keep tension on the yarn and to keep it organized. The strap is constructed by finger weaving the right side bundle of yarn as it comes off the toe. This requires a lot of concentration for it is not forgiving of mistakes! The finished strap is attached to the sides of the chácara with several wraps of yarn. Two types of color patterns are commonly produced the 'sencilla' (simple) and the 'pintada' (painted). The sencilla, which a Ngöbe woman makes for herself, is worked 'in the round', with colored stripes spliced in as desired. The pintada, which is usually made for the man, is more elaborate in construction and decoration. It is divided in sections that are worked individually and joined together as each part is completed. Several different colors are worked at once and complicated designs may contain 12 or more colors! Of the countless different designs, each has its special significance to the Ngöbe, suggesting particular animals, moods, fables, history, or local scenery. I was impressed by the amount of work that goes into each chácara. I spent a total of two weeks with the Ngöbe working continually, and in the end I only produced only a tiny four-inch chácara. A Ngöbe woman does not devote all of her time to making chácaras, but rather intersperses this work with her other daily chores such as helping in the fields, gathering and preparing food, and tending to her children. The gathering, extracting, dying, and spinning of the local plant fibers is so labor intensive that many women have turned to fibers and yarn from the 'outside' to make their chácaras. Commercially spun sport weight cotton is often favored, as it is readily available in a wide palate of colors. For their personal use, the Ngöbe prefer a chácara made of plastic, which has the advantage of being free, obtainable with little effort, and having unsurpassed durability. The disadvantage of a plastic chácara is that it chafes and damages their clothing when used as a shoulder bag. For making plastic chácaras, the women collect discarded produce and grain sacks, remove the individual "fibers", and spin and ply a sport weight yarn. The varied colors of the produce sacks enable them to reproduce the same traditional patterns as with a natural fiber. The future of the traditionally made chácara is being protected by the women of ASMUNG (La Association de Mujeres Ngöbe). ASMUNG is a democratic organization of Ngöbe women from 16 communities that have banded together to promote and sell their handwork. ASMUNG encourages the women to produce traditional designs using exclusively natural, locally gathered fiber and dyes. ASMUNG has addressed the concern about the lack of young interest in the chácara, realizing that the bags are not only a part of the history of the Ngöbe, but also represent their future. ASMUNG is striving to locate a reliable market for the traditionally made chácara, which in turn will secure the chácara's future.

The Chácara of the Ngöbe Woman

By Pam De Luco

The Chácara is an elaborately patterned string bag made by the Guaymí women of western Panamá from fibers that they recover from plants in the nearby mountains and spin by hand on their thighs. The Guaymí are the largest group of indigenous people in the Republic of Panamá, living in the provinces of Chiriquí, Bocas Del Toro, and Veraguas, where their women's brightly colored dresses make them hard to miss. Primarily on the basis of language differences, two subgroups of the Guaymí are recognized, the Ngöbe and the Buglé. When I visited a Ngöbe village in the province of Chiriquí, I was fortunate to befriend, Rosa Sanchez, who patiently took me through the process of making a Chácara.

The origin of the chácara is unknown although it has always been a part of Ngöbe life. Archeologist S. K. Lothrop discovered a petrified impression of a chácara in Panamá that he believed to be pre-Colombian (Schultz, 1996). Father Fray Antonio de la Rocha wrote in the sixteenth-century about the indigenous women who carry corn in large net bags strapped to their heads and sleep in hammocks made of the same material (Schultz, 1996). Today, every Ngöbe owns several chácaras of various sizes that they use just as did their ancestors. Medium sized chácaras are the most popular and are used daily as shoulder bags. Large chácaras are for carrying produce from the fields. The full bag rests against the back supported by a strap across the forehead, a combination that makes a heavy load reasonably comfortable. When a woman discovers that she is pregnant she begins constructing a gigantic chácara that takes nine months to complete. Her child will sleep and be carried in this chácara until age 3 or 4.

