Bribri :)

Haaaallllooo todosss!!

(WARNING: This may be the longest blog I have ever/will ever write.)

Last night, I got back from Bribri. In all honesty, it was up there in the best trips of my life (I know I say that every time…but this one got my heart too.) We left on Thursday morning at 4:00 AM. The first bus ride took about 6 hours with a stop on the Caribbean Sea.  Since seeing that ocean is on my bucket list, I thought the trip was already off to a great start.  When we got off the first bus, we had to cross a river to get to the Indian reservation in motorized canoes. It was a little frightening to say the least since all of our stuff (and me for that matter) could have flipped into a river in a heartbeat…and since I can’t swim, you can imagine how I was feeling. We then loaded our stuff into another bus for a half an hour ride to the reservation.  We arrived at the elementary school, where all thirty of us were going to share a room for the next four nights. We hung up the HUGE mosquito net over about twenty foam pads for our sleeping station.  Then, we all were pretty sweaty (as it was hotter and more humid than it has been in Alajuela ever) and we went to the river to relax. It was gorgeous and so much fun! Some kids taught us a few games they like to play in the river and we even got a little sun.  Then, we headed back to the school area (which is pretty much in the middle of the reservation) to eat dinner and clean up.  After dinner, we got to play so much soccer. It was us versus them….and the little kids totally kicked our butts. This little girl was amazing. She was the only girl playing and it was clear that she owned that field.  Once it got dark, we decided to call it a night and went to try to sleep.  I say try because it was hotter than Hades, and there was so much body heat around me it was unreal.  Thankfully, around midnight, I finally fell asleep.

Caribbean Sea :)

On Friday, we started our day by going to see the little kids sing for us  J.  We had a chance to go to the classrooms to meet some kids and play for a while afterwards.  I got to go into the second grade classroom.  The kids were so fun! They absolutely LOVED taking pictures with our cameras. When that wasn’t fun anymore and the kids went to recess, the teacher asked if we wanted to learn a little bit of their native language (Bribri).  We sat down for a while and learned the basics..pronouns, verbs like eat, sleep, drink, and love.  It was fascinating to learn a language like that.  They had so many nasal and glottal sounds.  It was fun to try to pronounce things correctly.  The teacher taught us simple phrases too (like “How are you?”, “What’s your name?” and “I love you.”) Afterwards, I got to go play with the kids on the swing set! Afterwards, we pulled out all the bags of clothes and toys that had been donated to the reservation and set up a “shop”.  Annie, Bethany, and I were in charge of the baby clothing.  Later that night, I met Stephanie (the little girl from the soccer game) and Jordi.  They are seriously some of the funnest kids I have ever met.  We taught them a bunch of card games like Go Fish, ERS, and 31 (which I also learned J).  Apparently, they don’t have cards, and so they were loving these games! They were so intense in ERS and picked up the games so quickly.  I loved practicing Spanish with them because they were so patient with me.  After a few hours of cards, we called it a night (and it wasn’t even that hot to sleep!)

On Saturday, we got up bright and early and set up “shop” for the people to come in and get items for their families.  Each person in the family only got one shirt and one bottom because we had so many people to give things to.  It was incredible how thankful they were for anything they got.  The first thing we pulled up as an option, they would grab immediately.  No one was picky at all about getting “fashionable clothing” or matching.  It was incredible to see the joy of the kids who got new toys to play with.  I worked in the “shop” for about 5 hours that day. Later that afternoon, I went to the general store up the road to get a powerade. One of the girls that I gave a dress to was in there (wearing the dress) and she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug and then modeled her new outfit.  It was one of the most adorable experiences ever.  After dinner, we played more cards for a long time and got some of the most delicious “ice cream” I have ever had (see pic below). If I could market it in the states, I totally would.  We asked how they were made and it is just the fresh fruit juice and sugar mixed in a bag and then frozen.  They had blackberry, strawberry, coconut, pineapple, and chocolate flavor.  The coconut and chocolate had milk in it as well we later learned.  My favorite was the blackberry..and second favorite was pineapple.  It was only 20 cents for one of these and they cooled you right down! I probably had 10 thought the duration of the trip…And one kid even packed his insulated lunch box full of them to take back to Alajuela.  (They were that good!) After this, we called it a night.

On Sunday, I went to mass with Vera again.  This time, I liked it SO MUCH MORE. The priest talked much slower and it was so much easier to understand.  The church was kind of sad looking, but it was so cool because the walls were literally fences for air circulation. This time, communion was a much more like that at home and the mass followed the pattern of at home so much better. It was still about an hour and a half long, but it wasn’t as awful as the last time.  And the nuns’ singing was glorious.  (P.S. there was a convent on the reservation and some of the nuns teach in the school.) After mass, we got to go on a hike with Jordi leading us all. We went to a real TEEPEE. It was literally so neat.  They told us about rituals that they have in there and how it was made.  The one we were in (seen below) was built about seven years ago.  It was incredible to see it.  Then we went into a teepee that was not for rituals where a woman was using metates to chop corn to make chicha which is an alcoholic drink that the Indians make.  It was awesome because we had just learned about metates and chicha in class the week before…and it finally came together at the reservation.  Then we headed back to the reservation to change to go back to the river.  There I learned that Jordi was telling my friends I was his girlfriend (sorry Sether, looks like you got the boot J ). It was adorable.  Then we went back and played cards and went to bed with rain, so it was BEAUTIFUL for sleeping.  

Yesterday was so bittersweet.  As soon as I woke up, I wanted to go back to sleep so I didn’t have to face the reality of leaving.  We immediately started packing and taking down the mosquito net.  After we were all packed, the kids called us over to sing and say thank you.  Stephanie asked me to go swing with her before I left and some kids asked for my email and full name to find me on facebook (they have five computers at school).  When the bus came, I definitely was not ready to leave. One girl (Brooke) and I even joked about running to the convent to tell them we wanted to be nuns so we could stay.  But when the bus came, we got on the bus and waved goodbye to all the kids.

This is Bethany, Annie, Stephanie, and I :)

I definitely wasn’t expecting to enjoy a trip with no hot shower, so many bugs, such hot weather, no technology really at all, and sleeping with 30 people to be so fun…but it was the best trip so far.  It was so fun to get to know people so well on the reservation.  They were so welcoming and kind to us.  They were as interested in our lives as we were in theirs.  I really hope that at least one of those kids emails me. I would love to be able to keep in contact with that community.  Thus far, it was the fastest five days of the trip and I wouldn’t replace it for anything.

 I can’t wait to tell you all more about it when I get home.  Love you and miss you all very much. (You guys were the real reason I didn’t run to the convent and stay there forever J)