GUANACASTE—SANTA CRUZ 473 



of Guanacaste including the peninsula of Nicoya voted to 

 remain as part of Costa Rica and the Federal Congress of 

 the then United Provinces of Central America confirmed 

 this arrangement in 1825. Although Guanacaste has re- 

 mained Costa Rican politically ever since, the province 

 is said still to be more Nicaraguan than Costa Rican. Dr. 

 Sapper states that botanically Guanacaste is like Nicaragua 

 and northern Central America, while the rest of the Costa 

 Rican flora bears a South American character. 



Those features in which the inhabitants of Guanacaste 

 resemble Nicaragua and differ from the rest of Costa Rica, 

 so far as I could learn, are: their racial character, the Indian 

 element being furnished by the Chorotega tribe not found 

 ea«t of the Cordillera de Tileran, while there are also many 

 Zambos or the mixture of Chorotegas and African negroes 

 originally brought here as slaves; many peculiar idioms 

 not in use elsewhere in Costa Rica; a farm life of different 

 character; the use of the marimba as a musical instrument; 

 and certain peculiar dances such as the punto already 

 mentioned. 



It may be of some interest that after leaving Puntarenas 

 for Guanacaste I saw no butter until I returned to Punt- 

 arenas. Costa Ricans generally do not use butter and when 

 served in the hotels of the central part of the country it is 

 chiefly for the use of foreigners. Absence of butter in Guana- 

 caste, therefore, merely means that foreign (European or 

 American) travel is still so slight that hotel keepers have not 

 yet thought it necessary to supply that article. Native 

 cheese was frequently served, however. It was more like 

 cream or "cottage" cheese but, I believe, not boiled or 

 scalded in the preparation. It was put on the table in 

 solid blocks firm enough to be cut into thin slices with a 

 knife. 



With the exception of Sunday, January 16, at Hacienda 