The making of the chácara is an occupation exclusive to women, performed since girlhood. A pubescent Ngöbe girl learns to make her first chácara during the feminine ritual Mogön. The initial four days of Mogön are spent with four adult women in isolation. The women work day and night teaching the girl domestic activities such as cooking, cleaning, and sewing the traditional dress called 'La Nagua'. Most importantly, she learns to make chácaras and will produce one per day under her mentors’ instruction. The adult women spin the yarn for her first chácara and upon its completion she learns to prepare and spin the fiber for her subsequent chácaras. Her first chácara is simple, using only the natural color of the fiber. Next, she will make a chácara with a few colored stripes. The third chácara will have a basic design, and by the fourth she will have progressed to more complicated designs. The eve of day four, she presents each of the four women with one of the chácaras that she made under their supervision. For the following four weeks the girl continues to make chácaras while living in semi-isolation. She is not allowed to wear red, the sign of an adult woman, and she must eat a restricted diet. The fourth week culminates with a ritual bath in the river with the other adult women and when she returns from the river her family and friends partake in a big celebration. She is presented to the public wearing a red Nagua as a woman ready for marriage.

The earlier chácaras were made from plant fibers that were not highly durable and disintegrated rapidly in the tropical sun. Over time the Indians began experimenting with various plants and discovered that a more resistant fiber came from Cabuya, Pita, and Cortezo and will last for many years in the harsh conditions of the tropics. The extraction process, fiber, and finished yarn differ in all three fiber plants, each plant having its own advantages and disadvantages. While a Ngöbe woman may prefer working with one fiber over another, local availability generally determines which she will use.

Cortezo (Apeiba tibourbou) is a tree in the family Tiliaceae, the Linden or Lime Tree family that also has the genus Corchorus the source of the fiber, jute. Cortezo grows naturally in secondary forests in Central and South America and is used by the Ngöbe primarily for its fiber. The process for extracting this fiber is simpler than for the other two and is as follows: A trunk or branch approximately 1.5m long and 20-30 cm in diameter is cut down. The bark is carefully stripped with a machete and the log is submerged for 2-4 weeks in a calm river to leach out a sticky fluid found inside. Next, the log is removed from the water and the first layer is peeled off and discarded. The following layers are peeled off in strips and dried in the sun. The individual fibers from Cortezo are not separated out prior to spinning; instead, these dried strips are spun and plied into a coarse, medium weight yarn.

Cabuya (Furcraea cabuya) is one of the many fibrous plants of the Agavae family, which also includes Mauritius hemp (Furcraea gigantea) and "New Zealand flax" (Phormium tenax), the principal fiber of the Maori people, which they recover by scraping away the flesh with a shell. Cabuya, which is ubiqutious in Central and South America, both as a native and in cultivation along hillsides to control erosion, is widely utilized. In Costa Rica its fibers are used to make coffee sacks, in Mexico the nectar of its leaves is used to make a liquor, and in Panamá its fiber is used to make chácaras and sombreros, and its nectar as a medicine. The large heavy leaves are cut at the base with a machete and the thorns are removed. The leaves are full of an irritating viscous fluid that must first be removed. To do this the leaves are carefully pounded with a rock until they can be folded. Then they are tied, placed in a pot of water topped with banana leaves and boiled for 30 minutes to an hour. Thereafter the flesh is scraped away, leaving individual fibers that are lustrous, thick, and durable. When dry, these are spun into a stiff, somewhat coarse, yarn.

The softest and whitest fiber comes from the leaves of the Pita plant (Aechmea magdalenae), a bromeliad whose long narrow leaves and fruit resemble those of the pineapple plant. It grows naturally in the mountains and along streams and the Ngöbe also cultivate it for its fiber which is notably lustrous and as fine as silk. Although difficult to work with becayse the delicate fibers often break, the soft chácaras fashioned from its smooth silky yarn are worth the extra effort.

