Page 32 - NORTHERN GUANACASTE TOURIST GUIDE

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People and Cultural Groups
In the area, there are a number of artistic and musical groups and key players who can greatly enrich your travel experience and often feature in the festivities and activities of the cultural agendas in the different towns. These include:
People
Rafael Ángel Zúñiga (Liberia) known as “Pellejo e Lora”
A pure Guanacaste figure, authentic as the jícaro llanero and spicy as the sun on the jaragua of the plains. Pellejo e Lora is a character that takes us to the eternal Guanacaste, full of color and joy, full of emotions with bombas and retahílas.
When asked to recite a retahíla, he doesn’t think about it, he just concentrates and begins a sustained and rapid narration,
speaking from memory for over a minute.
The nickname is due to the fact that in the 1960s, watching
a television series, he noticed that the men flew and he got the idea of getting some green wings and taking off himself. The result was a broken, swollen hand. In the distance, the owner of the Liberia
mill, Lauro Obando, shouted at him: “Pellejo e’ lora, gran tal por cual”, and the name stuck.
Marielos Jiménez (Bagaces)
Constant efforts to uphold the popular traditions of Guanacaste are a common thread over the course of her career as a narrator and storyteller, a maker of carvings and stories that pass mouth to ear in Guanacaste just like the fresh wind in this hot land. She is a cook, a mother, a poet of retahílas and a talker, and whether she’s in her kitchen or on her patio, her charisma is unmatched.
Photo: Fabio Vega
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Pellejoe Lora
Marielos Jiménez