Photos: A visit to a Costa Rican Cabécar indigenous community
SAN JOSÉ CABÉCAR, Limón – Visiting the San José Cabécar indigenous community, located in the mountains of Talamanca, Limón, is not something many people have the chance to do. This community is one of the few in Costa Rica that has maintained a significant part of its identity; they still use natural medicine, hunting and fishing techniques, traditional cultural activities and language.
Getting there is not easy. I started my trip in the tourist town of Puerto Viejo, in the southern Caribbean, took a bus to the town of Bribrí, another bus to Suretka, and from there a boat to the town of Amubri. Here I found a local radio station called La Voz de Talamanca, which offered me a place to stay overnight since it was already getting dark. They also helped me find a guide who could take me to San José Cabécar, my final destination.
I left Amubri early the next morning, took a boat to a small town called Sepecue, and then another bus to an even smaller town called Sibodi. There I met my guide, Rodrid García, a 19-year-old Bribrí who knew the area perfectly from trips he took with his father when he was a child. We walked for eight hours up the mountain, climbed walls and crossed rivers before making it to the Cabécar community, an area almost untouched, and where money is worthless. Local residents grow and hunt what they eat, and the sun is their clock.
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
- Alberto Font/The Tico Times
You may be interested

Costa Rica registers uptick in visitors in March
Alejandro Zúñiga - April 16, 2021Costa Rica welcomed nearly 90,000 international arrivals in March, a significant increase compared with the first two months of 2021,…

Why Costa Rica is re-applying driving restrictions
The Tico Times - April 16, 2021Costa Rica will restart its weekend daytime driving restrictions beginning this Saturday. Click here for all the details. The Presidency…

Costa Rica to restart weekend driving restrictions
Alejandro Zúñiga - April 16, 2021Costa Rica will restart its weekend daytime driving restrictions beginning this Saturday, April 17. On Saturdays, only vehicles with license…