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Part 7 Costa Rica—Colorful Carretas, a Red Metallic Church, & a
(by Patti Day-Miller - April 07, 2008)
We headed east on the morning of our last day of touring, with our first stop in Sarchi, Costa Rica’s foremost crafts center, which is set in the midst of coffee plantations at the southern end of Poas Volcano. The town is famous for its leather rocking chairs, wooden furniture and hand-painted, very colorful oxcarts (carretas).
The carretas were once a familiar sight on the farms and coffee plantations. The wheels are 4-5 feet in diameter and metal rings were added to strike the hubcap and create a chime unique to the cart when moving.
We had another great lunch in Sarchi and also had ample time for shopping. Then it was onto the bus and down the road to Grecia.
Grecia is a peaceful, market town, which was recently voted the nation’s cleanest town. Our stop here was at the Iglesia de Grecia, a church made of rust-red, prefabricated, steel plates. The twin-spired church is trimmed in white filigree. The interior is of wood and holds an elaborate marble altar. Like all the churches in Costa Rica, this one had a large park across the street from it, used as a place to socialize after church services.
Back onto the bus, we were headed back to San Jose, with only one remaining stop before arriving at our hotel—a coffee plantation called Cafe Brit. It turned out to be a very entertaining stop, and we learned why it is one of the country’s top tourist attractions.
Coffee, by the way, is native to Ethiopia, and was introduced in Costa Rica in 1779. The nation’s mountains provide ideal growing conditions for the coffee plant, which prefers consistently warm temperatures, distinct wet and dry seasons, and fertile, well-drained slopes. More than 425 sq. miles, concentrated in the Central Highlands, are dedicated to coffee production. Coffee and bananas are Costa Rica’s most important crops.
The guides at the Cafe Brit coffee plantation are actors, dressed in period costume, and the tour through the coffee fields is quite amusing, but that is only the beginning. After the tour, we were ushered into an auditorium where we learned the history and production cycle of coffee via a multi-media presentation, along with a very comical skit with lots of funny costumes. After the skit, many made purchases in their large gift shop, with, you guessed it, coffee being the most frequent purchase.
Then a drive to San Jose to our hotel to prepare for our farewell dinner. And what an elegant dinner it was! We were delighted to also meet Rolando’s wife and children who Caravan had invited there, since it was Christmas Eve.
On Christmas morning, we left for the airport and our flight home. Rolando was at the shuttle for each member of his tour to make sure that all his folks were on time and wouldn’t miss their flights.
We’d had eight full days in Costa Rica, a country of 12 different life zones, ranging from coastal wetlands to sub-alpine grasslands, with cloud forests and rain forests, among others, in between. We’d been in the country with the highest rate of literacy and life expectancy in all of Latin America. We’d been impressed with the country’s nationwide network of wildlife parks and refuges, which encompass about 30 percent of its area—more than any other nation on earth.
Though Costa Rica’s booming economy today is powered mainly by tourism, the great thing is that it’s ecotourism. One of their slogans is “Costa Rica—No Artificial Ingredients.” I can’t count the number or variety of tropical birds, flowers, and plants/trees we saw, not to mention the anteaters, sloths, and various types of lizards and monkeys. It was a great trip!
We loved sharing it with Doug, Allison, and grandson Tyler, and I think the five us agree that Costa Rica is a nature lover’s dream and then some!
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