Orosi

We left the hustle and bustle of the city for a short trip to Orosi before joining the girls.
On the way, we stopped in Cartago, which has the most visited church in all of Costa Rica, La Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, as millions make the pilgrimage to La Negrita every August. It is beautiful on the outside, but quite disappointing on the inside. It just felt very commercial and as if it were made of plastic.
We delighted at the Ruinas de la Parroquia, which was built in 1575, destroyed by an earthquake, rebuilt, and destroyed by earthquake for the last time in 1910. It had beautiful colorful garden, which was somehow both lively and peaceful.

We loved Orosi. Just getting there was stunning--there is so much topography, the quality of the green all around, the tiny houses dotting the landscape. It felt like travelling in a calendar. We stayed in the cabins at Montana Linda, where from the top bunk you could see out the window above all the trees. We ate water apples, walked the main road back and forth a lot, and listened to the festive merengue from a quincinera. We went to visit Nano, whom Aimee had visited three years ago, but we got the next-generation tour by his son Ernesto.

The next day, we visited the oldest still in use church in costa rica, which was beautiful. Attached to the church was a small museum, where each painting tried to depict Jesus in a more horrifying, bloody state than the other paintings.

We ate at the best restaurant in all of Costa Rica, which is a one-man show! This quiet man is both the host, waitress, busser, chef, and cashier. Did I mention he makes and sells his own jewelry too? We played cards under the pouring rain, and then devoured our food, which was muy sabroso.

I wish we had more time in Orosi, such a beautiful little place.