Guanacaste Culture

INTRO TO GUANACASTE CULTURE

Diamante Eco Adventure Park is located in the Guanacaste Province in Costa Rica. For us it is very important to protect and promote the cultural values found in the area. Hence we have rescued the word ‘Guanacastequidad’. It sums up what it means to be a Guanacastecan; the love, value, idiosyncrasy dignity, history, identity and cultural personality they possess. Keep reading to learn more about the Guanacaste culture:

The word was first used in 1989 by Marco Tulio Gardela. His purpose was to make known the mores, reality, history, traditions, values, symbols and every day speech of Guanacaste. In a broad sense, the word wanted to illustrate the characteristics and idiosyncrasy of the region.

The true Guanacastecan can feel the Chorotega indigenous blood flow through their veins; and are fill with pride when they reminisce on the Annexation of Nicoya. This event took place in July 25^th, 1824 and in the present day is a National Holiday celebrated with great pride.

Similarly, the representative elements of Costa Rica in Guanacaste stand out with great pride; elements such as the national anthem, flag and the National Shield. Guanacaste also has their regionals symbols. A few of them are the Guanacaste tree as their local tree, the vast lowlands known as the Guanacastecan Pampas and the hard working plainsman with their singular local scream. There are also musical instruments, typical sayings, peculiar lexicon and a long string of short stories.

Our staff dressed in typical costume for the 25th of July.

Carrillo History

The Carrillo canton is localed 248 kilometers (155 miles) from San Jose and was founded the 16^th of June of 1877. In present day it consists of four districts:

• Filadelfia (head of the canton)
• Palmira
• Sardinal
• Belen

Its territory covers 577.5 square kilometers (359 square miles) and its population is of 37,122. The main tourist locations are: the Papagayo Gulf, Hermosa Beach, Panama Beach, Coco Beach, Ocotal, Guacamaya, among others. It is a prime spot for fishing and diving. Coco Beach also offers a variety of restaurants, hotels, shop and entertainment.

The Tempisque River is also a great tourist attraction. It cuts through the canton and goes through the Filadelfia city. Aquatic sports can be practice throughout the river. Such as sport fishing, swimming or cruise across to get to the Nicoya Gulf. The vegetation and great variety of flora and fauna found around, makes it a great attraction to cruise at low speeds.

Playa Matapalo, Guanacaste

Coco Beach

Coco Beach is the closest beach town to Diamante. It has had a high development in the last few years due to tourism. It is said that tourism started in Coco Beach around 1930. Many contribute this fact to song writer Hector Zuñiga Rovia which wrote ‘Amor de Temporada’, or Seasonal Love; a song that alludes to all the travelers that head to Guanacaste during the summer season when horseback riding was still the preferred method to move around Guanacaste.

The people from Coco Beach proudly call themselves ‘coqueños’ and it was them who started offering the first touristic services. Services such as cabins, camping zones, typical food restaurants (or sodas) where created to meet the demands of the national tourist coming from the Central Area of the country. Unfortunately many small businesses had to be shut down due to the Terrestrial-Maritime Law and the construction of the Amor de Temporada Boulevard. Although this changes have a positive impact given that more tourist can enjoy leisure strolls close to the sea.

Economic Enviroment:

Carrillo’s geographic location, weather and altitude make a perfect combination to develop their economy around three main activities:

• Agriculture (sugar cane, rice, melon, and others)
• Tourism (hospitality, tour operators, eco-tourism)
• General commerce (public and private services offices)

Culture

Guanacastecan culture has probably the most striking traditions of the country. The population enjoys bull riding festivals, horse parades and activities, and corn-based gastronomic plates. Big part of the Guanacaste gastronomy has been inherited from their pre-Columbian ancestors.

The marimba music is also a signature symbol from this province and in March 2017, the marimba was declare a Costa Rica / Guanacaste national symbol.

The Culture House of Filadelfia, Carillo, was built in the mid XIX century and it constitutes a sample of Guanacastecan architecture. Built from bahareque (similar to adobe) and wood, is one of the few architectural houses of that century that still endures to this day.

For example, the authentic Guanacastecan cart is bigger than the Sarchi cart. Its parts are also build with a different wood such as laurel, yellow bark, Guanacaste, cedar and others.

Keeping the Traditions Alive

At Diamante Eco Adventure Park we encourage our staff to celebrate the cultural traditions of the area. During Guanacastecan Holidays, such as the 25^th of July, we bring local artist to play the marimba and folklore dance presentations. We also encourage traditional games, typical dances and art demos from the area. Last but not least, we also sponsor people from the area to come visit us during the holidays and we entertain them with the mores and traditions from the area.

Diamante Eco Adventure Park wants to reinforce the cultural knowledge of the area we live in. That is why we keep encouraging the values and mores of the zone. To have the people that visit us get to know a little about how we live the guanacastequidad. So that we can always be proud to belong and be part of Guanacaste!

VISIT DIAMANTE ECO ADVENTURE PARK

Experience the best Costa Rica tour by visiting us at Diamante Eco Adventure Park! Get your passes at www.diamanteadventurepark.com . There are three passes that will let you live the Diamante experience:

• Discovery Pass ($42): Enter our Animal Sanctuary and meet our wildlife family: Lucy the sloth, Nico & Sama the jaguars, Balu the white faced monkey, King Julian our largest iguana and many more!
• Aerial Pass ($78): Enjoy the zip line tour, including the Superman Man mile-long dual cable and a 30 feet high controlled jump!
• Adventure Pass ($118): experience the full zip line tour plus one extra cable that runs through our animal sanctuary and a hanging bridge over the crocodiles! Finish the tour inside of our top of class animal sanctuary and enjoy our wildlife family. This pass also includes a buffet lunch at the Welcome Center and access to our beach activities (stand up paddle board, snorkeling, kayak and hanging out at the hammocks).

Pura Vida!