June 25, 2007 - Sarchí

We went to Sarchí today! It rained this morning, so we waited - it stopped, we went.

We walked the 4 blocks from our B&B in Grecia to the bus stop and caught the 11:20 bus (Alajuela-Grecia-Sarchí-Naranjo). I expected we would have a longer wait - I only know (thought I knew?) the schedule from Alajuela. Oh well, I´ll take all the beneficial occurrences I can get :D. We were in Sarchí within 20 minutes, BUT! Julie´s anxiety attacks again. It seems that whenever I take a bus to a new town, I panic, and think I will miss the "right" stop. Of course, I get off waaay too soon ;(. We walked past a lot of very nice furniture (for about 20 minutes!), then got to the central park and church. Talk about a HUGE oxcart! The central park has an oxcart that has got to be 15 feet high - I almost bonked my head on the part that goes between the oxen.

Sarchí is definitely a town of "makers" - every front yard and garage we walked by had a beautiful piece of wood getting into shape. Most of what you see is furniture, but there are other items as well. I definitely know where I am going when I finally get a bedframe, dining set, kitchen cabinets... hmmm - would a wooden kitchen sink work?

We had lunch at a soda across from the park, walked up to the church (it was being renovated, so we didn´t go inside), and surveyed the town - it is higher than Grecia (cooler), and has a lot of steep roads (good views, puffing walkers). We walked a bit further, found the soccer field and police station (If I had listened to Rick instead of my panic, THIS is where the bus would have let us off.), then - ahhh - a coffee shop that has cold coffee drinks (I had mine with ice cream, and YES, it still does count as coffee!). And ANOTHER oxcart wheel - this one wheel has got to be more than 15 feet in diameter, bright orange, with the "tipico" colorful decorations. These guys know how to market.

We returned to the bus stop, and, with one block to go, watched our bus pull away. So what´s our hurry? We have a seat, and less than half an hour later, we´re on the next bus; we´re back at our B&B by 3:30 - no rain!

Even though we had quite a walk getting into the center of town, we have a couple of nice memory nuggets:

· We provided entertainment for some school girls (perhaps 11 years old) who greeted us with "hello!" - we stopped and (amongst the giggles) said a few greetings in English, exchanged names, and said good-bye.

· We walked slowly here and there, past furniture stores, and feasted our eyes on the wood, carvings, colors, inlays...

Oh yeah - lunch was quiet a bit cheaper than Grecia - a beef casado (a BIG plate of food) was c1200 (less than $2.50)