Costa Rica Part I: Cartago
A few months ago, I never would have guessed that I'd be writing about Costa Rica in this blog. It's a long way from Romania and Indiana, the two places where I spend most of my time lately, so given the temporal and financial constraints, I didn't expect to make it there any time soon. I owe the unexpected pleasure of exploring a bit of Costa Rica to my boyfriend's family. They very generously invited me to join them on this trip to celebrate Mike's brother Rob's graduation from Indiana University.
Because Mike and I had to leave early to head to Portugal and Romania respectively, we went to Costa Rica ahead of everyone else and had two days to explore on our own. After arriving in San Jose (the capital and largest city), we got right on a bus bound for Cartago.
When the Spanish colonized the area that is now Costa Rica, Cartago was the capital of the colonial administration. An earthquake sometime in the 18th century destroyed many of the buildings from colonial times, and when the capital moved to San Jose, Cartago diminished in importance. There are still some nice things to see in Cartago, but the main reason that we went was to catch another bus the following day to a village in the beautiful Reventazon River Valley.
During our eighteen hours or so in Cartago, we visited a Catholic basilica.
Stayed at the urban-rustic paradise "Hotel Dinastia" for all of $16.
And explored the ruins of a cathedral from the colonial period.
The ruins have been made into a beautiful park, which appeared to be a popular spot with both tourists and locals.
While I was in Cartago, I couldn't help being reminded of Romania. From what I saw, Costa Rica and Romania seem to be at similar levels of economic development. I haven't done any research to back that statement up, so take it for what it is: the casual observation of someone who doesn't know a great deal about economics. Beyond that, there were a bunch of little cultural things that reminded me of Romania.
Like many Romanians I've encountered, Costa Ricans (or Ticos, as they call themselves) tended to be friendly and welcoming...and sometimes amused by foreign tourists.
Like these Tico men who saw me taking a picture of the ruins and wanted to ham it up for a photo of their own.
And like in Romania, there were dogs everywhere!
Some things, on the other hand, were very different from Romania. For one thing, Costa Rica is in the tropics:
Because Mike and I had to leave early to head to Portugal and Romania respectively, we went to Costa Rica ahead of everyone else and had two days to explore on our own. After arriving in San Jose (the capital and largest city), we got right on a bus bound for Cartago.
When the Spanish colonized the area that is now Costa Rica, Cartago was the capital of the colonial administration. An earthquake sometime in the 18th century destroyed many of the buildings from colonial times, and when the capital moved to San Jose, Cartago diminished in importance. There are still some nice things to see in Cartago, but the main reason that we went was to catch another bus the following day to a village in the beautiful Reventazon River Valley.
During our eighteen hours or so in Cartago, we visited a Catholic basilica.
Stayed at the urban-rustic paradise "Hotel Dinastia" for all of $16.
And explored the ruins of a cathedral from the colonial period.
The ruins have been made into a beautiful park, which appeared to be a popular spot with both tourists and locals.
While I was in Cartago, I couldn't help being reminded of Romania. From what I saw, Costa Rica and Romania seem to be at similar levels of economic development. I haven't done any research to back that statement up, so take it for what it is: the casual observation of someone who doesn't know a great deal about economics. Beyond that, there were a bunch of little cultural things that reminded me of Romania.
Like many Romanians I've encountered, Costa Ricans (or Ticos, as they call themselves) tended to be friendly and welcoming...and sometimes amused by foreign tourists.
Like these Tico men who saw me taking a picture of the ruins and wanted to ham it up for a photo of their own.
And like in Romania, there were dogs everywhere!
Some things, on the other hand, were very different from Romania. For one thing, Costa Rica is in the tropics:
2 Comments:
hey love - this post reminded me again how great you are at taking pictures and sharing them so i feel like i'm seeing what you're seeing... know that i appreciate you as a picture-taking window on the world, as well as friend :)
Thanks, Em. Sentiments like that make writing this worthwhile. Miss you!
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