Maleku
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The Maleku tribe is found in Costa Rica near the town of Guatuso (San Rafael de Guatuso). Around 600 aboriginal people live on the reserve, but outsiders have come into the community as well. Before the Spaniards came, their territory extended as far as Rincon de la Vieja to the west, and included the volcano Arenal to the south and Rio Celeste as sacred sites. Today their reserve is concentrated south of San Rafael de Guatuso, an hour north of La Fortuna.
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[edit] Reserve
The reserve consists of various "palenques" or villages. Palenque Sol and Palenque Tonjibe are among them. The Maleku have their own language (Maleku). While most Maleku speak Spanish, some elders speak only (Maleku). Their economy relies on indigenous art: carvings, paintings, musical instruments are their most popular items. Every member in the village (including children) makes some type of art or helps out, for example, by cutting and preparing the necessary trees or fruit needed for the projects.
[edit] Tourism
The Maleku still invite tourists to visit their villages even if most of them prefer to see them in set up ceremonies in the bigger town of La Fortuna. Tourists who do visit the villages, however, can get a sense of these people's culture even if it pales in comparison to what it has been in the past. One can visit their traditional gardens of healing plants and admire animals that still inhabits the forest, including toucans, frogs, and monkeys among others.
[edit] Housing
The Maleku do not live in their traditional houses nor do they wear their traditional clothes, since the trees necessary to make them are endangered. The Maleku use most of the money they earn to buy back the land that is supposed to be theirs (the reserve is actually much smaller that what one can see on maps). Surrounding fields have been sold to farmers who have cleared the Maleku forest to raise cattle.
Today the villages are made up of cement houses, but can still contain a couple of traditional houses used for ceremonies as tourist attractions. The Maleku used to bury their dead directly inside their homes, so they would never be forgotten. Now living in cement houses, the Maleku have gotten special permissions from the government to bury their dead right in their backyards.
[edit] Diet
Their original diet would consist of various plants and even iguana, which they still hunt to this day for meat and to use the skin on traditional drums. Some plants could be considered mildly toxic to foreigners, but are part of a traditional Maleku's diet.
[edit] Volcabulary
Some Maleku vocabulary:
- Kapi Kapi = hello (with a knocking gesture on your partner's shoulder)
- Afekapian = Thank you
- w-ay = yes
- hebet = no
- fufu = morfo butterfly
- pili = toucan
- pek-pen = frog
- gnou-ek = red-eye frog
- ti-fakara = waterfall
- ton gnaoutgnay = my name is
Source: Martin Tremblay, Nago Elizondo and Dago Elizon
