Recap of Sunday, June 8th!

To begin our excursion last Sunday, we took a bus ride out to the area of the Emberra tribe. It was about a 30 minute ride but when we finally got there, we jumped into dugout canoes to ride to the closest spot to a waterfall!! Our tour guide, Octavio, said it was supposedly a short hike to the waterfall, but apparently our definition of "short" was entirely different! We had to trek through some dangerous conditions to get there, and most of us had to take our sandals off! We went through mud, water, over rocks, and up and down steep hills. Some of us ended up falling on our rear ends, but most of us made it through the hike, there and back, okay!! By the time we arrived at the waterfall, it was well worth it!! Some of us jumped into the chilly water and got a massage while sitting on the rocks under the waterfall! After swimming, we all piled back into the canoes to visit the village of the Emberra tribe! It was amazing!!!! First, they made us lunch which consisted of fresh pineapple, bananas, fried plantains, and fire-grilled tilapia!! They served it to us in a banana leaf folded into a funnel. Then we got a presentation on some of the native materials they used for building and crafts. They also explained to us how they made their houses out of several different types of palm fronds. Then they painted tattoos on most of us and we got to shop around in the market! They sold all their hand-made crafts for really cheap and there were some of the most beautiful items to buy! After this, they showed us some native tribal dances and invited us to dance with them! It was SO much fun! We learned some sayings in their native language as well. One of them was "hola chava," which means "hello brother" and "biaboa," which means "thank you." I'm not exactly sure how they are supposed o be spelled, but that's how they sound! On our way out, we visited with "Bon Bon," their pet monkey and then got a ride back to our bus in the canoes. By the time we finally sat down in the bus, we all were exhausted! We all had a blast!