It’s
been hard to focus on a subject for this blog post because we’ve been on the go
. . . sort of a road trip if you will.
We left Nuevo Arenal and spent six days traveling around before reaching
our current location of Heredia. We have
visited small towns and circled around larger towns including San Jose (Costa
Rica’s capital), seen large commercial plantations and small fincas, driven
over the Cordillera Central mountain range and overlooked the beautiful Orosi
Valley, seen Poás, Barva, and Irazú volcanoes, which ring the Central
Valley. Although this sounds like a huge
road trip, distances are not great but driving times are very slow despite the
fact that the Ticans drive very fast!
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| Volcan Poas |
From
Fortuna (elevation 839’) the road southeast crosses the broad flat San Carlos
valley, through rich volcanic soil plantations growing mostly sugar cane, pineapple
and tropical trees. Views of the
Cordillera Tilaran are off to the west and Cordillera Central to the
south. The mountains are impressive from
these lowland areas. Soon we begin to
climb toward Ciudad Quesada, elevation 2152’, passing through a pretty little
town of Florencia. Quesada is commonly
known as San Carlos, which is the name of the canton (think county) within the
district (aka San Carlos) within the province (Alajuela, and think state)
within Costa Rica.
We
enjoyed lunch at the town’s central park, across from the Cathedral. Quesada, and the area around is known for
agriculture and dairy farming. It’s a
busy town, especially around El Centro.
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| Cathedral de Ciudad Quesada |
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| Wood carvings |
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A
few kilometers east of town, towards Aguas Zarcas, is Termales del Bosque (hot
springs in the forest) and yes, we stayed a couple nights. Lovely setting and so quiet! The springs themselves are primitive, rock
pools along the river. The area lies at
the foot of dormant 2267’ Volcan Planatar.
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| Church at Aguas Zarcas |
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| Volcan Planatar |
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| Termales del Bosque |
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| Stream at Termales del Bosque |
Leaving
the Quesada area we began to climb, winding back and forth over hairpin curves
over the Central Range. The views were
pretty but the drive was rather unnerving with fearless drivers of buses,
trucks, and motorcycles coming around the bends. The buses and trucks are so long that they
take up both lanes on the road when going around the tight curves. You really need to watch what’s coming your
way.
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| Tough driving! |
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| Foggy view! |
We climbed to over 6600’ at the
summit and although the distance was relatively short (maybe 20 miles) it took
about an hour. Cresting the summit we
started noticing lots of farming of what we call “cool weather crops” like
cabbage, onions, beets, and greens. Every
hillside was planted with some type of crop.
The area between Tapezco and Zarcero is gaining a reputation for organic
farming, with a crisp mountain climate, rich volcanic soils, and natural rivers
providing plenty of water.
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| Tapezco fields |
We
love the town of Zarcero and remembered it from our 1996 trip. Its central park is well known for the amazing
topiary garden where shrubs have been shaped into animals and fantasy
characters. The church at the top of the park is distinctive with its pink and
blue exterior, looking something like a birthday cake.
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| Topiary park |
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| Zarcero church |
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| Topiary Park |
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| Topiary Park |
Coming
down off the mountain we descend into the Central Valley, which is dotted with small
agricultural towns, each of them with distinctive characteristics. We begin to notice coffee farms on the
hillsides.
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| Central Valley view |
The Central Valley is above
San Jose, and mostly on the flank of 8884’ Volcan Poás, now considered active but quiet with its last major eruption in 1953. Our
destination is the Mango Valley, which lies just east of Poás and above the
towns of Sarchí and Grecia.
Sarchí
is Costa Rica’s well-known artists’ town and home to the intricately decorated
oxcart factories and custom woodworking, including furniture. The oxcarts are called “carretas” and were
widely used for carrying coffee down off the mountainsides. We chose to visit the Fabrica de Carretas
Elvoy Alfaro, one of the longest running oxcart manufacturers in Sarchí. The small operation is still powered by
waterwheel using most of the same machinery from the late 19th
century. The craftsmen are willing to
share their talent with tourists and even let Bob take a hand at painting!
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| World's largest oxcart |
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Beautifully decorated oxcart
Intricate painting detail
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| Waterwheel |
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| Oxcart wheels |
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| Bob taking a hand at painting designs |
We
also enjoyed a visit to the Jardín de Botánico Else Kientzler, which provided a
nice respite from the busy town of Sarchí.
The gardens, about 15 acres, are part of a large ornamental flower farm
and have over 2000 species of flora and fauna from all over the world.
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| Gardens |
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| Gardens |
Grecia
lies at about 3300’ in the foothills and is best known for its church, Iglesia de la Nuestra
Señora de las Mercedes. It is
constructed entirely of pre-fabricated metal panels painted red. Urban legend has it that the church was meant
as a gift from some unknown foreign country to Greece but mistakenly shipped to
Grecia, Costa Rica. Church records seem
to dispel that legend but the myth lives on.
We
stayed at a lovely hotel in the hills outside of Grecia called Mango
Valley. It was well recommended in Trip
Advisor, and lived up to its reputation with a wonderful view of coffee farms
on the surrounding hills.
Traveling
from Mango Valley, we circumvented San Jose on Pan American Highway 1. We visited the nation’s capital in 1996 and
don’t feel the need to explore the city again.
There are some lovely colonial era buildings in the heart of the city,
and worth viewing if you have not been.
However, we can tell the city has grown exponentially and the outlying
suburbs such as Alajuela and Escazú just blend into the city. Our advice would be to rely on public
transportation or pay for a taxi (money well spent in the city) rather than try
to drive within the city. Driving the
freeway is scary enough with traffic, traffic lights, and ramps going every direction except the one you want to take!!
We
head southeast to the town of Cartago (4707’), which lies below Irazú Volcano
(11,260’). The volcano has historically
been one of Costa Rica’s most active volcanoes but has been quiet since
1963. However, the area has been ravaged
by earthquakes and Cartago has few original buildings still standing. The central park adjoins Las Ruinas, a church
that was destroyed in 1910. The city’s
most famous building is the Básilica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, located
on the eastern edge of town. Cartago was
founded in 1563, Costa Rica’s only city for nearly 150 years!
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| Cartago church |
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| Las Ruinas |
We
enjoyed a visit to the University of Costa Rica’s Lankester Gardens, which has hundreds
of species of orchids being cultivated and on display. The trails meander through gardens of
bromeliades, succulents, ferns, and a Japanese garden. We were particularly taken with the desert cacti . . . surrounded by rainforest!
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| Bamboo |
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| Bromeliades |
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| Cacti garden |
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| Lichen & moss on cactus! |
Outside
Cartago we started climbing again and then dropped into the steep sided Orosi
Valley. One of the things we have
noticed while driving in Costa Rica is there are very few places to pull over
and enjoy the view or take photos.
However, there is a nice park setting lookout (mirador) above the Orosi
Valley.
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| Orosi Valley |
We left the valley floor at the
town of Paraiso and drove up the Rio Perlas to a lovely lodge with yes, another
hot spring. I’m beginning to think we
are very predictable! This was another great hotel found through Trip Advisor,
and it did not disappoint. The grounds
were beautifully landscaped and meticulously maintained, and the restaurant was also very good.
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| Chapel at Rio Perlas |
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| Hot springs pool |
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| Rio Perlas |
We
are now in Heredia, on the flanks of Barva Volcano (9534’). Heredia is a northern suburb of San Jose,
with a genuine Colonial era feeling to it.
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| El Fortin in Heredia |
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| Heredia church and park |
I’m sure you have noticed I have referred to the elevations of towns and
mountains in this post. Costa Rica is a
small country, only about the size of West Virginia or just over 300 miles across
from the Pacific to the Caribbean. The
Cordilleras forming the spine of the country soar to significant elevations
when you start out at sea level. The
volcanic topography has formed a rugged land, and an impressive one at that. We are only seeing a small part of Costa Rica and maybe that provides me with some insight today . . . retirement is like our trip through Costa Rica. There are ups and downs, hazards lurking around every curve (think stock market!), but we are choosing to embrace the ride over the mountain!
We are exploring the foothills outside Heredia and then go out to the Pacific Coast for a few days before our trip comes to an end. Thanks for following along on our journey!
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| Our peaceful backyard in Heredia |
