Guaymí Indigenous Reserve

After a sleepy night in San Vito we finally made our way up to the Guaymí reserve. Rough dirt roads lead us up to the base of the mountain that is officially protected as their home. At the base of the reserve we were outfitted with horses to take us up a steep and winding path to the town where we would be staying for the night. The journey alone would have made the experience worth the while. My horse in particular provided me with in interesting enough trip up the mountain. Mañoso was his name and while he was young and strong, he did not respond well to commands telling him to slow down or stay away from the other horses. Despite some frustration and a few close calls with some tree branches and one attempt to rear up and kick another horse we arrived in tact, both of us tired and sore and in need of some rest.

The towns in which the Guaymí live are small and serve their most basic needs. Costa Rica has been kind to the Guaymí, who are originally from Panama. The government has worked well with the tribe and provided them with electricity, sanitary bathrooms, and a bilingual school where they are taught in Spanish as well as Ngöbe, their native language. They have preserved much of their artistry including ways of making clothing mostly for the women. They also use natural fibers harvested from trees to make bags and canvases for painting. They sustain themselves selling there art and from farming; although, they mostly farm just what they need to eat. They mostly grow rice, beans, and corn but also grow bananas, cocoa, and have small holdings in livestock.

Upon our arrival we roamed around the small town and started to converse with the locals and their children. They were mostly quiet at first, but the kids especially warmed up to us as the day pressed on. We brought them a soccer ball as a gift which we put to good use just before dusk, and quit playing only when we could no longer see. After the sun had gone down and we had eaten dinner. One of the older men in the town put together a demonstration of traditional song and dance for us. We sat back and enjoyed and sipped on "chicha" a fairly weak liquor made of corn fermented with sugar and water. After a few glasses we were invited to join in as they taught us their traditional dances, which were quite simple and nevertheless very entertaining. As the night pressed on and we grew tired more and more of the locals became quite drunk and provided us with further entertainment. Eventually, as the leader of the festivities lost his ability to sing to the chicha, things began to quiet down. After checking the building we were to sleep in for snakes and large insects, we made our way to our improvised beds set out along the wooden floor. While sleeping was rough, it was only for one night so we had no reason to complain.

The next morning we went on a short hike where we were able to see some traditional homes and some of the fields used for farming before we made our way into the forest. Upon our return from the hike we were presented a display of the traditional artwork that was also available for purchase. We stocked up on Mastate paintings as well as some handbags and jewelry (In the photo to the right, the women are extracting the fiber from mastate that they use for their artwork). Afterward, we presented the Guaymí with our gifts that consisted of clothing, fabric, school supplies, and some sweets for the kids. The Guaymí sat in a circle around the meeting area and we went around tossing shirts and pants to whomever called for them and then passed out pencils and pens and suckers to each child. We could tell the they anticipated our visit as much as we had through their gratitude for what we brought.

Visiting the Guaymí Reserve was like taking a step backward in time. In our society where more is better and we live on the profits of excess goods, it is interesting and refreshing to see a population centered around subsistence. Their solitary life style protects and preserves their culture in a day and age where cultures are easily destroyed and dictated by consumerism and media. It was nice to see people happy with what they have enjoying their traditions and each other apart from the technology and daily conveniences we have become so accustomed to. I hope to return to visit the Guaymí some day, and next time I will definitely stay a while longer.