American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The Boruca Indians, one of eight small remaining tribes in Costa Rica, inhabit a reserve in the southwestern part of that country. Despite the reserve's legal measurements of 31,938 hectares, it is estimated that at present the Borucas have only about 5000 hectares because of incursions from outsiders. (La Nacion, 14 Feb. 1979). The eight hundred Borucas live on the edge of the mainstream of Costa Rican life as do the indigenous tribes of the United States. Many do not have citizens' documentation or property deeds (La Nacion, 14 Feb. 1979). Visitors to their villages of Buenos Aires and Curré come away impressed with the "survivals" of a passing culture in a country that until recently could only heave sighs of national shame for these less assimilated people. Indianness in Costa Rica seems unprestigious where high value is placed on light skin and blue eyes: proof of the Spanish hidalgos' presence. Foreign archaeologists, anthropologists, and artists have been the primary appreciators of the Talamanca mountain region tribes. Dr. Doris Stone of Harvard was among the first to conduct ethnographic and archaeological studies there in the 1940s. Government interest in these people appears to be mainly for touristic value. Karen de Figueres, wife of ex-president Jose (Pepe) Figueres has been instrumental in promoting artisan centers and sponsoring exhibits of indigenous peoples' crafts: simple white women fabric, string bags, wooden drums, and carved ceremonial masks. The University of Costa Rica, primarily through the efforts of anthropologist Dr. Maria Eugenia Bozzolli de Wille, conducts research in the area, and the linguistics department currently publishes a small monthly newsletter written in the Chibcha-root language of the Boruca and Bribri tribes. The publication from which the present translations were made, Leyendas y Tradiciones Borucas by Adollo Constenla Umana, was a linguistics project first and foremost. Desirable ethnographic and biographic data are lacking on the informants. Efforts to obtain this information from the University of Costa Rica have proven futile alter many months of waiting lor a response from the author and other involved university officials. Nevertheless, my own experiences alter six years of living in Costa Rica, (although in a different region) offer some impressions lor the immediate purposes of this paper. They may serve to spark interest in further investigation by American Indian scholars.