Day 20: The Embera!
My first day out of the hospital! *HALLELUJAH CHORUS* I didn’t go to class today, so that I could make sure I was well rested for our field trip. It was probably a good thing, because it rained all morning.Today we visited the indigenous Embera tribe. (It’s kind of funny that they’re called indigenous because they are actually from Columbia...) Their lands are inside a national park, and when we got there my breath was almost taken away. It was completely gorgeous. The bus stopped and there were men in loincloths who greeted us (some in Spanish, some in English), and showed us where their boats were docked. We walked down the earthen steps to hop into the boats. I think the concepts of the boats were cool, because they were completely handmade from large logs, probably about 30-40 feet each, but there was a HUGE motor on the back of it! As we hopped into the boats, they strapped life vests onto us (it IS a protected national park, after all) and we went to where the people stayed.
When we docked at the front of their village, the women (and children) greeted us. Some of the babies just jumped into our arms! They were adorable. There was also a man who was playing a flute-like instrument, and two men playing drums. I noticed that as the boats emptied of their passengers and were secured, the navigator of the boat would pick up a percussion instrument and join. (Our navigator picked up a turtle shell and a stick; kinda strange, but cool too.)
We walked through their village to get to the large central hut to learn about the roots of this particular group. We asked their leader Naldo, who spoke Spanish, questions about their customs and way of life. Then, they served us lunch: fried fish, patacónes (green plantains), and fruits. I had the patacónes and a piece of pineapple, and then ate the PBJ I brought. :) Then, we were separated into groups by gender. The guys learned about how to make carvings, while the girls learned how to weave baskets. We played with babies some more and took pictures with them, and then they gave us tattoos (similar to henna tattoos) if we wanted them.
After our tattoo sessions we went to their town square to purchase different things they had made: wooden and ‘natural ivory’ carvings, baskets, bowls, rounded place mats, and jewelry to name a few. Finally, they showed us some of their traditional dances (the kingfish dance and the sugarcane dance) and invited us to dance along!
Finally, it was time for us to go. We shook hands with the people, hugged the babies, took pictures of the pet monkey on a leash, and then loaded back up into our boats.
Today was awesome.
Also, I talked to Mom and Dad today and they told me that Kyle is visiting next week! Unfortunately he’s leaving on the 3rd or 4th of June, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to see him before he has to go back!
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