Costa Rica Part 7: Wildlife along the Rio Frio

A Mantled Howler monkey pauses while feeding to stare down intruders. Notice how he uses his tail to help brace himself on a tree limb so that he can safely use his left arm to gather leaves. I took this shot from the deck of a tour boat on Costa Rica's Rio Frio (Cold River) near the Nicaraguan border. Rio Frio begins in northern Costa Rica in the middle of the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge and flows north to where it crosses into Nicaragua. The river trip was part of our Caravan Tour and our tour director promised we'd see abundant wildlife in the area. She didn't exaggerate. When viewing this posting, keep in mind that the animals seen below represent only a small portion of those we encountered. To locate Rio Frio on a Google map, click here.


The River Cruise

The boats' seating areas are covered as rain protection, but they have open viewing decks. This craft, almost identical to ours, pulled up next to us at a prime spot. From long experience, the boat guides know precisely which areas, and even which trees, are favored by the animals.

Lanny (l) and Val (r) are a delightful South African couple we met on the tour. Their warmth and sense of humor shines through in this photo. In the background, our river guide speaks into the microphone while the boat pilot stands at the wheel. Our tour director advised us to dress for rain, and for good reason.

The Rio Frio's lush banks

The river flows tranquilly past low banks lined with a trees and other vegetation. The overhanging limbs are populated with a wide variety of birds, reptiles, and monkeys.

A huge bromeliad clings to a low-hanging tree limb. The species seen above is epiphytic not parasitic, meaning that it does not live at the expense of its host. Epiphytic bromeliads draw the moisture and nutrients they need from the air. Bromeliads are a huge plant family containing 3,170 species, which includes pineapples and orchids.

Palm trees were especially numerous. This one was huge, with dramatically spreading fronds.

Palm fruit clusters thickly under the fronds of another palm tree. This appears to be a Pejibaye palm (Bactris gasipaes) native to Costa Rica and other Central American countries. It is sometimes called a peach palm and can live from 50-75 years. The fruit is edible and this species is domesticated in some areas.


Monkey business

A Howler monkey rapidly climbs a tree as our boat approaches. The Mantled Howler is also called a Golden-mantled Howler due to the light colored fur on its back and sides. The monkey's scientific name is Alouatta palliata. It got its nickname from its loud howling--actually more like hooting. The monkey howls to identify itself and to locate others of its species in the area. The sound, arising from all directions in a late-night chorus, can definitely unnerve a tourist who is not familiar with which animal is making the noise.

Mantled Howlers live in family groups. Some of these groups can number as many as 40 individuals, but most are far smaller. Generally, young males are evicted from the group by the alpha male when the youngsters reach maturity. If you look closely at their dark fur, you can see streaks of the heavy rain that was falling at the time.

The Howler above has just stripped the leaves from the stem it is holding in its hand. These animals feed primarily on tree leaves, which aren't terribly nutritious. Consequently, they spend a lot of time resting in the crotches of rainforest trees, far above the ground. Although their diet is low in nutrition, the abundance of leaves gives this species an advantage over other monkeys whose food is not so readily available.

A baby Howler peers from under its mom's arm. The young monkey reminded me of  human children who have shyly peeked at me while half-hidden by a parent's body. Kids are always curious, whether human or animal.

A White-headed Capuchin munches a seed pod. This monkey (Cebus capucinus) gets its name from the white fur on its face and upper arms. To the Spanish, it resembled the hood, or capuche, of a monk's habit. The Capuchin's are smaller and much less husky than the Howlers. They were also much less numerous in this area.


Birds along the river

An Anhinga spreads its wings to dry its feathers after a downpour. Anhinga anhinga is the formal name of this large bird. It is also called the American snake bird, from its long sinuous neck. It feeds by diving into the water to catch fish.

A Boat-billed Heron perches on a limb and scans the river for lunch. The diet of Cochlearius cochlearius includes fish, rodents, eggs, crustaceans, insects, and amphibians. There is certainly plenty for it to eat along Rio Frio. The Boat-billed Heron got its nickname from its broad, scoop-like bill, somewhat resembling a shallow-draft boat.

Another Anhinga huddles in the pouring rain. Notice the webbed feet, somewhat like a duck's, which enable it to swim swiftly on and under the water.

