San Jose, Sarchi, Zarcero, Cuidad Quesada and a school
After a bus tour of San Jose, we headed out of town. Ricardo gave a some history about San Jose as well as Costa Rica. After Costa Rica’s civil war the president abolished the army. They put effort into education and going to school through until age of 16 is mandatory by law, and until 18 mandatory by parents. Costa Rica boasts a high literacy rate. I’ve read as high as 95 percent.
Along the small (sometimes only three or four tables) places to eat called “sodas” there are some influences from the USA. Burger King, McDonald’s, hallmark, and amazingly enough, an Apple store. The architecture is unremarkable. There were very few buildings worth admiring for their outward appearance.
We stopped at Sarchi, a town known for beautifully painted Ox Carts. We observed artists as work, saw a few Ox carts and had a chance shop at the tourist trap. The Ox cart was a fundamental piece of Costa Rican history used to transport coffee from the center of Costa Rica to the coast for export. Ricardo told us the story of the coffee trade in Costa Rica and how it went from a plant grown and harvested amongst under the shade of other trees to a monoculture back to a plant grown in the shade of other trees.
Our next stop was Zarcero, population 3,200, is home of an impressive collection of shaped bushes in arches, faces, and animals in front of the church. Most towns are organized around a main church and across the street or directly in front is a park or town square. This one was filled with this unique landscape. The guidebooks caution over and over again about petty crime and being wary about pick pockets. At most of these busy and high tourist areas we have seen police officers. This was no exception… And they were kind enough to have there photo taken with me!
We also wandered in the church, a pretty, clean, spacious, and ornate thing. Part of it was facade, specifically the brick and the marble columns. Bev noticed a mother and very young son in the back of the church, the mother teaching the boy how to cross himself and kneel.
Cuidad Quesada is a noisy town with lots of traffic on the main drag. The church is unimpressive brute the park/plaza/town square across the street is fairly large with mature trees and a gazebo. Ricardo recommended a soda for lunch and we sat at the counter and ordered casada, the standard Costa Rician fare consisting of rice, beans, meat, plantains and something that I might call succotash that I later found out was made from squash.
We booked our trip through Gate 1 Travel and part of the tour fee goes towards helping rural schools. The school year runs from mid February to mid December, so school is just getting back in full swing. As we exited the bus we were each individually taken by the hand and escorted to a plastic chair on a cement slab sort of patio. The students sang and danced and then asked us questions. Where are you from, what is your occupation, what kind od Costa Rican food do you like? They sang “America the Beautiful” and some of our group joined in. They had a large us flag and a large Costa Rican flag and when the heard that two of our group members were from Canada, one of the girls ran inside the building and brought out a little Canadian flag.
The principal of the school told us how many kids are in each grade. The 44 students wear the public school uniform: blue pants and white shirts. There are four teachers (one is the principal) and two of those teachers teach in the morning at this school and the afternoon at another school. She also listed the improvements made because of the Gate 1 donations. Even with the declaration and emphasis on literacy, it is easy to see the need support in the rural areas. The rooms are sparse, desks old, and there was one small bookcase of books. Two of the things the teacher listed as improvement were a ceiling in the buildings and the installation of two sinks. She used a microphone and speaker, which was also part of the Gate 1 improvements. I saw a blue balloon in one of the classrooms with the continents drawn on it to look like a globe. It’s a far cry from what we have in the second grade classroom I volunteer in every week.
After the “program” we were free to wander around and invited to have a snack of pineapple, which is delicioso here!