Day 6: Kian

Título: Jeh ki kali awoo kiana (I don’t want more rain)

Today we lead another day of camp. As usual there were lots of games and laughs. We played some soccer, who has the rhythm and, the kids’ favorite, prisión dart-frog. We also attempted to play some Spikeball before realizing that we aren’t quite good enough to pretend to be bad and make it fun for the kids.

 

After lunch we had a lesson on the Bribri language (with Rolando, a teacher and community member). We covered basics like “How are you?” (ees besh kenna), numbers (eht, boot, mangot…), “please” (beh way kayoh) and ”thankyou” (miya miya). We also learned a few deeper expressions like “I love you” (Jeh ki beh kiana taiyeeia). My personal favorite words are the surprisingly fun to say “yes” and ”no” (toe) and (Awoo). I’m sure our trip leaders will soon grow tired of hearing a chorus of “Awoooos” howled at them in response to their questions.

 

Today we also encountered our first real, jungle, rainstorm. If I thought I was going to get away with forgetting to pack a rain jacket… I was quite wrong. It rained hard, enough to soak you in just a few seconds not under cover, for close to 5 hours straight. Previously, we’ve only seen short, 30 minute, mini storms. As a bonus, the rain whipped up some nice, extra sticky, boot stealing, clothing wrecking mud.

 

I fear we won't be forgetting the storm anytime soon since nothing ever dries here. It’s a strange combo as clothing dries fast but not well. It’s almost like your clothes get 50 percent drier every hour, but that last step between damp and dry is just something of our dreams. At least we will all be soggy together.

 








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 1: Wayland

Image
After a long night of traveling, we arrived in San Jose and met up with Matt, who will be with us on travel days. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and had a lovely lunch at a Vietnamese Fusion place. After lunch we went to the Central Market, exploring downtown's history and culture while we adjusted to Costa Rica.  On our walk we ran into a spontaneous rap battle across from the legislative building and joined in with the crowd watching.  Even though we understood little of the rapid Spanish we could still tell from the rhythm when someone was great at rapping!   As our sleep deficit caught up to us we bonded as a group playing cards over a light dinner.  Tomorrow we are off to our host community!   
Read more

Day 2: Remy

Image
Before embarking on our journey, we enjoyed a traditional Costa Rican breakfast that included scrambled eggs, rice with beans, bananas, fried cheese and bread. We then departed by bus through dense fog and forested national parks. We stopped several times, visiting farmland and a Caribbean beach (Cahuita National Park). The last leg of our trip included a motor canoe ride through a river which directly split Costa Rica and panama. The shallow water and relatively strong currents made the boat ride feel adjacent to reverse white water rafting. Departing our canoe was the moment that the realness of the trip began setting in—both flora and fauna were abundant. We finally introduced ourselves to members of the village and met our families.        Below is a bilingual haiku describing our river ride:   Between Panama Rio Libro, madera And Costa Rica
Read more

Day 3: Zubi

Image
Today was our first full day in Yorkin, and Bernarda, one of the founders of our host organization, Stibrawpa, came and talked with us about why the organization is essential for the community. The three important goals of the organization are to protect the forest, to preserve Bribri culture, and to improve the economic standing of the community. This is vital, because Bribri culture, and the forest that people here depend on, are two things that were being lost in the community.   When Bernarda was born, everyone in Yorkin spoke Bribri. However, in the 1980s, a school was founded in this community, which was good in some ways, but came with a lot of problems. The teachers were from the city, not the community, so they didn’t speak Bribri. The government valued teaching Spanish much more than they valued indigenous culture, so if the students spoke Bribri in school, the teachers would hit them or pull on their ear. The students became scared to speak Bribri, and so they stopped ...
Read more