Matambú

About Matambú:

Matambú sits in the hills of the Nicoya Peninsula, about five kilometres from the centre of Nicoya, with the town of Hojancha a short way to the south. National Route 158 runs through the district, and the village stands at an average of 300 metres. The community road matters as much as the national one. In December 2020 the rural development institute INDER and the Hojancha municipality committed nearly ₡700 million to rebuild more than four kilometres of it on a cement base finished with three coats of asphalt and stone, plus three new culvert crossings. Drivers have long used it as the back way between the two cantons, because Hojancha to Nicoya is quicker through Matambú than around it.

The territory came first. An executive decree created it in 1980 over 1,620 hectares, and it remains the only Chorotega territory in the country and the only indigenous territory in Guanacaste. It ignores the cantonal line: part lies in Hojancha and part in Nicoya canton, inside the districts of Nicoya and Mansión. Law 9463 of 25 July 2017 then turned the Hojancha side into a district of its own, at the request of residents and the local development association, with the centre of Matambú as its seat and the hamlets inside the territory’s limits around it.

Work here is small-scale and done by hand. Families farm their own plots, and potters shape the local clay on the wheel into everyday and decorative pieces; its natural colour is good enough that some leave the work unpainted. A women’s association of eight heads of household bakes rosquillas and tanelas in a clay oven, selling them at markets in Nicoya and to order, while other bakers carry bags of rosquillas into the centre of Hojancha. One farm grows organic lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers and sells ornamental plants raised for local conditions. Visitors are often handed tiste or chicheme in a gourd jícara.

Since 2012 local families have opened their farms to visitors, with breakfast on the porch, a slippery forty-minute descent to a cold, fast waterfall, a turn at the potter’s wheel and a country lunch. Student groups, Costa Rican and foreign, have been regular guests. Another family project runs trails to waterfalls and swimming holes through more than 20 hectares of forest. Spanish is the everyday language; the Chorotega language itself has been lost. The district counted 1,070 residents at the 2022 census, and they rely on Hojancha and Nicoya for health centres, secondary school and a market for what they grow, which is why the road gets so much attention.

Property in Matambú:

All of Matambú district lies inside the Matambú Indigenous Territory. Under article 3 of the Indigenous Law, Law 6172 of 1977, that land is inalienable and belongs exclusively to the community that lives on it: people who are not indigenous may not buy, rent, lease or acquire land or farms here in any other way, indigenous owners may deal in land only with one another, and any transfer to an outsider is void. This covers the whole district, not one corner of it. To live close by, look at Hojancha district, the canton seat a few kilometres south, where houses and lots in Hojancha change hands with ordinary registered title.

FAQ:

• Can I buy a house or a plot of land in Matambú?

  Not unless you are indigenous. The ban applies to every non-indigenous buyer, Costa Rican or foreign, and a transfer from an indigenous owner to an outsider is void however it is documented. A house is treated as an improvement to the land, so it falls under the same rule, and a signed contract or a paid deposit does not change the outcome.

• Could I rent a house in Matambú for a few months?

  No. Renting and leasing are barred in the same article as buying, so there is no long-stay route into the district. People who want time in the area base themselves in Hojancha or Nicoya and come in as visitors.

• What can a visitor actually do in Matambú?

  Quite a lot for a small place. Local families take visitors around their farms, down to waterfalls and pools in the forest, into pottery workshops and through a morning of kneading and baking rosquillas in a clay oven, usually with a traditional meal. These are family-run ventures, so plan the visit ahead rather than turning up.

• Where should I look instead, and how do I know a lot is outside the territory?

  Hojancha district is the nearest place with an ordinary market, and Nicoya lies about five kilometres the other way. Because the territory reaches into the Nicoya and Mansión districts, a Nicoya address on its own proves nothing. Get the cadastral plan and a title study from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) and set the plan against the territory boundary before you commit to anything.