#Our Souls Are Clean Now

Location: La Carpio and Huetar Tribe

Today was an exciting and exhausting day. We started our volunteer service by helping a family of 8 people build a wall in front of their house. We had to mix sand, rocks, water, and cement, then we did our best to make the wall, and we had to stop around 12:00 p.m. for lunch. After, we went to The Huetar Tribe where we met Juan Sanchez also known as Choco. He is part of the indigenous community. He taught us about their traditions and beliefs. I think the most interesting part of our visit was when he told us that they celebrate death, but they do not celebrate a baby being born. The indigenous people think that when someone is born, it is not the time to celebrate but more a time to be responsible and plan the baby’s education. Then, something awesome happened. We got to be part of a ritual! We had to stand around a circle made of rocks while Choco cleaned our souls. Choco sang and waved a palm leaf across our faces and bodies. He also smokes lavender while he recited some words. It was really interesting. Then we finished the day by heading back to the hotel and eating dinner. After dinner, we sat together and listened to songs each of us liked. I was amazed by all the songs we listened to. Even though we are all the same age, we all listen to different music styles. Then we also watched Tom and Jerry, which was a cool way to end the day. It was a great day!!