Last of San José

October 25, 2022

Mon 24 Oct
More of the indigenous story that is truly tragic. Over about 100 years in the 1500’s the indigenous population went from 400,000 to a mere 10,000. They died from exposure to disease such as smallpox, measles and typhus but also the poor conditions when used as slaves by the Spanish conquerors.

On a happier note we toured the inside of the National Theatre a source of pride here. It was built in the late 1800s and had electrical lighting from its inception. The construction was highly influenced by the European styles of the time and is frankly quite gaudy.

A 9 person monument dedicated to workers of Costa Rica. Look closely and you will see that only 2 people are wearing shoes.

Lunch of tacos, quesadillas and beer, of course.

A statue in the theatre foyer by a Costa Rican sculpture dedicated to the miserable poor

A painting in the ceiling, although not situationally accurate, it symbolizes Costa Rica when the building was constructed.

Private boxes where people went to watch performances but did not want to be seen.

Tues Oct 25

Today we decided to leave the city on a tour to the La Paz waterfall, gardens wild life refuge. The animals are here because they can not be released into the wild. The park was in a rain forest and yes it rained hard for about 30 minutes. The flora and fauna were amazing and we had an extremely knowledgeable guide to explain it all. We could have easily spent all day there. I will the photos explain. The other thing we’re learned is that driving here is slow and requires lots of patience.

We passed through several coffee plantations including one growing coffee for Starbucks.

Coffee is still picked by hand because the beans ripen at different times. Picking time is Oct to Jan. Coffee only grows at moderate elevation.

Emerald macaw flapping its wings in the rain, apparently it likes rain.

A black bellied duck hiding under a leaf out of the rain.

This lump is 2 sloths doing what sloths do, sleeping.

A beautiful blue butterfly called a Blue Morph because it is blue with the wings open but morphs into something else when the wings are closed.

In the rainforest, there are 2 butterflies in the photo.

An old pacing jaguar. They are VERY dangerous and mean.

The original banana plant that came from India. Today’s varieties of bananas are hybrids.

A very colourful frog that is toxic. The prettier they look the more dangerous they are. It is called a black and green poison dart frog.

These carts and oxen were used in the mid 1800s (before the railroad) to take coffee 100km to the Pacific Ocean for transport by ship to Europe.

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Yvonne McLeanMargaret, you tell such a great story with lovely photos....don't need to go there ourselves. Hope you have some sun-filled days ahead.
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2 years ago

Heather ParryHi Marg and Tim,
Looks like you saw a lot more of San Jose than we did on our trips. Great pictures. Looking forward to seeing some biking photos. Heather
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2 years ago