Two Mangrove Swallows sit on the end of a long branch sticking out of the water. Tachycineta albilinea is a non-migratory bird that lives in the coastal regions of Central America and Mexico. It is one of the passerine species which are distinguished by three toes pointing forward and one back. This arrangement enables these birds to perch on branches more effectively than non-passerine species. Passerines make up more than half of all bird species.

A Little Blue Heron sits on a snag as it surveys the passing river. I particularly liked the delicate blue coloring of its feathers. Egretta caerulea is a close relative of the Snowy Egret and actually resembles the other bird until it molts and gains its blue adult coloring. This coloring protected it from the feather hunters who decimated the white egrets in the 19th century. The Little Blue Heron likes the water and seeks out river banks, swamps, ponds, and the shores of marshy lakes.

A Great White Egret stares intently into the water, looking for fish, snakes, and amphibians. I recognized this fellow immediately because the shores of the lake where I live abound in Great Whites (Ardea alba). It has a very wide distribution in the warmer, tropical temperate regions of the world. The Great White Egret is distinguished from other white egrets by its size and also its yellow beak and black legs and feet.


Colorful Reptiles

A Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) relaxes on a branch as it advertises its availability for a mate. During the mating season, this iguana turns from its normal green color to the bright orange seen above. The color helps make it more easily visible to iguanas of the opposite sex. Despite their fearsome appearance, iguanas are entirely harmless to humans.

The Green Basilisk Lizard looks like an escapee from Jurassic Park. Basilicus plumifrons is sometimes called the "Jesus Christ Lizard" because of its seeming ability to walk on water. This comes from small fringes on the tips of its toes. These unfurl when it hits the water, creating a tiny air pocket under each toe. The Jesus Christ lizard can sprint 1.5 m (5 ft) per second across the surface. They can make it about 4.5 m (15 ft) before they sink, but then they have excellent swimming abilities.


Slothfulness made easy

A Three-toed Sloth relaxes in the crotch of a tree. Bradypus variegatus is active during the day, although "active" is a relative term for a sloth. They are very slow-moving animals. This is caused by their diet, which is almost entirely leaves from the trees in which they perch. Such a low-nutrition diet gives them a slow metabolism. That, in turn, requires a thick covering of fur to help conserve body heat. The sloth lives almost its entire life--eating, sleeping, socializing, and mating--in the tops of trees. Just about the only exception is when, once a week, they descend to the forest floor to urinate and defecate into a small hole they dig. The whole process takes about 30 minutes and is the only time when their slowness makes them really vulnerable to predators. It is a mystery why they don't eliminate their body wastes while safely sitting in a tree. Despite this weekly period of danger, sloths often live 20-30 years in the wild.

This sign and cement obelisk indicate where Rio Frio crosses into Nicaragua. Other than a couple of strands of rusty barbed wire, there was nothing else to indicate an official boundary. This point marked the outer limit of our river tour. When the boat operator turned the craft and backed up the river, we were--for about five minutes--illegal immigrants into Nicaragua. However, there was no one to challenge our presence in this remote spot and we soon began our return journey.

This completes Part 7 of my Costa Rica series. I hope you enjoyed visiting the animals along Rio Frio and, if so, you will leave any comments or questions you may have in the Comments section below. Alternatively, you can just email me directly.

If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

Costa Rica Part 6: The Doka Estate Coffee Tour

Coffee cherries growing on the same plant ripen at different rates. The cherries first turn from green to yellow and then are picked when they become bright red. Dora Estate, owned by the Vargas family, was another stop on our tour of Costa Rica. This coffee plantation is located in Sabinilla Canton of Alajuela Province, a couple of hours drive northwest of San José. Doka Estate produces one of Costa Rica's finest coffees and its quality has resulted in numerous awards.

Photo of the Vargas family in 1940. A yunta (a yoked pair of oxen) stands next to a traditional carreta (see Part 4 of this series). Three generations of the Vargas family surround it. Many of the younger family members clutch the baskets used when picking the beans. Coffee workers get paid by how many full baskets they can deliver by the end of the day. The baskets are suspended in front by a cord around the waist so that both of the worker's hands will be free.

