Return to La Casona

Entering La Casona (view of primary school).

To enter into the Ngöbe territory of southern Costa Rica in Coto Brus, I drive some 20 minutes from the Las Cruces research station, passing breathtaking mountains and valleys on either side of the highway. Then comes a single turn off the main highway and another 20 minutes on a bonesetting unpaved road that winds into a range of cloud-shrouded mountains. I arrive to the entrance of La Casona (pictured above), to find the primary school and EBAIS (the fully-staffed clinic) of this first community.

La Casona is only one of many communities tucked away in the mountains of the Ngöbe territory. Most people from these other communities come to La Casona for the government-provided health care at the EBAIS and for any important gatherings, as the cacique (the leader of Ngöbe in this region) lives in La Casona.

This is the beautiful place to which I will come every morning to then trek deeper into the territory with my guides to find the women who I will interview.