I met the Cabecares!!
Before knowing that i will be living in Costa Rica for the next two years, I’ve never dreamed or wished to visit it, i admit that i was an idiot for being sad to be nominated to UWC Costa Rica particularly. After around 5 months here, i thank God for getting this chance to be here! I know you want to know why my lovely reader. I’m happy to say that last week me and other 15 students from my school got the chance to do community service for indigenous people! which are the Cabecares!
To reach them we had to hike for two hours in the mountain! it sounds a lot and it actually was, but after reaching the place and meeting them we forgot everything we went through and will go through, meeting these people was magical!. The Cabecares are one of the biggest indigenous people population in Costa Rica, There are around 10’000 Cabecares, who still preserve their language, natural medicine and patrimonial culture (caciques are allowed to marry several women). They have a rich corpus of stories and legends, some of which are written down in Spanish and the Cabécar language, you can find them in Southern Atlantic Coast, Limón province, Chirripó (Pacuare valley), valley of the Rio Estrella and the Talamanca reserve. Ujarrás de Buenos Aires and China Kichá. Cabecares is probably the indigenous group with the most distinct cultural identity. The original Cabécar language is still spoken next to Spanish. The Cabécares have retained many of their customs and traditions and clan ties are still very tight. They do agriculture (coffee, cocoa and bananas), bird hunting and fishing for living.
It was such an honor to meet people who are able to balance between protecting their own language, culture and life habits, while at the same time they took from outer life and cultures what they believe is going to help them (like electricity and cellphones for calling). They only have one school (which is a big wood room) with one teacher for all ages, they are learning Spanish beside their own language so they won’t lose their connections between other Costa Rican who only speak Spanish, at the same time they don’t do special celebration for weddings for example as they think it’s additional things which there’s no need for and it’s only a wast of money, so they are smart enough to know what they have to change and what not (They love soccer very much by the way!!). I always wondered if there is people who will be able to protect their culture without getting affected too much by other cultures and what i saw was an evidence that there is still people will be able to balance and be happy! Their welcoming vibes and their kind nature really gave me hope in this world, a hope in people who accept others and their thoughts and respect it, without also feeling the pressure to change what they love to catch what we call the “21st century life”. That’s why what we did for them in the past 4 days even when it’s not a huge thing, but it made us forget all the hard conditions we are working in, and just keep working hard appreciating everything.
And now i will leave you with some amazing pictures from my adventure!
Thank you so much for reading!
Dreams 