The headquarters of Doka Estate are surrounded by almost 4000 acres of coffee plants. The Vargas family story starts in 1929, when Don Clarindo Vargas, the patriarch, was operating a store in San Isidro, a town in Sabanilla Canton. In 1929, he foresaw the approaching economic disaster known as the Great Depression. Deciding to change occupations before he lost everything, Don Clarindo closed his store and put his money into a small dairy farm. After all, people will always need to eat. After about 20 years as a dairy farmer, he decided to switch to coffee, despite his lack of knowledge of the business. The plucky Costa Rican started small, planting only about 7 acres at first.

Our guide during the coffee tour reveals ripening coffee cherries beneath the leaves. Since the cherries don't all ripen at the same time, a picker will return to the same plant several times over the course of the season. Our guide was very knowledgable about the planting and processing of coffee, as well as fluent in English. Don Clarindo and his growing family labored steadily on his coffee farm for a number of years. The payoff came in 1959 when his son founded Beneficiadora Santa Eduviges, a multi-faceted business that includes the Doka Estate. Santa Eduviges is named after the patron saint of homeless families. Doka Estate's coffee plants now cover 3954 acres. The Estate is only one of a number of plantations owned by Santa Eduviges.

Banana trees are used to provide shade to coffee plants in some fields. Bananas were introduced to Costa Rica by Minor Keith. He was a US businessman who built the first railroad from the Central Valley to the Caribbean port of Limón, greatly increasing coffee exports. Today 90% of Costa Rica's crop is exported and only 10% of its coffee is consumed locally. In the early years, planting and harvesting coffee was the Vargas family's sole focus. Over time, they became involved in processing  and drying the beans. Still later, they began to directly export their crop. Although much of the processing machinery used at Doka Estate originated in the 19th century, Santa Eduviges also has a website and uses the internet to support its international sales.

There are several layers inside the red skin of the coffee cherry. Each layer requires a separate stage of processing. During the 1980s and 90s, the company began to offer its product for sale to its own employees who, by then, amounted to 200 full-time and 3000 seasonal workers. In 1997, Santa Eduviges launched Café Tres Generaciones (Three Generations Coffee), a chain of four coffee houses located in various parts of Costa Rica. Patrons of these shops consume 20% of the coffee that Doka Estate produces. In addition, internet purchases are a growing part of the sales total.

Old-fashioned belt-driven machinery processes the beans. The coffee cherries move down from level to level in an ingenious method that employs gravity to assist.  As the cherries move through each process, the various layers covering the coffee bean are removed. At the last stage, the beans are spread out on a large concrete platform to dry before being collected in large sacks. This is the oldest coffee factory in Costa Rica and has been declared part of the country's Historic and Architectural Heritage.

A water wheel slowly turns next to the coffee plantation's restaurant. The water flows from the pipe above the wheel. The weight of the water dropping into each of the vanes along the rim of the wheel causes it to revolve. Waterpower was one of the earliest non-animal forms of energy harnessed by humans for industrial purposes. The earliest description of a vertical water wheel, like that shown above, is by Vitruvius (31 BC - 14 AD). He was a Roman who wrote a treatise on all aspects of engineering. This one differs from the Roman version only in that the Costa Rican wheel is made of metal. Otherwise, the design and function are virtually identical. You may recall seeing a similar red water wheel at the ox cart factory in Sarchi (Part 4 of this series).

And, speaking of ox carts, this is one of several kept in a shed at the Doka Estate. It may well be the same one you saw in the family photo. Coffee first arrived in Central America in 1740. It came first to El Salvador, but didn't reach Costa Rica until 1796. The first export destination for Costa Rican coffee was Chile. Ironically, Costa Rica's coffee was bought by European merchants who re-exported it and sold it under the label "Chilean Coffee from Valparaiso."

An obstacle course stands in the middle of Doka Estate's coffee fields. Some of the services offered by the coffee plantation include tours, a Bed and Breakfast, a restaurant, and a facility for "team building". This obstacle course is part of a program offered to businesses so that employee groups can build trust and become better teams. Quite an odd thing to find sprouting among lush green coffee plants.

