Big Mama and the Bribri Culture

Ship: Johann Smidt
Date: 10.01.2026
Position: Costa Rica, Bribris
Nautical Position: 09’19,9’N, 082’14,3’W
Etmal: /
Total: 6836 nm

Today was a great second day with the Bribris. At first, we had breakfast like every day, with rice, beans, eggs and empanadas. After that, we all went to the river to visit Big Mama (the mother of Daniel, the founder of this village) to learn a bit more about the Bribri culture.

After a long boat trip, we arrived at the “bus”, which took us on a half-hour ride to Daniel’s mother. The ride was pretty fun, especially because what we thought would be a bus turned out to be just a truck without seats for anyone except the driver.

When we finally arrived at the “family village”, which has only 15 to 20 inhabitants, all from Daniel’s family, and four houses, we were guided into a house shaped like a tipi. It served as a kind of meeting hall, where we could ask questions about the Bribri culture. We learned quite a lot about their imagination of the universe.

Then we were all able to try how they crush maize to get powder from it, simply using stones. After a short break with traditional bread as a snack, we started our way back home, making a quick stop at a Bribri school and then finally returning to the truck. It brought us back to the boats and to the place where we slept, just in time for lunch.

After a one-hour break, we split up into teams and got the task of cleaning an entire path from dishes and bringing them all together to a bin. It was fun, but we had forgotten our MP3 players for music at the camp. After that, we had one last opportunity for free shore leave.

Later in the evening, we also had a big campfire with live music, marshmallows and some biscuits. It was a really fun day and we learned so much about the Bribris that everyone was happy to go to bed.

Greetings:

Margot: Coucouu ❤️ danke an alle für die netten Briefe (die die ich in Martinique bekommen habe) ❤️ ich habe mich so gefreut . Morgen kann ich euch anrufen. Freue mich.
Merci pour toute les lettres. Je vais essayer de tous vous écrire au Costa Rica . Demain on reçoit nos tels , j’ai trop hâte . Ah et j’espère que vous avez aimé mon tagesbericht . Bisous

Ylva: Hallo ihr Lieben! Mir gehts gut und bald können wir wieder telefonieren – juhuu :))