CR Days 8-10: Sarchi and the Sarapiquí River

Half of our travel group had opted for a 9-day trip to Costa Rica instead of the 10-day trip. So on Day 8, we all started heading back to San José. En route, we stopped at the city of Sarchi. Sarchi is famous for their colorfully-painted ox carts, which were originally decorated to distinguish carts from one another as groups of people crossed rivers together. There is only one workshop that continues to build and paint oxcarts today (apparently travel by car is more popular nowadays). That workshop is Taller Elroy Alfaro. So there we went.

Aren't they wonderful?!

Live action hand painting

So big!

The construction phase

Spray painting

That evening, after dropping off our luggage at a San José hotel, we drove up a small, inactive volcano nearby. This is where some of the indigenous population hid during the Spanish Inquisition, because the Spanish were unable to recognize that there were caves at the top. Because of this confusion, the volcano became known to be enchanted. This is a point of pride with the people in the area, and a lot of establishments include the words "witch" in their names. 

At the top, there's a restaurant with a great view of the capital city. Our group, along with quite a few other teenage-geared tour groups ate dinner there and watched some authentic dancers. Then the DJs put on American music, and the kids jumped around for a while. 

I should mention food. In Costa Rica, beans and rice are eaten for preeeetty much every single meal. I love it. And, actually, only a very few students got sick of it. Here's some stuff I ate on this trip: 

Yuca balls. They have some cheese in them too. Delicious.

We said goodbye to our 9-day travelers, because their flight was very early the next morning, and then we went to bed. 

On Day 9, those of us who stayed went white water rafting! I was pretty confident that I would hate it, but I LOVED it. We had to drive a couple of hours through the rain forest to get to the river. 

On the way, we stopped at another fruit shop. This time, I had my camera on me. 

Coconut water

The shop owners cut up a watermelon for us because they were so excited to have tourist business.

These little guys give me so much joy.

We ate so much pineapple this trip, and it was delicious because it was picked when it was ripe. 

Lichis

Guava

Victor demonstrating how to eat passion fruit

Guayaba (not to be confused with guava). I'm told the English translation for this is "soursop."

So, yes, I've already admitted to having my camera with me on Day 9, but of course I didn't take pics while rafting. (We got soaked!) 

About half-way down our river route, when we were far away from civilization, we heard lots of cheering, shouts of Pura vida! and car horns. In the middle of no where! Why? Costa Rica had won another world cup game - this time against Italy, which is a huge upset. They do play one more group game, on Tuesday against England. But regardless of how that game turns out, they progress into the top 16 teams, which is the farthest they've ever gotten before. Oh, the Costa Ricans were so happy. Government employees had been given part of the day off to watch the game, and when we got back to San Jose that afternoon the only jerseys we could find were much more than they had been that morning ($80 US!). Celebration! What a great way to end the trip!