This completes my posting on the Doka Estate. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, that you will leave any comments or questions in the Comments section below, or email them directly to me. However, if you do leave a question in the Comments section PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

Costa Rica Part 5: Zarcero's topiary garden & the Church of San Rafael Archangel

The steeples of Iglesia de San Rafael Arcángel are framed by Zarcero's remarkable topiary. The fanciful shapes of the main plaza's hedges caught my eye when our Caravan tour bus stopped for a break. Zarcero is located on Highway 141, 67 miles north of San José, the capital of Costa Rica. The town is the largest of Canton #11 in the Province of Alajuela. Each of Costa Rica's six provinces are divided into cantons, the rough equivalent to a US county. Zarcero is very clean and well-kept and its population is prosperous, with a literacy rate of 93%. Not surprisingly, this agricultural center has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. The main crops grown in the area are coffee, vegetables, and livestock. Fittingly, the city is named after a plant, the sarsaparilla vine (Smilax ornata). Sarsaparilla has been used medicinally by the indigenous people of North, Central, and South America for thousands of years.

Parque Francisco Alvarado occupies a city block that it shares with the church. The park is a popular gathering place for local people and a regular stop for tourists heading to northern Costa Rica. As you can see, the town is spread along the slopes of a valley in the mountains. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the area was part of the domain of the indigenous Cacique Garabito. A cacique is a tribal strongman or chief. The first European settlers did not began to trickle in until 1854, with the arrival of José Zumbado and his wife Solis. A small chapel was built in 1892, on the site of the current church. The first cement water pipes were laid in 1910, as a gift from the government of Cleto González Viquez. Zarcero did not gain the status of town until 1915, when it was named the seat of the canton that was created at the same time. Three years later, in 1918, the government of Federico Tinoco Granados officially declared Zarcero to be a city.

A small girl cavorts among the tunnel of topiaries. The topiary in the park was created by Evangelista Blanco Brenes. He was commissioned by the city government in 1964 to maintain the green areas opposite the church. Señor Evangelista took it upon himself to plant pine and cypress trees and  to shape them into whimsical patterns. For his work, Evangelista Blanco received the 2013 National Prize for Popular Culture. After more than 40 years, he still personally trims his creations. The line of arched plants, each looking like the letter "M", stretches out from the front steps of the church. The shapes are irresistible to children and adults alike, who constantly wander through them.

Furry green faces peer down from the top of a thick hedge. Topiary has been described as "the art of living sculpture." Wandering about, you never know what might be around the next turn of the path.  European topiary dates back to Roman times and the word comes from topiarius, meaning landscape gardener. The fanciful shaping of plants was described by Pliny the Younger, a lawyer, author, and magistrate of ancient Rome. The first Roman topiarius may have been Gnaeus Matius Calvinus, one of Julius Caesar's friends.

A rose garden is bordered by what looks like the handles of a basket. In the background, you can see the ridged back and long neck of a green dinosaur. The Romans may have been influenced by ideas filtering across vast distances from Japan and China. Those ancient Asian societies also practiced topiary, but from a different point of view. They were trying to mimic the appearance of aged pines which had been shaped by the wind. The Japanese art of bonsai, or miniature pine trees, is an expression of this.

View from the steps of the church. Off to the right of the green arches, you can see a leafy green beast about 3 meters tall. It might represent a monkey, but who knows? Apparently only Señor Evangelista. European topiary disappeared with the onslaught of the Dark Ages but was revived in the 16th century. It became popular both in the grand gardens of the elites and as decorations for simple cottages. The practice once again fell out of favor in the 18th century after it was satirically panned by the writer Alexander Pope.  Revived yet again in the mid-19th century, topiary has remained popular through the 20th and into the 21st centuries. Today, it can be found in gardens throughout the world.

Looming over Señor Evangelista's creations is the twin-towered Iglesia San Rafael Arcángel. The simple, original chapel was replaced in 1895 by this stately creation. The church was dedicated by Bishop Bernardo Augusto Thiel Hoffman, the second bishop of Costa Rica. It is part of the Diocese of Alajuela in the ecclesiastical province of Costa Rica. The grey stone of the walls and towers is nicely set off by the red roof and tower caps.

The interior of the church is filled with colorful decorations and designs. There is a single nave, with a corridor on each side, supported by rows of columns.

View of the ceiling, toward the choir loft at the back of the nave. At regular intervals, candelabras hang down to provide lighting. In modern times, however, the candles have been replaced by electric lights. Each segment of the ceiling is painted with a different coat-of-arms. Notice the graceful arches supported by the columns. Unlike Protestant churches, Catholic churches tend to place the choir to the rear of, and raised above, the sanctuary area. This is to avoid distracting the congregation and to enable the choir to face the altar area while the mass is going on.

