There are eight indigenous groups (tribes) in Costa Rica, of which the Cabécar is the largest group and represents nearly 20,000 people. The Cabécar has managed to maintain their seclusion and relative independence from European influence right up to this century.

At colonial times, the Spaniards conquered large areas of Costa Rica, but the hard-to-reach rainforest with its deep valleys in this area, which today is Barbilla’s national park, they never managed to enter. The Spaniards were met with great resistance from the native population as well, who even burned their own plantations so they would not fall into the hands of the Spaniards. Cabécar is, therefore, today the most unaffected indigenous people in Costa Rica because, compared to other indigenous peoples in the country, they have been most “spared” from direct colonization up until the last few years.

Unlike most other Indian people in the country, they still speak their own language and live according to cultural patterns of life that distinguish them from the rest of the nation. The Cabécar still build natural homes and live in clans that follow a matrilineal lineage, which means that they count as “relatives” only on their mother’s side, a kinship system that often gives the woman a higher status than in patrilineal communities.

Thanks to the help of a number of Swedish organizations – religious, private and official – Barbilla was marked as protected after several years of struggle and tough negotiations with the Costa Rican authorities. In the 80s and 90s, Barbilla was more known as the Swedish campaign name “The Churches’ Rainforest”.

Ingemar Hedström (Marine’s dad) had then started a foundation (1990) together with some friends and received a personal assignment from Costa Rica’s environmental minister’s to present a national park plan because the minister also thought Barbilla should be protected. Sweden’s own Anna Lindh wrote a sharp message in a letter to Costa Rica’s authorities about making Barbilla a national park since SIDA assisted with funds in the project. Within a few days, the Costa Rican parliament suddenly voted that Barbilla would become a national park and thus protecting the primeval forest covering 12,000 hectares on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, and Ingemar also received the National Environmental Prize for his efforts.

However, Barbilla is not an isolated primeval forest but enclosed by Indian reserves and other nature conservation areas. Several Jaguars, Panthers, and Pumas still roam in the area and this is a good sign that nature is intact and untouched.