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Published: June 20th 2017
Geo: 10.096, -84.3475
Today we are going to visit the towns of Sarchi and maybe Grecia. Sarchi is a well known artist town and is famous for its painted oxcarts which are Costa Rica's most visible example of folk art. Apparently in the past the oxcarts were all decorated.
We set off with Jeff at the wheel. Our directions are to follow the autopista (highway) and turn left at Naranja. There won't be a sign for Naranja, but, we're told, it is a big intersection. Okkkkk...
Surprise,we didn't get lost!
Sarchi is a nice little town and we can tell that it is a popular tour bus stop, but not this time of year.
Colorful geometric motifs are painted on the bus benches and even the trash cans. We walk to the main plaza to see the largest oxcart in the world. Wonder what the oxen looked like? We visit the town church - the center of towns always have a plaza with places to sit under shade trees, and the plazas are anchored on one end by a huge Catholic church.
In addition to the geographic artwork, Sarchi is famous for its rocking chairs made of leather and wood -
and they are collapsible so easy to ship.
Here in Sarchi we do a little (very little) souvenir shopping. I buy a keychain and we pick out postcards and a bag of coffee. We wander through a grocery store to check prices and selection and walk around town a bit. We decide to go to Grecia which is a little further along this same road. Jeff is so lucky with the nice driving weather and roads.
Both Sarchi and Grecia are surrounded by coffee and sugarcane fields - two of my favorite things.
Yes, Grecia (and the nearby town of Atenas (Athens) is oddly named considering they are in Costa Rica. They were named in the 1820s shortly after Costa Rica became independent, apparently in honor of the Greeks' struggle for independence from Turkey. Go figure. There are Greek columns in the town park, but Grecia's claim to fame is their church.
The whole church is metal and therefore nearly completely earthquake proof. (Have I mentioned that Costa Rica has earthquakes and very active volcanos?). In spite of being metal, the church is very pretty. It was constructed of steel plates imported from Belgium in 1897!
Oh, the other
claim to fame in Grecia is that the town was voted "cleanest town in Latin America" several times. And it is clear why - look at this recycling kiosk in the plaza.
It's been a lovely day but now it's time to head home. Having learned our lesson well yesterday we agree to go back to San Ramon the way we came. Good plan, too bad we got lost. Very lost! In fact we were going in exactly the opposite direction than we wanted to be going. And then the fog rolled in; we were driving up to the cloud forest! I study the map and found a smaller road, (paved), that, if we could get on it looked like it would take us around the mountain and down into San Ramon. There are a lot of trucks and busses on this road and though a little scary it is comforting to see other traffic - plus we can follow their taillights
After a while we find our turn and are on a much less traveled road...we drive and drive and it starts to rain. Actually it starts to pour. You have GOT to be kidding me! Our windshield wipers
are at their highest speed, suddenly a restaurant pops into view along the side of the road, Jeff makes a sharp right into the parking lot so we can study the map. Since we don't know where we are we don't have any idea even where to look on the map. There is a car watcher guy in the lot. I ask and he doesn't speak Ingles, so in Spanish I ask "Donde aqui?!" Where is here? He looks at me like I'm loco.
Finally, we communicate, holding out the map, from aqui how do we get to San Ramon? He points up the mountain and starts speaking quickly and gesturing. We give him 500 colones (about $1), thank him and get back in the car. "Okay', I tell Jeff, "we're to keep going up the mountain and somewhere we take the second left." The man was very insistent thatI understand the "segundo izquierda" (second left) repeating it multiple times and gesturing with his arms.
We start back up the road in the pouring rain...we've come this far in maybe the right direction that we decide not to turn around. It is starting to get dark and its only 4...
Don't ask
me how because I seriously have no idea how we got safely back to San Ramon!! I offer to run in the house to get the can opener to pry Jeff's fingers from the steering wheel! hahaha
When we were at the birthday party on Sunday, we met Butch and Margarita. Butch was in the oil business so they have lived all over the world, including in Costa Rica (Margarita was born here). They are fun and interesting and excited because last week they bought their lot to build a house here. Jeff and Butch exchanged contact info and this afternoon when Jeff checks his email he has a message from Butch offering to show us their property. Frankly the idea of going to look at an empty lot doesn't appeal to me at all, but Jeff likes that kind of thing.
Tomorrow we are leaving San Ramon to spend a week in Heredia so we arrange to meet Butch and Margarita in the morning. They are house-sitting down the hill and we'll meet them there.
Tonight we're going to do a little packing.
We're in no hurry to leave San Ramon and the friends we've made here.
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Bev
non-member comment
Obviously, Babe is the ox for the cart! Her blue would go quite well with paint job.