During the colony, African slaves escaped from their captors and went deep into the Panamanian tropical jungle, where they were more at ease. A great number of them traveled great distances to reach the Darien jungles, where they established settlements. It was in these palenques that the fast, seductive rhythms and provocative verses of the bunde and bullarengue, which can still be heard in the towns and festivals of Darien, were born. In the indomitable Darien jungle the African slaves and the ethnic races native to America lived side by side, and their descendants still share the fascinating territory of Darien, while they sing and dance under the spell of the mysterious jungle.