Rosa, my Ngöbe mentor, agreed to guide me through the entire chácara making process, from plant to bag. I will forever be grateful to her for her patience and for sharing her knowledge and experience with me. She considers herself fortunate to live in an area with an abundance of naturally growing Pita and has been making chácaras as long as she can remember. Her older daughter has learned to make a chácara, but her younger daughter shows no interest and this concerns Rosa; she fears a tradition is being broken.

The first step in making my chácara was to collect Pita leaves and remove the flesh from the fiber. This all had to be done in a single day or the leaves would dry out making it impossible to remove the flesh without damaging the fine fiber. Of the two varities of Pita, Rosa claimed that the superior one grew in the forest near her mother’s hut, a three hour’s walk away. According to the Ngöbe the best time to work with Pita is during a full moon when the leaves contain more water. So, in the pre-dawn before a full moon, Rosa and I set out, equipped with a machete and two pieces of hard cane previously gathered from the coast. We reached the forest by sunrise and got to work immediately.

Rosa used her machete to cut down the 8 foot long Pita leaves and I removed the thorns along the lateral edges. She then cut down a small tree, stripped the bark off one side making a flat, smooth surface and braced the log upright against the trunk of another tree. This was to be my work surface. She made a 'seat' for me from large fan-type palm leaves and used her machete to sharpen my 'scraping tool', a piece of hard cane split in half. For the next 8 hours we sat in the forest scraping leaf after leaf. First I laid a leaf along the log, holding it in place at the base with my knee. Then I scraped upward with the sharp edge of the cane, hard enough to remove all of the green flesh, but with care not to break the fibers. I advanced the leaf until one entire side had been scraped and the fibers could be peeled away from the other side, which was left behind. By the end of the day I had a sore back, sore arms, and one small hank of fiber. We washed the fiber in the river, letting the current carry away the fleshy green clumps that had accumulated from scraping.

Next, I was instructed to hang my fiber out in the moonlight to help whiten it (!) The following day I was to leave it in the morning sun beating it with a stick every half-hour to shake loose the remaining bits of leaf. I had to repeat this moonlight/sunlight process for the next three days and in the end I was supposed to have beautifully clean white fiber. Only mine was sort of greenish with bits of dried leaf embedded in it.

For dyeing the Ngöbe use of various leaves, fruits, roots, vines, and bark to produce an extensive palate of colors. Most of the plants are indigenous to the surrounding mountains although a few were introduced by the Spaniards. The fibers of Pita and Cabuya must be mordanted before dying. For this the Ngöbe use an acidic solution made from locally gathered materials: seeds of the banana tree, fruit of the marañón (cashew) tree, or fruit of the lime tree. First these are pulverized with a large mortar and pestle, then boiled in water for 30 minutes to an hour and, finally, strained. The fiber is simmered in the strained liquid for 15 to 30 minutes and then removed from the fire to cool. The dying process is similar, but the cooking time may vary from plant to plant. The dye and mordant plants are generally available year round and they must be used within two days after collection. The Ngöbe believe that fibers dyed during the day of a new moon result in more pure and intense colors and many dyers wait for the correct moon phase.

Oral tradition states that the dying of the fiber is to be done by the oldest woman of the household who is neither pregnant nor menstruating. Other women of similar status may be present but absolutely NO men are allowed within eyesight of the dye pot. Since I am a young, single woman, Rosa felt that it would be a waste of both time and fiber to go through the dye process with me. Almost every woman that I met had a horror story of a hank of fiber that was brewing beautifully in the dye pot when someone, usually a man, had approached and the color was suddenly ruined. I'm not superstitious, but my day in the forest gave me a new respect for Pita fiber and I didn't want to risk ruining even one precious ounce of it. Several women were willing to sell me dyed fiber for $0.25 per leaf, so I purchased my colors and started spinning.

