Day 18

Day 2 in the Naso Community:

This was our first full day in the Naso community. Some of us volunteered to help the Engineers Without Borders, who were building an aqueduct to transport clean mountain spring water into the community. We helped them by collecting rocks to mix with cement, to form a foundation for the aqueducts. Another change coming to the Naso community is the building of a hydroelectric dam. Many of the Naso are against it because they feel that change from outsiders is causing them to lose their culture and language. After helping the Engineers Without Borders, our whole group hiked to the Naso botanical gardens, where we saw a presentation about medicinal plants and traditional medicine. The presentation started with the Naso lighting incense and inviting us to wash our hands with a plant they used as soap. They then passed around samples of plants used to cure different things, from headaches to labor pains. We also learned about Ter, the grandmother goddess of the Naso, who is a spirit one can reach by traveling to a special place on the Teribe River. There is a complicated processes the Naso go through in order to converse with Ter; they have to prepare their bodies and spirits through dieting and abstaining from pleasures. Not all of the Naso go through this process however, today many of them believe in a Christian god, mainly due to the influence of missionaries that have come to their community over the years.

After the botanical gardens, we hiked back down to the community, where we had lunch with our separate families, then met up for a presentation on the politics of the Naso land. As it stands the Naso have a monarchy. The current king is in the process of being removed, because he allowed for the hydro plant to start construction. He no longer lives on sight. As well as a king, the Naso have twelve representatives of the various communities. An interesting note about the Naso, even though they have a monarchy to represent themselves, they also have a mayor to represent them to the Panamanian government.

            Following this, the Naso community presented a small sample of the traditional dances of the Naso people, including a dance done after killing a tiger and a dance done after a victory in battle. Much of the dances were alike, with all the dancers moving around in circles. To finish off the evening a shop was opened of all the artisan crafts of the people, and a soccer game was played between the locals and ourselves.

            Going back to the homes we really got a chance to learn about the Naso community.  The homes we are staying in are very different from our own back at home.  There are no walls in all of the rooms, except the bedrooms and even then the home felt much more open.  The roofs are either made of leaves or tin and most of the houses are raised above the ground on wooden stilts to protect the families´ from animals, mudslides, and flooding.  The open atmosphere goes past the structure of the buildings and continues on in the family structures.  People travel in and out of the house as comfortably as we may travel through a public building.  Because the community is small and families live near each other, most people are comfortable letting themselves into anyone else house to enjoy their company or relax in a different hammock.  Do not be fooled though, this is not a community of total relaxation.  Even those of us who are athletic struggled through the vertical hills covered in slippery mud and hidden rocks.  The athleticism the Naso possess stood out to all of us.  Even more impressive was their eyesight.  Because there is no electricity in the Naso territory, when it got dark outside that was it for light.  We ate dinner in the dark, played instruments in the dark, and conversed with our families in the dark.  While eating in the dark was a bit disconcerting, the food was good.  We primarily ate green bananas, rice, beans, and other fruits and vegetables, all of which they grew there.  They import some of their rice but almost all of the food they eat; they grow or find in the forest. 

            All of us were pushed outside our comfort zones by this experience, but that has allowed for a great deal of learning and a newfound perspective on our own homes. 

Fuego Watchgroup