Cartago, Cartago Province, Costa Rica
Cartago
Rosa
drove us to the car rental place... they were super nice there. Ok
Paul read up a lot and we knew that insurance here is pricy – I
mean really pricy!! Also when Paul checked into it we read, that the
Costa Rican drivers are crazy (ok we already got the first hint here)
– and the roads are bad... and so we decided to be fully covered
with road side assistance – because you never know. This was only
10$ more per day than the one which covers a lot less... so in the
end we pay 9 $ a day for the car rental cheap right? But then we pay
68 $ per day for insurance!!! ok that is not cheap. But then we did
got an upgraded vehicle with 4 doors which is very convenient and
then our adventure starts.
Around
San Jose
thanks
google map – without you we would be lost!! we found our way out,
Paul learned quite soon that the bigger vehicle wins when a bus cut
him out on a roundabout. We got our first glimpses of the hills of
the central valley – looking really nice. Then we tried to find an
ATM to get some money... so when we came to the banco it is only open
starting at 1 pm???? ok we could go to the bancomat but we only were
allowed 100.000 Colon – guess we are quite rich here. It really
looks cool when you have a bill stating 20 Mill!! Right near it was a
supermarket, so we thought that is lucky, but this was an american
supermarkt... so we got 3 bottles of water and that was it. Oh and on
the way we saw a tree cut in the shape of a car – Paul loved that!
Cartago
Megasuper
Cartago
we are here... good thing all the streets are one way – still it is
not that simple because if you are not fast enough they beap the horn
and you also shouldn’t bump into another car... ok we needed a
short detour, because of all the buses we missed that there was a
parking lot at the supermarket. And then even better: they have free
wifi there – so Gine could do some checking with our Airbnb. All
stocked up, we drove towards the:
the
famous Church in Cartago: Basilica Nuestra Senora de los Angeles
we
were not sure if where we were you could park – but other cars
parked here, so why not. Lucky for us we had sun shine (but a lot of
wind!!!) and could admire this Basilica which looks very impressive
from the outside. But once we went in – we could only look around:
we never saw anything like this – colorful columns stretching up to
a wooden ceiling, in a moorish style with wood and gold and color it
was amazing. We then went outside and walked around the whole
basilica and came to the crypt where we could see the famous stone
with the black statue, I don’t think Paul was so impressed with the
story:
- she is named after the country’s patron saint the virgin of los Angeles
- the legend says: on Aug 2, 1635 a little indian girl called Juana Pereira found a small figurine of a dark-skinned Virgin Mary looking like a doll on a rock: she took it home and placed it in a box, the next day she went to pick up firewood and found another doll on the same stone – but when she took it home the other one was not there anymore. The 3rd day she went back to the stone and found again the doll, run home and her box was emtpy. She then went to the priest and gave it to him. The priest didn’t pay a lot of attention, the next day when he wanted to look at it, the “doll” was gone, he went in the forest and found it on the rock. He brought it back and placed it in the church in the tabernacle, the next day it was gone and see there it was again on rock in the forest. Now they understood that the holy Virgin wanted it to stay here: they put a small temple over it and today we have the Basilica.
- it is Costa Rica’s most important cathedral
- this one was built in 1929 after the previous one was destroyed in an earthquake in 1926
Cartago
is old
- it was Costa Rica’s 1st city founded in 1563 by Juan Vasquez de Coronado. He said that he never seen a more beautiful valley
- it is named by the Spanish after Cartago
- it was the capital of Costa Rica until 1823 when San Jose became capital
- the city was destroyed by the vulcano Irazu in 1723, again in 1841 and 1910
We
need a Costa Rican Phone chip!!
Denis
told us he will be there at around 3 pm. So we drove to the location
but then which house??? there is no wifi to call him, no house
numbers.... so back to the Megasuper and there Gine started to What’s
app him. We didn’t got right away a response... so we decided that
we should have a Costa Rican phone chip, looks like nothing is here
simple with finding a place... so phones are important!! we asked at
the Megasuper – lucky they guy punched in our Google map the adress
where we can get a chip... and it’s so close we walked over along
the train lines and shops and got a chip in the phone with a 30 day
plan and 2 GB!! we are set and ready. Back in the car we switched the
SIM cards around and now we are ready.
our
Airbnb
ok
so our Airbnb is near the Vet clinic with the black garage door (I
think they should invent house numbers here – they work in my
opinion better than 100 m from....) Denis waited outside and see
there we have a whole apartment with a tiny little garden and private
parking in front of the house... we are happy to have some space for
ourselves here. And even better we have a cozy little backyard and
patio: the patio stones are all kind of different tiles – really
cool... it is perfect to sit ut and have a cup of coffee.
Paul’s
lucky find around Cartago
since
it’s only a few blocks we decided to walk back to Cartago and check
out the busy streets on food... in the car you don’t have the time
to look around. The first think Paul found was 2 bills each 20 Mill:
wow!!! (sounds a lot right – it’s around 46 CAD). Then we saw the
first panaderia... then another and we decided they have such great
pastry here: we will get some and then can warm it up in our toaster
oven.
Down
one street with a stop at the la Ruinas – up a street – and then
came to the Mercado: there we tried some cheese and decided that is
very yummy and bought some: what only 1 $? in the mean time the
clouds were coming and it gets darker and cooler and so we walk back
to our place.
the
La Ruinas
we
saw them earlier driving by and now we are there and can walk a
little bit closer and have peaks inside in that garden inside the
church ruins – which looks very nice. There are some beautiful
plants and the whole ruins look I think great, an awesome spot to
hang out.
- Are the ruins of the iglesia de la parroquia
- it got builtin 1575, destroyed in the 1841earthquake, rebuilt and then destroyed in the earthquake on April 13, 1910
- a legend says that a ghost of a headless priests walks around here???
our first day and we had a great day - tomorrow our first big adventure starts
2025-05-23