Bare Feet

Bare Feet is the raw, unflinching memoir of Geraldine Rivera, a woman who transformed a childhood of extreme deprivation into a life defined by entrepreneurial success and spiritual resilience. Born in a remote Costa Rican village that lacked roads, electricity, or even drinking water, Geraldine was the sixth of fourteen children in a family where survival was the only focus.

The narrative follows her from the age of eight, when she was "torn" from her family to begin working as a domestic servant. Her early years were marked by:

• Family Tragedy: The haunting murder-suicide of her teenage brother, Olman, at the hands of a neighbor.
• Barefoot Survival: Navigating the literal and metaphorical "slippery rocks" of life without formal education or material resources.
• Single Motherhood: Facing social stigma and deep poverty while raising her daughter alone, often trading her last coins for interest-bearing loans just to buy food.