The Paca
Tepezcuintle or Tepezcuinte?
The paca is a large rodent that inhabits an ever-shrinking area in Costa Rica. The animal is hunted for its tender meat and is often
captured to be bred in captivity. This activity is highly illegal in Costa Rica, although some people can get breeding permits under
special circumstances.
Costa Ricans give the paca a funny name, tepezcuintle, which is often pronounced tepezcuinte. I was in the country for the better part of a year, hearing the name of this animal just about daily, before seeing the animals name in print. I had only hear [tepezcuinte], but the animal's name was indeed spelled 'tepezcuintle' with an 'l'. I attribute this to two possible phenomena, 1) I was in a rural area where people simply speak differently, and/or 2) the cluster of three consecutive consonants is too much for most Spanish speakers to handle. I haven't tested this latter theory out on a good sample of Spanish speakers, so I'm afraid I can't be of any assistance in this regard. However, I can show you a good picture of a tepezcuintle.