Unlike Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and other similar nations in the area, Costa Rica lacks the history that will attract adventurers. There are hardly any significant groups of indigenous people who will take Costa Rica in the limelight. Neither can be said about temples and ancient structures seen in countries where the Maya and Inca civilizations used to thrive in.
But still, there are indigenous people out there in this country, although they are not as focused as the national parks that Costa Rica is proud in. One will have to look carefully and closely in order to see beyond the surface and find out what Costa Rican history beholds.
Perhaps one of the more popular indigenous people in Costa Rica are the Bribri, a small indigenous tribe of around 10,000 members living in the Talamanca Canton in Limon province. This is one of those areas that were hardly influenced by Spanish forces, and this is quite obvious up to this very day.
The Bribri people are the original settlers of the Talamanca region. They are relatively isolated and disassociated with much of Western culture. Subsistence agriculture is the norm in this side of the world, and despite the lack of education, it seems that the Bribri people are fairly self-sufficient with their own supplies. Just shows that you don't always have to have much in order to get along in this life.
At the Bribri Reserve, you will be able to know more about the history of the cocoa, which the Bribri people cultivates, and probably have a taste of it, too. You can also make a tour of their medicinal garden, look at some of the structures they have set up, and even meet the oldest person in Costa Rica. It's a world not too far from the Costa Rica tourism agencies try to show you, but the addition of the Bribri people in the picture make the trip all the more worthwhile.
