COSTA RICA

We left the ship on Feb. 23th and headed by bus to San Jose.  Our first stop along the route was the Ox Cart "Factory" at Sarchi Village.  Sarchi is Costa Rica's main artisan town.  The colorfully painted miniature oxcarts that you see all over the country are made here and represent the important part that oxcarts have played in the cultural history of Costa Rica.  In the middle of the 19th century, when coffee was first being cultivated in the surrounding countryside, oxcarts provided the only method in which to transport the hand picked beans over the mountains and to the coast.

 THE FACTORY HAS MACHINERY FROM THE EARLY 1900'S

 WATER WHEEL USED FOR MACHINERY

In many cases, oxcarts were a family's only means of transportation, and at times even served as a status symbol. Thus the tradition of painting and decorating the carts commenced in the early part of this century.  Originally each region of Costa Rica had its own particular design so that people could identify which part of the country the driver lived simply by observing the pattern of the wheels.  This factory, founded in 1920, is Eloy Alfaro and Sons Workshop and is Costa Rica's only real remaining oxcart factory and its carpentry methods have changed little since then.

We drove to a beautiful private ranch for lunch at the Villa hermosa Restaurant and then continued on to our afternoon tour of the newly renovated San Jose Opera House and the Gold Museum & National Theater in San Jose

 WE ARRIVE IN SAN JOSE!

 THE NEWLY RENVOVATED SAN JOSE OPERA HOUSE

 THE GOLD MUSEUM WHICH HOUSES PRE-COLUMBIA GOLD AND ARTIFACTS

 TATTOOS ARE A RESPECTED FORM OF BODY ART DATING BACK TO PRE-COLUMBIA DAYS. THE TOOLS ARE AMAZING…ROLLERS WITH DIFFERENT DESIGNS

THE GOLD ARTIFACTS WERE BEAUTIFUL