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For more information about the project, call me at (917)940-1272 in New York or Otto Sauter Cardona in Costa Rica at +(506)373-7994.
Life in the Talamanca valley:
The Cabécar people of Costa Rica are dispersed in four areas of the country. This particular group lives in the Talmanca Valley on the shores of the Estrella River.
The climate here is classified as "humid forest". Much rain and dense vegetation characterize the area, which is impenetrable to most people without local guides.
The Cabécar people have their own language, called Cabécar, derived from the Chibcha tongue. Even though many also speak Spanish, a great number in Coén and Boca Coén only speak Cabécar.
As a child living in Costa Rica, I heard my father speak about the Talamanca mountain range. He operated a helicopter service, shuttling people to distant areas and aiding rescuers. He would tell me of it's dense forest and of travelers who would get lost and finally found, starving, weeks later. He enthralled me of gold mining tales and more exciting, of indigenous people living in almost pre-Columbian conditions, still consulting Chamáns and Suquias ("Jawá" in the language of the Cabécar).
These fantastic stories of adventures and of native Costa Ricans living in the mountains stayed alive in my mind for many years. One summer I found myself in the Tulane University library searching for images that would bring me back to a past which I only knew as a myth. Seeing photographs of the mountain range, La Cordillera de Talamanca, stirred me with mystery. I knew I needed to go there.
