El Baile de los Macheteros

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One of the highlights of our trip to the Parque del Café was the cultural dance presentation. The favorite dance of our family was a dance of the coffee growing region that includes "fighting" with machetes.

I have done some research about this dance, and thought you might be interested. The dance originated in the early 1900's as a game of sword fighting, with machetes, used to impress the available women in the area. The game was played at festivals and on Sundays throughout the area, but was particularly famous in Puerto Espejo. The best player was named El Tuerto Felipe (One eyed Felipe). He knew all 32 moves that could be fairly made with the machete during the fight. The moves have names like 'the half moon', 'the flight of the angel,' and 'the cross.'

Based on this tradition, the group FUNDANZA developed the dance that you can now see in the park.


Here is a sample of the dance.

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