The fiber is spun 'leaf by leaf' if you're a novice or several leaves at a time if you're experienced. Each leaf contains hundreds of fibers yielding approximately ten two-ply 8' lengths of finely spun yarn. To spin the fiber one sits on the floor, with one leg outstretched. The 'leaf' of fiber is folded into thirds, secured at one end with a slipknot and slipped over your big toe. The third with the bitter end is placed off to the side and the remaining two-thirds form a large 'loop'. Grasping the loop in the center, you separate out approximately 10-25 fibers. Placing these fibers in the palm of your hand and applying tension, you roll the fiber off of your palm, forming 'pre-threads'. When all of the pre-threads are formed, the knot is slipped off of your toe, untied and re-knotted in the center of the pre-threads leaving you with two unequal lengths of yarn. This knot is slipped over your big toe and working, the longer length first, you separate out the pre-threads and spin them one by one. With the palm of your right hand, you roll the long, parallel, fibers along your thigh in a downward motion while the left hand keeps tension on the fiber and allows for take up of the twist. Each length is worked the same until all of the singles are formed. Plying is worked in the same fashion; taking two spun strands and rolling them in the opposite direction. Any short fibers encountered during the spinning process are removed and crumpled up into a wad that is ran along the plied yarn to 'smooth' it out. The Ngöbe women make it look so easy as they sit together conversing in their dialect without even glancing at their work. Even with my experience as a hand-spinner I found it necessary to keep my eyes on my work at all times, otherwise I ended up with an entangled mess.

The chácara is usually constructed without the use of a needle although many women choose to stiffen the bitter end by doubling over the last inch and twisting it on to itself. The base of the chácara is formed of a series of connected figure eights and the body consists of row after row of connecting single loops. Additional lengths of yarn are spliced on as the work progresses or whenever a change of color is desired.

The strap is assembled from several lengths of yarn that have been spliced together producing one continuous loop. Once again the big toe is used to keep tension on the yarn and to keep it organized. The strap is constructed by finger weaving the right side bundle of yarn as it comes off the toe. This requires a lot of concentration for it is not forgiving of mistakes! The finished strap is attached to the sides of the chácara with several wraps of yarn.

Two types of color patterns are commonly produced the 'sencilla' (simple) and the 'pintada' (painted). The sencilla, which a Ngöbe woman makes for herself, is worked 'in the round', with colored stripes spliced in as desired. The pintada, which is usually made for the man, is more elaborate in construction and decoration. It is divided in sections that are worked individually and joined together as each part is completed. Several different colors are worked at once and complicated designs may contain 12 or more colors! Of the countless different designs, each has its special significance to the Ngöbe, suggesting particular animals, moods, fables, history, or local scenery.

I was impressed by the amount of work that goes into each chácara. I spent a total of two weeks with the Ngöbe working continually, and in the end I only produced only a tiny four-inch chácara. A Ngöbe woman does not devote all of her time to making chácaras, but rather intersperses this work with her other daily chores such as helping in the fields, gathering and preparing food, and tending to her children. The gathering, extracting, dying, and spinning of the local plant fibers is so labor intensive that many women have turned to fibers and yarn from the 'outside' to make their chácaras. Commercially spun sport weight cotton is often favored, as it is readily available in a wide palate of colors. For their personal use, the Ngöbe prefer a chácara made of plastic, which has the advantage of being free, obtainable with little effort, and having unsurpassed durability. The disadvantage of a plastic chácara is that it chafes and damages their clothing when used as a shoulder bag. For making plastic chácaras, the women collect discarded produce and grain sacks, remove the individual "fibers", and spin and ply a sport weight yarn. The varied colors of the produce sacks enable them to reproduce the same traditional patterns as with a natural fiber.

The future of the traditionally made chácara is being protected by the women of ASMUNG (La Association de Mujeres Ngöbe). ASMUNG is a democratic organization of Ngöbe women from 16 communities that have banded together to promote and sell their handwork. ASMUNG encourages the women to produce traditional designs using exclusively natural, locally gathered fiber and dyes. ASMUNG has addressed the concern about the lack of young interest in the chácara, realizing that the bags are not only a part of the history of the Ngöbe, but also represent their future. ASMUNG is striving to locate a reliable market for the traditionally made chácara, which in turn will secure the chácara's future.