The altar area is open and airy. Some Catholic churches, particularly of the 17th century Baroque style, are so overly decorated as to bedazzle and confuse the mind. Others, from the Neo-classic style of the 18th and 19th centuries, tend to to be very spartan in their decoration. The Iglesia de San Rafael Arcángel strikes a nice balance between the two.

This completes Part 5 of my Costa Rica series. Next time, we'll vist the Dakota Coffee Estate. If you have enjoyed this posting, or have questions, please reply in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so that I can reply.

Hasta luego, Jim

Costa Rica Part 4: Sarchi's colorful carretas

A vividly painted carreta is displayed in the center of Eloy Alfaro's oxcart workshop.  Notice the two bow yokes resting on the top of the carreta (ox cart). One of these would be fastened over the shoulders of a pair of oxen so they could pull the cart. Our Caravan Tour stopped at the Taller Eloy Alfaro (Eloy Alfaro's Workshop) for a tour of the little factory. This taller is one of the few that are still creating these beautiful little hand-painted vehicles. Most of the workshops are located in the small town of Sarchi, in Alajuela Province. Sarchi lies about 46 km (29 mi) northwest of Costa Rica's capital of San Jose. To locate Sarchi on a Google map, click here. 

Sarchi, the oxcart makers' town

Sarchi as it used to be. Notice the steeples of the Iglesia de Sarchi Norte. The church is surrounded by a cluster of small, tile-roofed houses. Cattle and horses graze in lush meadows. The heavily wooded Corderilla looms in the background. This scene portrays Sarchi as it would have appeared during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Sarchi of today is considerably bigger and far busier.

Iglesia de Sarchi Norte is one of the most impressive churches in Costa Rica. The church overlooks the main plaza in Sarchi. Unfortunately, the Caravan bus didn't stop, so we never saw the interior. However, I did manage to get this shot through the window. Notice the street sign in the lower left. The top of it replicates part of a painted carreta wheel. There are two districts in Sarchi, Norte (north) and Sur (south). Together they cover an area of 38.9 sq km (24 sq mi) and have a combined population of 11,571. The town is located on the slopes of the Central Cordillera (mountain range) on the eastern edge of Costa Rica's Central Valley.

Eloy Alfaro's oxcart workshop

Eloy Alfaro stands with his wife in the doorway of his workshop. This is the way the taller looked in the old days. Today, this structure forms one corner of a four-sided courtyard. The other sides now contain a gift shop and a restaurant. The water wheel seen in the right center still drives the taller's machinery. The wheel was upgraded from its original wood construction to metal in 1934, and finally to iron in 1965. Notice the wall to the left of Alfaro and his wife.

Wheels, saw blades, and other machinery hang by the entrance to Taller Eloy Alfaro. The big, brightly-painted circular saw blade carries the name "Alfaro Castro Hermanos, Ltda. (Alfaro Castro Brothers, Limited). Eloy Alfaro launched his workshop in 1920. In 1928, Alfaro bought the taller's machinery from the Hacienda La Eve. Still later, he added hydraulic power to create the electricity that drives the shop.

Three cart wheels show stages in time. The rustic old wheel at the bottom is from the 19th century. In the middle hangs another, somewhat newer, version that has also had considerable use. On top is a brand new version, freshly painted with vivid, intricate designs. In the background, some of our Caravan group are touring the workshop. 

A giant wheel leans against the shop wall. For scale, I asked one of our Caravan party to stand next to it. This wheel is similar to the ones on the giant carreta displayed in the main plaza of Sarchi. Taller Eloy Alfaro constructed that huge cart to help celebrate the naming of La Carreta as the National Labor Symbol in 1988. Later, in 2005, UNESCO designated the painted ox cart as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. I was unable to get any decent shots of the Plaza's huge carreta, since our bus passed it quickly on our way to the taller. However, this photo helps give some idea of the size of the plaza's cart.

Crafting the carretas

Leather belts connect to wheels that turn the machines. Most of the machinery and tools in the shop dates back to the 19th century. 

Device used to construct the wheels. The process somewhat resembles assembling a pizza from its individual, triangular slices. The cart makers use 16 triangular wedges of Spanish cedar, mahogany, or laurel to form a wheel. The screws around the rim are tightened to squeeze the "pizza slices" together tightly after they are glued.

