Hundreds of campesinos and thousands of visitors
gather for this annual festival.
All of
Escazú, has become home to Artists and
traditional craftsmen. Many cultural
happenings and festivals are
organized, throughout the year. It has excellent gourmet
restaurants, as well as
traditional ones. The new village
and the older village, create a
delightful mix in cultures
and make shopping sprees and excursions
a joy.
The Central Valley
The Central Valley is the heart of Costa Rica. It is here,
in the temperate green highlands, that 60% of the country's population live.
The wealthy classes, moved their residences,
from what had become the
inner city to the suburbs.
In the first such ring of
satellite suburbs, are the neighbor
hoods of Escalante, Los Yoses, Curridabat, Paseo Colon,
Sabana and Rohrmoser. But what is special, is to be found
further out, immersed in the mountains, exuberant vegetation
and tropical flowers and
trees, that surround the city, are
the neighborhoods of the original colonial villages: such as
Moravia, Santo
Domingo de Heredia, Escazu' and
Santa Ana, and
Alajuela.
Here, large tracts of land are covered with
beautiful
"flowering" trees and vast
gardens and wild winds, that
pass
through
the valleys, sending the "heat" to the tropical
beaches. In these suburban towns, are campesinos in rural
houses, residing comfortably next
to large homes of
diplomats and
international politicians.
The Central Valley, is where the
seat of the government is
located, as well as the agricultural and commercial centers,
the oldest cities,
the coffee farms which put Costa Rica on
the map, the architectural treasures,
the churches, the
theaters, the universities and the
high cultural life of the
country.
The countryside, is un-surpassingly beautiful and variable.
The climate is salubrious. The air is sweet and soft. The
people are friendly, dignified and independent.
Volcanoes, some still active and smoking,
others dormant
or extinct, rise above the hills and
mountains, around the
valley, and
above them, a big sky, constantly
changing as
dark, charcoal rain clouds, intense, searing patches of
blue,
fluffy white cumulous and occasional
rainbows, come and go.
There are misty, almost enchanted
places, like Orosi
Valley
or dusty farm towns, like
Santa Ana, adobe villages that
sing
of old Costa Rica, such as Barva and crowded, noisy, relentlessly vital cities,
like San Jose' or the spiritual
villages
of Cartago.
Cartago And they're all easily accessible. Day
trips by bus or
rented car or tour groups, can be
easily arranged.
Buses go to even the smallest of neighborhoods, to
provide transportation for the people.
Passing through the small, highland towns and
villages,
one sees what in Central America is an impressive sight:
People living in
small houses on plots of land,
which they themselves own and farm.
Neighborhoods, are
often a hodge podge of larger,
fancy
homes, and small humble ones.
Housewives in house
dresses and aprons, chat in
front yards, as they watch
their babies.
Caballeros, training their horses, farmlands being worked,
most everyone is busy with
something, but in a comfortable
and relaxed way.
Children in school uniforms, talk and
play together, as they
walk up the road for lunch
at home. Produce from backyard
fruit trees and gardens, is for sale on little tables or stands,
in front of houses. After school, the parks and soccer fields
are filled up, with families
and friends, socializing and
children playing soccer.
Enjoy the many fiestas or Musical Performances, that take
place in the Central Parks of
each town.
Stray Reality
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