June 5

Today we went on an adventure to visit the Bri Bri, an indigenous tribe located on the border of Costa Rica and Panama.  Our journey began with a bus ride, then we took a small boat, then a public bus, then crossed two rivers on foot, and after a short hike, we finally made it.

Once we were in the village we made some new friends and learned a little about the way they live; where they go to school and work, how their houses are built, medicinal plants they have, their food, what they do with their free time, and some of their cultural and religious beliefs.

At one point we were talking to Ivan and Ronal about the house we were visiting.  It was a small house completely made of wood and thatched with palm fronds and raised up on stilts.  It was broken into 3 separate rooms, but the entire thing was about the same size as my kitchen at home.  I asked a question about how many people usually live in a house and was told that in a house as big as that one, there would usually be about four or five FAMILIES living there.  That’s about 20 people, living in a space the size of my kitchen.  I was amazed and astounded.  There is so much that we take for granted in our own lives.  The next time I think that my house is crowded, I’ll just think of having 20 people living all in one room.

What I really enjoyed of visiting this community was how open they were to share their culture with all of us and how interested they were to learn about us too. After they showed us how to do a traditional dance the Bri Bri do, they asked us to do something that we do back home.  We had to think quickly, so we did the pledge of allegiance and explained its significance. Ivan, Tomateo, and Ronal really taught us a lot and answered all the questions we had. Although the children were a bit shy they still played soccer (futbol) with us! I must say it was so much fun playing soccer in the mud with 40-50 barefooted kids that were yelling all sorts of things we couldn’t understand!  

Our trip back was just as adventurous. We headed back up the same trail we took in.  When we got to the river, we sat down in the water and rode the current downstream and across to the other side.  It was so much fun that we did it three times.  All though we were all soaked, muddy, tired, and covered in bug bites, we all had a great day and learned a lot about the Bri Bri.