Costa Rica Holy Week:  Easter Cowboys (or Vaqueros Tico)

This week was Easter or Holy Week in Costa Rica.  Like Christmas, most of the country was shut down as Tico's headed for the Pacific or Caribbean/Atlantic beaches, gathered with friends and family and even headed for destinations outside the country for vacations at the likes of Disney World in Florida! 

Our new home of Las Nubes de Coronado is located inland within the mountains to the east of the Costa Rica Central Valley and its capital of San Jose.  We are surrounded by dairy farms (fincas), cattle, etc.  Having just gotten settled in Costa Rica and having nothing else to do during the Holy Week, it would have been convenient to visit one of the local farms ... but the one person we know that actually owns a Costa Rica dairy farm headed to China for vacation during this week.  So Junior and I decided that if we couldn't get an invite to a local farm, we'd find one ourselves (just kidding Joaquin - we got your invite ... we look forward to hearing about China upon your return ;o)

So without an Internet cafe open to call my daughter Kirsten on her 18th Birthday ("Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!!!") ... Junior and I headed out on Thursday, March 20th on foot to climb the rest of the way up the mountain above our home to see what was above our location. 

Our first stop was the river and cable walking bridge a short distance from our house that some girls told us about earlier while we waited at the bus stop.  The river was down a short dirt and rock road that connected two mountainside main roads.  Several families were at the river with kids swimming in the cold water when we arrived.  After hesitantly crossing the 'bouncy' bridge, Junior took a brief dip in the water but didn't stay too long because we had a huge hike ahead of us.

We then headed up the main road leading from our house up toward the mountain top.  Approximately 1 kilometer up the mountain is the official barrio of Las Nubes consisting of a sign in a grassy island at a fork in the road ... and another photo opportunity was taken advantage of!!!

After the obligatory landmark pictures where taken, our dairy farm came walking straight at us.  For the next hour or so we became part of the parade of cattle moving up the mountain road.  Yes, we were officially Tico Vaqueros or Cowboys - and I think the pay we received (none) was very similar to the pay of the real working stiffs that walk the mountainsides in rubber boots herding cattle from mountain grazing areas to milking facilities on a daily basis.

Junior herding the cattle through Cascajal, Costa Rica

After we dropped-off our cattle, we continued up the mountain road toward our goal of reaching the peak.  The mountain road wound up the mountain and every time we were near a Southern curve we could hear a river, but never seemed to get close enough to see it.  The drop-offs from the road down to the valleys where breathtakingly high and straight down.  We suddenly noticed that the wet/cloud conditions had left everything covered in a green moss resembling thick 'frost'.

Finally we came upon the river that we had been flirting with during our winding travels.  More pictures are available at BienvenidosCostaRica.dotPhoto.com but here are a couple.

We never did make it completely to the top of the mountain - there were no cars, few people and the sun started to get too far across the sky.  Out of concern for having to walk back down the mountain in the dark we turned at the river and headed back down to our house.  The walk down was almost as hard on our legs as the walk up do to the steep declines pounding on our already sore joints.

Pictures don't do it justice, but the following two pictures show our mountain view of the Costa Rica capital city of San Jose as the Central Valley peeks through the clouds. 

Look Close!  Our mountain view of the Central Valley capital of San Jose, Costa Rica in Central America

  We hope you enjoyed hiking with us!  Bill y Junior.