Plain of North Attractions

are lands to continue cultivating medicinal plants and repairs to their access roads and bridges. in general terms, thepeople of Guatuso preserve their language and have their own unique burial traditions, songs, ways of preparing food and raising children, methods of transporting goods, playing drums and using bows and arrows. They also make hammocks and bags woven out of vegetable fibers.

This group has a tradition of hunting turtles in the lagoons of Caño Negro. "Javara," their god of turtles, gives them food and protects them, and guides their boats on the right course during the hunt. If they catch nothing, it is because Javara has willed it so. Hunting takes place in March and April; everyone participates, including youths and the elderly, men and women. The event goes on for around 15 days. Nets and provisions such as coffee, sugar, rice and other foods are packed along. The hunters depart in the morning, fishing and hunting mainly for turtles, iguanas, agoutis, spider monkeys and wildcats along the way. At nightfall they build palm-leaf shelters to sleep under.

Families await the hunters' return with chicha and music at the ready, ending the trip with a real party. Meat brought back from the hunt is shared among neighbors.

Artistic expression among these people includes the napuratengeo and nakikonarájari dances. Men and women dance the same, accompanied by flutes, drums, maracas and hymns sung by a main singer who leads the song while the rest of the participants respond in chorus. In these dances, everyone holds hands, forming a long row; they take three or four steps forward, lift a leg and their hands in the air, and then return to their original position. The same movements are repeated in succession. The flutes used in these dances are different from those used in funeral ceremonies.

In another ceremony, the Maleku cry out to their god in the name of nature and the future, with dances, prayers and profound devotion. This rite is held every three months or on special dates almost always coinciding with the full moon. The event takes place in the afternoons, and only men participate. They invoke the Great Spirit, and ask for their needs to be fulfilled. Ten of them lead the ritual, with the rest remaining standing the entire time, though in certain moments all knees are bent in deep solemnity.

Why, Great Spirit, have you allowed us to commit so many sins against our mother nature?

Oh, Great Spirit, the roar of the jaguar and the cry of the falcon are no longer heard.

No longer does the dawn's dew mist our faces, nor do we smell the flowers of the field. Our brother animals are no longer, nor our sisters, the birds. Why have they gone?

The healing plants have also disappeared. Why? Why do the waters no longer run in the rivers?

Oh, Great Spirit, you have kept us in these lands for so many centuries. For this, we sing and dance in your honor, we turn our faces to the earth and raise our voices so that you might hear our pleas.