Staying at El Descanso

The cabins at El Descanso are made in the traditional style, with thatched roofs. A reforested area beside the cabins creates cool, fresh air that is very relaxing. When we got there, the women of Térraba were making rice tamales, wrapping them in leaves, and putting them to boil on an open fire behind the spacious, open air dining room.
Our guide, Asdrubal Rivas, took us to the village of Boruca, about 18 kilometers (half an hour) away, where we could see how the native brown cotton is spun and dyed with natural pigments. Boruca is also known for their masks of "diablitos", scary spirits which are part of their annual dance, held at the end of December. The Térraba masks feature animals more than spirits.
When we got back to el Descanso, the tamales were ready. What a treat! After that, a gentle swing in one of the hammocks was just the right thing to do.
El Descanso is about 4 kilometers west of the Interamerican highway. The turnoff to the village of Térraba is about 5 minutes by car south of the town of Buenos Aires. Go thorugh the village and turn left at the soccer field. Follow signs to El Descanso. At El Descanso you can learn about how chocolate is processed, then visit the weavers at Boruca, then go to BriBri Pa Kaneblo, about 35 minutes away, to learn more about traditional indigenous life and culture.
Make this experience part of your trip to Costa Rica with a customized itinerary from CONSERVacations, www.keytocostarica.com

El Baile del Toro y de la Mula in the village of Térraba

From December 24 to January 2 each year, the village of Térraba devotes itself to the Dance of the Bull and the Mule. The village stopped doing this traditional festival about 25 years ago because of pressure from churches, but for the last ten years, they have found that the dance gives meaning to their lives and they no longer feel that they have to choose between their churches and their mission to revive their culture.
Each of the young men who perform the dance carve their own masks eah year, and take on the qualities of the animals and spirits that their masks represent.
One of the "grandmothers" of the Térraba oversees the preparation for the dance. The animals and spirits (parrot, goat, jaguar, eagle, boa constrictor, etc) go down to the river in search of the Bull. They drink the sacred chicha. "Everyone is equal when we drink chicha", says Asdrubal Rivera, who is largely responsible for encouraging the young men of the village to revive the celebration. At dusk the dancers sound the conch shell, and they all enter the village and whirl around the Bull, taunting him. He goes after them. Flutes, drums and shouts accompany the dance. The dancers go from house to house, where they eat tamales and drink chicha from 6 until about 10 p.m. each night. The popularity of the celebration has grown so that there are around 50 dancers each night.
You can accompany them as they make their rounds of the village. Contact beatrice@keytocostarica.com (that's me in the photo.

BriBri Pa Kaneblo is one of the best places to learn about Costa Rican indigenous culture. It is a member of ACTUAR, the Costa Rican Rural Tourism Association. They will soon have cabins so that you can stay overnight. Tomorrow we will tell you about El Descanso, in the village of Térraba, about half an hour west of Salitre and BriBri Pa Kaneblo.They do have cabins.

As with most ACTUAR members, it is best to make reservations in advance, and to go with one of ACTUAR's excellent bilingual guides, so that you can really exchange ideas with the people in the communities you are visiting, if you don't speak Spanish.

I can help you plan an itinerary that includes these memorable experiences of Costa Rican indigenous culture. And because BriBri Pa Kaneblo and El Descanso are owned by their communities, you can be sure that your money goes right to the people.

Don Eliecer took us up to a hilltop, the sacred place from which the Salitre BriBri can view the high Talamanca mountains, home to most of the indigenous tribes of Costa Rica,

He took a stick and drew the two triangles that explain the BriBri cosmology, two triangles connected at their bases to form a diamond shape, the two worlds with their different levels of manifestation. Even though the high mountains separate the BriBri of Yorkín and Kekoldi on the Atlantic, from the Salitre BriBri near Buenos Aires, close to the Pacific, they share the same legends and cosmology.

Preserving Costa Rican indigenous culture at BriBri Pa Kaneblo

After we took a turn at using the heavy rock to grind corn, the elders at BriBri Pa Kaneblo took us to a beautiful spot in the forest that has been traditionally used for purification ceremonies, especially for mothers and newborn babies.

BriBri Pa Kaneblo is in the BriBri Salitre Indigenous Territory near Buenos Aires, in Costa Rica's southern zone. When we visited there in February 2010, the elders greeted us in their native language and took us on a walk through their rainforest reserve, telling us the uses of the plants, and showing us native customs along the way.
In order to prove themselves ready for marriage, young men have to find a huge, flat rock for grinding corn, and carry it to their new home.
We all got a chance to grind moist corn kernels on the grinding stone, and got to taste the results of our efforts (the stone is heavy!) after lunch, when we sipped a warm corn atol (corn made into a sweet, soupy porridge).