July 1 - Bribri Tribe and Sea Turtle Release

Hello!!!

Our third full day was AMAZING! First off, we had to get up again at 5, but that was fine because we took about a two hour drive to the Panama/Costa Rica border (we actually could have crossed over into Panama if we wanted) and took motorized canoes upstream to a remote village of indigenous peoples called the Bribri tribe. It was drizzling a little, but we didn't care because we had our ponchos and we looked cool sporting them!

This tribe has lived in the area for over 12,000 years! They were so welcoming! They showed us to how to shoot a bow and arrow just as if we were hunting for our meal, then how to weave palm fronds to make a roof, and the highlight was learning how to harvest, roast, and grind the cacoa seeds! Believe me that this chocolate they make here is DELICIOUS! After sampling pieces of their culture, we sat down for a wonderful meal all prepared by the women who run the organization of the tribal center. We ate monkey tail (a local root), bread fruit, rice and beans, heart of palm, chicken, and stewed veggies. You can tell that love went into the cooking because it was the best meal we've had so far. Everything was fresh. There is no electricity on site at the complex, so they had to go into town that morning just to get fresh chicken for our lunch!

Our canoe ride back was much easier for the guys manuevering because we were going down stream and it stopped raining and the beautiful sun came out.

And the day wasn't over! Our awesome tour guide, Jorge 1, had special info that a group of baby leatherbacks were going to be released that afternoon at the beach very close to our hotel. And since we hadn't been able to see the sea turtles the night before, he knew this would be a special surprise! So we were able to help release the hatchlings that were born that morning around 10 am! It was so beautiful to see this delicate, new life right before your eyes and to hope that they make it once they get past the powerful breakers and other sea predators.

And our day still wasn't over! We then went swimming and it's just so hard to describe how wonderful the water is here! It's blue and salty and the waves are tumbling down and breaking so hard. The beaches spoil us! Dinner was waiting on us back at the hotel and we ate quickly so about 20 of us could go into Puerto Viejo and do a little shopping. We found a surf shop owned by a couple from Spain. And one of the owners designed all of the artwork himself! We chatted a bit about the World Cup. We spent about an hour and a half in town, then came back and went to bed! We could rest easy knowing that we didn't have a 5 am wake up call the next day!