Orosí

Today I traveled to Orosí, a quaint mountain town situated 1051 meters above sea level. I went solo, armed only with a passing knowledge of the local language, a post-it note with bus stop locations, and five PB & J sandwiches The trip required three buses and a lot of walking, but I managed the two-hour journey there on less than $2 (a post about how much I love the public buses here coming soon). The bus climbed up and speeded down the mountains as the radio blared Spanish covers of "You Lift Me Up", Amy Grant's "El Shaddai", and Michael W. Smith's "Friends" (a post on how I'm pretty sure the public buses are actually run by the Catholic Church coming soon).

Orosí, upon arrival, offered some stunning vistas of the mountains that box in the town. After wandering aimlessly through the town, I did some hiking along the unnamed river. Pretty, but too bad bulldozers were at work in the water and the clouds were covering the mountains.

The highlight of Orosí, though, was its central church. Built in 1734, San José de Orosí is the oldest church still in regular use in Costa Rica. It was originally a missionary church and Franciscan monastery, damaged in the 1910 earthquake that created Las Ruinas de Cartago (see "Day Tripper"), but renovated by the Order in the middle of the last century.

The church reverted to Diocesan control in the '90s and the monastery was turned into a religious relics museum, where I learned all of this information. The museum hosts several relics from the church's history, including colonial-era images of Christ and the Virgin Mary, 18th century beds used by the monks, and some baroque-style altars rescued in 1910 from the church leveled in nearby Ujarrás. The picture below was taken in the church itself.






To the rainforest tomorrow!

Pura vida,
Eric