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SARCHI |
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| Touted as the centre of Costa Rican arts and crafts, especially
furniture making , the village of SARCHÍ , 30km northwest of Alajuela,
is a commercialized place - firmly on the tourist trail but without much
charm. Its setting is pretty enough, between precipitous verdant hills,
but don't come expecting to see picturesque scenes of craftsmen sitting
in small historic shops: the work is done in factories. The Sarchí ox-cart
is a kaleidoscopically coloured, painted square cart meant to be hauled
by a single ox or team of two oxen. Moorish in origin, the designs can
be traced back to immigrants from the Spanish provinces of Andalucía and
Granada. Though full-scale carts (US$1000) are, understandably, only
rarely sold, smaller-scale versions (US$60-200) specially made for
tourists are popular, as are Sarchí tables, bedsteads and leather
rocking chairs (about US$70). Apart from the shops and factories, the
only thing of interest is a bubblegum-coloured pink-and-turquoise church
which looks out from atop the hill in Sarchí Norte. |
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