For the Tourist: What to see and do in and around Cartago, Costa Rica

If you are a tourist and want to get "off the beaten path in Costa Rica, visit the very interesting city of Cartago,  the last remaining original Spanish settlement.   You can drive a rental car from San Jose,  it's only 15 miles (around 25 km) east of San Jose and the road is good. Easy to find on a Costa Rica map provided by the rental car company.

Not to be missed is the most holy shrine in Costa Rica, the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles. Take a look at my previous article titled  Cartago, the Oldest Existing Spanish Settlement in Costa Rica.   I talk a lot about the Basilica and have included  a photo of this magnificent structure.  It is a Catholic Basilica.

[caption id="attachment_2076" align="alignleft" width="137" caption=""Ruins" Iglesia del Convento, downtown Cartago"][/caption]

Walking  to downtown Cartago, a short distance from the Basilica,  you will see the "ruins" or remaining walls of the Iglesia del Convento.  This was built by the Spaniards in 1575 as a shrine to St James the Apostle, and was partially destroyed in the 1910 earthquake.

There are two local  small museums worth visiting which give an insight into Costa Rica's pre Colombian cultures.  First is the Elias Leiva Museum of Ethnography which houses very interesting historical artifacts.  Located at Calle 3 between Avenues 3 and 5  and is open 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday thorough Friday. May be closed on holidays, So please check   Phone  2 551 0895.

The second museum is the Kirieti Indian History Museum located 6 km southwest of Cartago in Tobosi. 2 573 7113.  Open 10 am until 4 pm Monday through Friday.  Call first to make sure they are open since it is a small museum.

There are several small hotels  in Cartago.  Such as the Hotel Dinastia  at Calle 3  US $13- $16.  phone 2 551 7057.   This is an older hotel and the rooms show age but it does have hot water in the private baths.  Another is Los Angeles Lodge Calle 4 between Calle  14 and 16. and includes breakfast. The price around $35.  phone 2 551 0957.   It's balconies overlook the Plaza de la Basilica and the room are comfortable with private bath and hot water.

Eating: La Puerta Del Sol is a soda located opposite the Basilica . This is a typical  small eating place which serves Costa Rica dishes at very reasonable prices.

Cartago is not a large town so if you need directions just ask one of the locals.

Weather: Cartago is around 4,000 feet above sea level, so the temperatures are cool and often cloudy and rainy.

The surroundings of Cartago offer magnificent views and very nice day tours.  So if you have a rental car this is spectacularly scenic.  Or you could purchase a day tour or hire a driver.  1. Irazu Volcano   2. White water Rafting   3. Orosi Valley and coffee plantations   4. Lancaster Botanical Gardens.

Best time of year to visit:  Rains less in the dry season of mid December thorough mid April.  However the months of May through November also bring  a lot of visitors,  just bring along a rain jacket and umbrella, and comfortable walking shoes.

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Cartago, the Oldest Existing Spanish Settlement in Costa Rica

Cartago sits in the shadows of the mighty Irazu Volcano whose eruption destroyed the city in 1723,   and has become the wrath of several major earthquakes  in 1822, 1841, and again in 1910.  And , in 1963  during the visit of the late President John F. Kennedy, the Irazu again erupted covering San Jose with ash and badly damaging the agricultural areas around Cartago.

The  city government of Cartago is trying to attract tourism to it's city which is rich in history and abundant in natural beauty with the surrounding mountains and the Orosi Valley with it's coffee plantations.   Agriculture related to  growing  vegetables such as potatoes, onions, and broccoli thrives here due to the rich black volcanic soil.   Flowers such as  orchids and roses grown in the cool moist climate on the slopes of the Irazu are exported all around the world.

Cartago's rich history began  in 1563 when the Spanish conquistador Juan Vasquez de Coronado handpicked the valley. He said, "I have never seen a more beautiful place."  So the Spanish settled here and today it remains the oldest existing Spanish settlement in Costa Rica.  It served as the first capital of Costa Rica until 1823 when the capital was moved to San Jose.

Tourist say, well Cartago doesn't look like a Spanish Colonial City like for example Granada, Nicaragua with it's spectacular Spanish colonial architecture.  Well, Cartago was practically destroyed 1723 eruption of the Irazu Volcano. And when it was rebuilt, it never retained the same Spanish influence in it's  architectural designs.

Today, Cartago is home to the famous Costa Rica Institute of Technology, one of the country's most prestigious institutions of higher learning and one of central America's most important engineering schools, especially computer technology.

However, the most important and most beautiful  structure in the city is the Basilica  de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, which was destroyed in the 1910 earthquake and then rebuilt to it's present splendor.  The Basilica is packed each year on August 2nd when pilgrims come on foot from the most remote areas of Costa Rica to ask the holy "Black Virgin" known as La Negrita to pray for cures to their illnesses and to purify their souls.

Cartago is located east of the capital city of San Jose-  25 km  (approximately 15 miles).

What to wear when visiting Cartago?  Elevation is 4,000 feet so the weather is cool. And often rainy so you will need a warm jacket  and one that is water proof is best, and good walking shoes.  Also umbrella.

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[caption id="attachment_2066" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles in Cartago"][/caption]

Third Most Important Catholic Religious Holiday in Costa Rica, The Feast Day of the La Virgin de los Angeles

[caption id="attachment_2059" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pilgrim in prayer on Feast Day of Virgin of Los Angeles"][/caption]

August 2nd each year Costa Rica celebrates it's third  most important religious holiday, The Feast Day of the Virgin de los Angeles (Christmas and Easter being the two other most important religious holidays)

The banks  and other government buildings are closed, as well as many businesses.

This holiday is celebrated August 2nd with a pilgrimage to Cartago to  the country's principal cathedral, the enormous Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, on the Feast Day of the Virgin of the Angeles.  (the black virgin or La Negrita).   Hundreds of thousands of people-old, young,  well and sick,  walk  to this holy place from even the most remote areas  of Costa Rica.   Many walk for more than a week. When they get to the Basilica they crawl on their knees into the church where they pray for miracles.  To heal their bodies and cleanse their souls.

According to legend, a statue of the black virgin, the Black Madonna, known as La Negrita, was found by an indigenous girl around the year 1635.  She took it home but it mysteriously reappeared on the same rock where she found it.

The rock is revered as a sacred relic and object of inspiration.  This rock was placed  in the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles in Cartago.  It is common for pilgrims to touch the rock in reverence. And the famed holy Black Virgin Statue sits on a golden alter beset with precious stones.

This year on August 2nd the Health Ministry of Costa Rica prohibited the pilgrimage because the Swine flu epidemic.

So the  pilgrims, instead of walking to Cartago, walked from the countryside to the Catholic churches in their home towns.  Here they erected  flower adorned alters with a statue of the virgin.  And  pilgrims crawled on their knees to the alter to pray for miracles.

It is common for Costa Rican mothers to name their children after the Virgin de Los Angeles.  For example a friend of mine named her little girl Xinia de los Angeles.

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