San Jose De Uchupiamonas

I have decided that I am going to talk about my experience in San Jose De Uchupiamonas because I felt a certain connnection to the people as well as the place itself.
We left the 21st from Yariapo and arrived about 5 hours later in San Jose. The walk was long, but it was stunningly beautiful and our guides where filled with unfathomable amounts of knowledge. They where able to answer any and all questions that we had. We walked and talked and laughed and connected. Just 15 minutes before we arrived in the community we stopped and waited for the other group so that we could walk in all together. As we were sitting down we noticed a long steep hill right ahead. We all just laughed and watched the butterflys fly around in cool patterns.
Once we reached the top of the hill there was a group of cheery men and little boys with all different types of locally made instruments. As soon as they saw us they started playing their music. They marched behind us all through town. After about 5 minutes we reached the community meeting area. A group of women with huge smiles came up to us and gently laid handmade garlands over our heads. They shook our hands and then gave us a hug and a kiss, just like they had known us forever. They danced for us, they played music for us, they cooked for us, they were always respectful and caring, they honored us in every way possible.
As soon as we got up from our seats all the little children jumped up as well. We stepped out the door and there was the group of men and boys playing music for us, as well as a group of 15 dangerously excited children. They followed us until we got to our tents. When we got there we immediatly dropped our jaws in awe. THERE WHERE MATRESSES IN OUR TENTS. Being a group of mostly all SBMS students, this was surely a dream! The same little kids where just waiting to be our new best friends and as time went by more popped up, out of no where it seemed. They stayed until it got dark and showed up before we had even woken up. We had the honor to wake up to this each morning.