An array of axles stand to one side, waiting for a wheel of the appropriate size. Work in the taller continued even as our tour filed through.

An artisan paints a design on a wood slat, soon to be part of a finished carreta. This requires painstaking work that demands the full attention of the artisan. He never looked up as our group crowded around to admire his creation.

A work table contains finished wheels. A variety of paint pots containing a rainbow of colors share the space with the finished work. Most carts are similar in construction, but all are unique in their painted designs. In the late 19th century, craftsmen began painting elaborate patterns on carretas. The practice rapidly spread to many different pueblos. It reached the point where the origin of a particular cart could be identified by the patterns its creator used.

The painted carts at work

A sugar cane worker chops his way through a stand of cane. In the background, another worker prepares to load the cut stalks into an ox cart. One of the many uses of the painted carretas was to transport cane to the sugar mill for processing. (Photo from a mural at the Doka Coffee Estate)

A carreta loaded with cane stalks pauses for a photograph. A sign under the 1940 photo identifies the boyero (carreta driver) as Teodoro Umaña Brenes. In his left hand he holds a chuzo, or prod, with which he controls the oxen and keeps them moving. The location of the photo is Cemetery Street in the pueblo of San Antonio de Escazú, today a suburb of San José. A typical load required a pair of strong oxen, called a yunta. Oddly, the first carretas were pulled by people rather than animals. As the loads increased, oxen were substituted. Notice the designs painted on the wheels and side of the vehicle.  Dia de los Boyeros (Ox Cart Drivers Day) has been celebrated for more than 30 years.

A worker holds a large bunch of green bananas as a group of women pick coffee beans. Bananas and coffee have been among the top agricultural exports of Costa Rica since the mid-19th century. Sometimes they were grown together, with the banana trees providing needed shade for the coffee plants. This painting is a detail from a large wall mural in the Taller Eloy Alfaro. The mural is a copy of the 1897 original, called Alegoria al Café y Bananas. The 19th century version was painted by Aleardo Villa and hangs in the National Theatre in San José. 

A long caravan hauls sacks of coffee beans to the Caribbean port of Limón. The man standing on the right may be the caravan's leader. Coffee was first shipped from Costa Rica to London in 1843. Soon, long lines of carretas were hauling sacks of beans from highland plantations down rough mountain roads to Puerta Limón. Between 1854-57, a railroad was built to connect San José with Limón. However, even after the advent of railroads, oxcart caravans continued to move sugarcane, coffee and bananas from remote plantations to the railheads. The "golden age" of carretas  lasted from 1850 all the way to 1935.

Workers load sacks of coffee aboard steamships moored at Puerto Limón. This is another panel of the Alegoria al Café y Bananas. A variety of flags fly from the ships' masts, including those of France and the United States. Many of the workers in Puerto Limón were of African descent, similar to the sugar cane worker in a previous painting. Some Africans were brought to Costa Rica as slaves during the colonial period. However, slavery was abolished in 1823, following independence from Spain. Most of the Afro-Costa Ricans depicted above would have been immigrants from Jamaica. They began arriving in 1872 after an employment crisis on their home island. The newly arrived Jamaicans initially worked on the railroad, but later got jobs as stevedores in the port or as banana or sugar cane workers in the interior. 

Yesterday and today

A boyero pauses to chat with a woman at a rancho along his route. Over his shoulder, he carries his chuzo. His cart is empty, so he is probably at the end of his long workday. Notice the painted ox yoke over the lintel of the woman's window. This timeless scene is very realistic, as you will see in the next two photographs.

Our bus paused near a carreta being driven by its boyero through the mountains. We didn't dismount from the bus, but I was able to get this and the next shot through the window. The previous painting and these photos bear a remarkable resemblance. It could almost have been a portrait of this boyero as a young man. Even the black and white spotted oxen look similar.

The boyero relaxes against the yoke connecting his yunta to the cart. Like the man in the painting, he holds a long chuzo. Notice how the yoke has been carved so that it will fit comfortably over the neck of each ox. The beasts stood patiently until we foreigners finished gawking and snapping our photos. The oxen were probably grateful for a break from their long trudge up the mountain.

This completes Part 4 of my Costa Rica series. I hope you have enjoyed it. If you'd like to leave a comment or question, please do so in the Comments section below, or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments section PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim