The Kogi people of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains are one of the last surviving Indigenous civilizations in the Americas that have remained largely isolated since the Spanish conquest. Known as the “Elder Brothers,” they see themselves as guardians of the Earth, maintaining balance between nature and humanity. Why do they build their houses the way they do? Kogi homes, called “bohíos,” are traditionally circular with conical thatched roofs made of palm leaves and local materia