Day 12: San Jose – Irazu Volcano and Cartago City Tour

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While the majority of our MacServe group headed out early for a day tour to Tortuguero, Renata and I decided to go on a guided half day tour to Irazu Volcano and Cartago City with Gray Line Costa Rica.



We had an exceptionally clear day, so we had a great view of the Irazu Volcano in the distance. We also saw the massive craters that were made from the Irazu volcano eruption in the 1960’s.



After our time at Irazu Volcano National Park, we headed over to Cartago. I thought that we would get a tour of the city, but we were only there for about 15 minutes before we left to go back to San Jose. There was this interesting farmers and artisan market that I wanted to check out. Instead we were dropped off at the Basilica de Los Angeles, a famous church in Costa Rica.



The Basilica de Los Angeles, has a statue of a Black Madonna known as La Negrita that supposedly has healing powers. On August 2^nd, thousands of Costa Ricans make a pilgrimage to the church. Unfortunately, we could not see “La Negrita” or take pictures inside the church because there was a Mass in procession. The tour was definitely not the best tour we have done in Costa Rica. We could have spent less time at Irazu Volcano and more time in Cartago.



We arrived back in San Jose in the afternoon, where after a quick lunch, Renata and I headed out to explore. We came across some interesting graffiti, parks, museums and markets.





Tomorrow, the rest of the Mac-Serve group is headed back to Toronto on an early morning flight. Renata and I are continuing our Costa Rican journey to La Fortuna, the Adventure capital of Costa Rica.

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Photos

Cartago
Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels