Uy Uy Uy Bajura!

I didn't go to Cartago, but instead went back to Santa Cruz over the weekend to visit my friends in Guaitil and to see the famous January festivities. There is no doubt in my mind, Guanacastecans do like to party hard!

The Santa Cruz Festivities go for five days during the second week of January. People here party the entire day from Friday to Tuesday, literally! On Saturday, we arrived at 8:00 p.m. and stayed up all night till 6:00 a.m. Almost every plaza and park was used for food and bar stands, rides, dance halls, and also to buy all kinds of things including shoes, clothing, Costa Rican and Nicaraguan handcrafts and forniture, and much more. I could not believe how big this was, much bigger than in San Jose.

During the day, one of the most interesting things were the Marimbas. Block after block there were Marimba groups in every corner, people dancing to the Guanacastecan rythm, and singers performing their best tunes. Around them there were candy sellers, offering rosquillas, papaya candy, tanela bread (white corn biscotti stuffed with chees and sugar) and cajetas de coco (coconut fodge with a deep caramel flavor). I stuffed myself with candy and tamales for three days, and now I need to see the dentist, but is was all worth doing!

At 5:00 a.m. sharp, there is La Diana (video). After an entire night of partying, and for some since early the day before, people gather around the Central Park to start a procession on the streets downtown. The Cimarrona plays laud music, people perform their best Guancastecan screem Uip Uip Uip!!! and there are fireworks. The intention, of course, is to keep on with the party and wake up everyone else in the process.

  

Guanacaste is also known for its festivities showcasing traditional-colonial-time music and dance. During local festivities, there are arenas open for shows. There, you can see dances in traditional dresses, and the "corridas de toros a la tica", Bull running Tico style. There are bull riding contests and other related games with bulls. True, not fun for the animal to be teased, but in the least they go back to the "corrales" alive as there is no killing involved (except for the occasional bad accident bull riders are exposed too).

Guanacaste is a great destination because there are mountains, volcanoes, beaches, wild life. Also, many strong local traditions are still alive, and people are great! I think I could move in here one day, right in between Tamarindo and Santa Cruz. I picture building an old style house, with a big corredor, hammacas, fruit trees, some farm animals and a cup of good coffee.... so tempting!

There is a very popular Costa Rican song called Caña Dulce (video) where the dream is to have a beautiful home, a good love, and a sweet simple life. Deep inside, I think this is something many of us want.

Alajuela, the lion's cave!

There are no real lions in Alajuela, but this is home of one of the most popular soccer teams in Costa Rica, and its mascot is a lion. Just thought the title would be catchy.

I visited Alajuela on Tuesday, but aside from that, didn't do much traveling these days. Downtown Alajuela is almost as busy and chaotic as San Jose, in contrast to the slow pace that is seen in Heredia. Still, just like in Heredia, some towns are very nice and offer a sample of typical Costa Rican life.

Naranjo, Sarchi and Grecia are charming towns where one can find a good place to relax and have a good cup of coffee at the park and chat with the locals about anything. They are not far from one another, and the bus service is very reliable and cheap. I visited the town plazas and spent some time walking around. There is much more to see going further from the center, but this time I only posted some pictures of the plaza and the churches.

Sarchi

Sarchi is the most famous craft center in Costa Rica and is widely known for its furniture factories and traditional ox-carts. In fact, the town claims to feature the world's largest ox-cart sitting in the Parque Central, which also made it to the Guinness Book of World Records. For pictures, you can visit the Fabrica de Carretas Eloy Alfaro.

Grecia

Grecia is known for two things: a distinction as being one of the cleanest towns in Central America and its church, which in the exterior has a dark red color metal sheet covering the entire building. The Catedral de la Mercedes was built in the 1890's with materials from Belgium and designed with a Gothic style. Closer to the mountains there are many organic farms harvesting coffee, sugar cane and pine apple - very tasty!!! I also visited the World of Snakes serpentarium and the Cataratas Los Chorros (waterfall), but sadly my camera run out of battery, so I am gonna have to go again some other time and take at least one picture of each place.

Zarcero

Another interesting town closer to Naranjo is Zarcero, known for its topiary garden, which is maintained by Evangelisto Blanco since the 60's. He has been offered to work in the US to do his art, but instead has preferred to stay and live here. I will post my pictures later. For now, visit Wikipedia-Zarcero.



I posted just a few pictures today, but will try to post more later in the week.

This Monday is the "Clasico", a soccer match between Alajuela (La Liga) and Saprissa (my team). Last Wednesday there was a game with these two teams plus Heredia for a charity event. Next game is for real, and people go crazy at the stadium, sometimes even violent.

Heredia, my hometown

Heredia is the smallest province in Costa Rica. I live near the center, in a neighborhood called La Milpa, which means corn field - thing is, there was a coffee plantation before construction, so....

The center of Heredia is small, and compared to San Jose the streets are norrower, and not as noisy and busy. The ambient here is very much of a small town. The central park is nice at all times during the day, but I think in late afternoon around 5:00 is the best. People leaving their jobs and walking towards the bus stations, the noisy birds around the park, and the bells of the central cathedral add to the sounds of a regular weekday afternoon. There are a few cafes, restaurants serving Costa Rican food and from other countries, internet is easy to find, some good bars near the National University, and a good amount of language schools including IPED and Intercultura.

I visited the towns of Barva, San Jose de la Montaña, San Isidro and San Rafael going up the mountain, the municipal market in downtown Heredia, and also Santo Domingo, closer to San Jose.


Barva

Some towns outside of downtown Heredia are more relaxed and quite than others. Of the ones I liked the most is Barva. There are some colonial buildings still standing around the central park, small family owned businesses, well fed street dogs, norrow roads, and during the day it feels cool and fresh. Coming here gives a good sence of what Heredia and some other parts of the country looked liked back in the day.

Even though there are very few colonial buildings remaining, I had never seen so many in the same town and around a plaza and with different colors here in Costa Rica.


San Jose de la Montaña

20 minutes by bus up the mountain from Barva there is San Jose de la Montaña, which is more of a road with off-street neighborhoods than a town.

Walking towards the main church, the small houses on the side of the paved road and sounds of burning wood, roosters and hens, cows, dogs, birds and every now and then a car are extremely relaxing. The pine tree forests are large and produce a very calming sound when it gets windy. Also, the coffe plantations around the area offer a good view of the central valley and the top of the mountains in the back. The main church is small and painted all in bright yellow, surrounded by well maintained bushes and tall palm and pine trees.

There is not much to do here, but it defenitely offers a good place to relax and have a good coffee cup.

San Isidro

San Isidro is another small town up the mountains, and like the others, it is very calm and mostly a residential area. The San Isidro Labrador Church is beautiful. Built in 1895, the inside features exposed brick, wooden tall ceilings and stained glass, and the outside is painted all in white. There is also a large soccer field in front, which is very common of small towns all over the country.

When I came to visit, there were a few people praying and a cleaning lady playing loud Christian music which sounded like pop music at first. The smell of Pinex (a floor cleaning liquid) was very strong, and almost relaxing... weird! It felt like entering somebody's home in the afternoon. The only thing missing was the coffee and bread for the guests.


San Rafael

San Rafael is not too far from San Isidro. Life here is a bit busier then in the other towns as it is only 3km from down town Heredia, and there is lots of commerce. There is no soccer field in front of the church, but a nice small park. The church is in the baroque style and was built in 1886.


Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo is on the way to San Jose. It is a residential area, with a few colonial building still standing. The church is beautiful, and different from the ones I saw up in the towns going up the mountains. A few kilometers to the east there is Tibas, in San Jose, home of one of the most popular soccer teams Deportivo Saprissa.


Municipal Market, downtown Heredia

I has been interesting for me to visit different markets in the main cities and in small towns, and it is not so different from what I have seen in other countries. Markets in almost every city tend to be of the same size, but the stores and dinamics in the market are different. In bigger cities, the stands are small and laud, compared to small towns where the stands are bigger and the is less noise. There is more variety in bigger markets, but it is the difference is not that big. The municipal market in Heredia is my favority. I like the sound of sellers, the small of herbs and foods, and here is where I always have my pressed beef sandwich and guanabana milk shake.... Tasty!!!


Photo albums this week

• Heredia