Guayabo, Orosi and Cartago

On Sunday I went on a field trip with my Latin American Cultures Field Study class.  We visited the Guayabo National Monument.  This area was discovered when people where clearing the land for pastures.  The tribes that made this village lived in the area from 1000 B.C. to 1450 A.D.  There are the remains of the Monticulo Principal (main mound-I have not found a way to add the accent marks and such on this site), the ceremonial mound, aqueducts (that are still working) and a road that is the entrance to the village.  We also saw a tomb where they would bury the dead.  The closer to the center of the village someone was buried, the more important they were.  Also they were important if they were buried deep. 

view on the way to Guayabo

This road reminded me of the road to Hana on Maui. It was narrow, had one lane bridges, usually a drop-off on one side and was all curves and up and down. Our bus driver is very skilled!

monolito - alligator

This rock had the figure of an alligator on one side and a jaguar on the other.  These animals represented strength and power on land and water.

el paraguas del pobre (poor man's umbrella)

view of the village from above

Tanque de Captacion

This is the beginning of the aqueduct system.  The spring that feeds this purification tank is 126m away.  After this tank the water flows (underground) to the tanque de sedimentacion.  The water then goes into the aqueduct were they got their water for daily activities.  There is no water currently in the aqueduct as it has been diverted for use of nearby villages.  The tanks and aqueducts have been designed to keep the flow always the same even in the rainy season so as not to overflow. 

Calzada Caragra 

This road leads from the entrance of the village to the main mound.

Monticulos Rectangulares

These are the only two rectangular mounds and they mark the entrance to the village (there are 48 round mounds total).

coffee fields

Next we went to see la Inglesia de San Jose Orosi.  This church, built in 1734, is the oldest church in Costa Rica still used today.

These original paintings from France lined both side walls.

The last place we went was the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles (Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels).

where the people get their holy water

According to the legend, in 1635 a peasant girl found a small stone statue of the Virgin holding the Christ child. Twice she took the statue home and placed it in a box, and twice it mysteriously reappeared at the spot where it was discovered.  The Catholic Church agreed that the Virgin wanted a cathedral built on that spot.

Two side notes:

   1.  I got to try sugar cane

   2. One of the girls from Nevada had Hawthorne Heights on her ipod!