The Bribri-Cabécar

January 10-11

Today we went to visit an indigenous community called the Yorkin that is part of a tribe called the Bribri-Cabécar. The journey began with us driving four hours or so southeast from CATIE. Once we all unloaded from the bus, we hiked for five-ten minutes to get to the Yorkin River.

From there on, we took an hour-long boat ride up river to get to our final destination, the Bri Bri village. The boat ride was beautiful. The color of the water was a greenish blue with rock slate and a massive wall of dense vegetation lining the banks. I felt as if we were in a maze! One side note was that the southern side of the river was Panama! When we arrived at the Bri Bri village, we had to hike for about ten minutes to get to the equivalent of a dining hall. On our hike, though, we walked by their elementary school, which consisted of nothing more than two to three huts. Everyone is on break right now, so we were unable to see people actually in school.

Lunch was excellent. We had fried plantains, rice, beans, and chicken. All their food is organic, which is nice to hear due to the fact that they’re an indigenous tribe. It would be kind of a let down, in my opinion, if they served us processed food shipped from another area of Costa Rica.

 

After lunch, we were shown to our housing quarters. After that, we were taken down to the river to go swimming. I don’t think the group could have been happier to jump in the river to cool down from the sweltering heat. Once we had spent about an hour or so swimming in the river, we were able to go to our first presentation by the Bri Bri tribe. Here, they taught us how to shoot a bow and arrow with the equipment that they used before they ”modernized”.

Shooting the arrows was really fun—we played a game that said if someone missed the target, they wouldn’t get dinner that night (even though we really did). Needless to say, shooting the target was quite difficult! After that, we were taught how to make the palm leaf roof that was found on every hut in the village. We found out later that night that these demonstrations were provided because the Bri Bri are trying to regain their old culture. This occurred because of a big push from the Indigenous Women’s Society, which had three goals: 1. Enhance the quality of living for families in the tribe; 2. Bring back the Bri Bri culture; 3. Protect the rainforest. This organization was founded 19 years ago by a small group of proactive women who wanted to go back to their roots.

Their story is really quite amazing. They used to only have an elementary school and only farmed cacao. They had a lot of problems with cacao diseases, so they had to work on a banana plantation to make extra money for the tribe. The chemicals used in the banana plantations, however, had negative effects on the workers. People started dying at 50 years old because of the chemicals! One of the rules at the banana plantation was that if you got sick, you were basically sent home to die… And women weren’t allowed to do anything but stay at home. This is why this group of women wanted to change the way things were. They wanted to preserve their culture instead of assimilating into the world of the plantation owners and processed food.

The next day, the Bri Bri’s gave us a tour of one of their cacao plantations. We found out that they faced a lot of problems with diseases that infest cacao pods. One particular disease was monilia, which can destroy up to 50% of the harvest. Two ways that they try and combat the disease is by cutting pods off when they are infected, and by planting a polyculture, which helps prevent the spread of disease. We also learned more about the reproduction biology for cacao trees. They are pollinated mostly by a midge and they produce fruits between October and February. During the prime harvesting time, each cacao plantation owner can pick up to 3000 kg of cacao seeds per week. Although the Bribri have high yields, they are not able to compete with large plantations due to lower total yields.

Cacao is an important part of their culture. We learned how they process cacao once it is harvested. First, the seeds are taken out of the cacao pods. Second, the seeds are set out to dry for about six days after which the mucilage is taken off the seeds. Next, the seeds are roasted. Once the seeds are roasted, they are ground up with a big stone and de-shelled. Once the cacao is de-shelled, they are put through a grinder, which makes the final product, a 100% chocolate paste. One of the preferred ways to eat the bitter paste is by adding condensed milk and bananas to it or by adding hot water to it to make hot chocolate. Those two recipes were definitely a hit with our group! The Bribri also use the cacao for ceremonial purposes such as funerals and for babies that have just been born.

After treating our taste buds to this delicious snack, it was time to say goodbye to the Bribri. From my perspective, I can honestly say that it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Living with an indigenous tribe for a day was really eye opening. I think the most amazing part to me was that the Bribri were able to keep their cultural identity even though there are so many opportunities in the outside world for them. I hope that one day I will be able to visit the Yorkin community again.

Knute