Visit to Cartago and the Lankester Botanical Gardens

This weekend, I did not have to leave for my Tropical Ecology field trip until 6 am on Saturday. So, I got to go on a day trip with AIFS to Cartago. Cartago is a more colonial city located in the province of Cartago, south of San José. The majority of the population of Costa Rica lives in the cities of Heredia, Cartago, and San José. There are a number of other smaller cities in other provinces, but these are the main ones.

We met in the morning and took a Tico Viajero bus to Cartago. Tico Viajero is the main organizer of excursions for international students at Universidad Veritas. AIFS does everything separately, because Tico Viajero is notoriously expensive. However, I do appreciate the shuttle services that are provided by Tico Viajero after my night classes to my house. I have a longer walk than anyone, and petty theft is very common in San José. I have only had one thing stolen so far, and that was on a public bus. I probably have Tico Viajero to thank for the fact that I am still in possession of my backpack...and my orange rape whistle (Thank you Aunt Gina!!! It did come in handy)

The ride to Cartago was about forty-five minutes, and we had a beautiful view of the famous volcano, Irazú. Cartago was the first capital of Costa Rica, and it remained the capital until 1823 when it was moved to San José. The city has had a number of hardships in the past. It suffered severe damage in earthquakes in 1822, 1841, and 1910. In 1963, there was a major volcanic eruption of Irazú that lasted for two years. The eruption covered Cartago and San José in ash and damaged a lot of agricultural areas.

The "new" basilica

Our first stop in Cartago was the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles. Costa Rica is a predominately Catholic country, especially in the San José region. The Basilica is the most famous church structure in the country. Every year on August 2, pilgrims travel to celebrate the feast day of the Virgin of the Angels in Cartago. Costa Rica's principle church is the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles. The church has a statue of the Black Madonna that is called La Negrita in the lower level. People believe that she has healing powers.

This is the statue of La Negrita on top of the stone.
This is where the pilgrims toss their charms.

The story is that the statue of La Negrita was found by an indigenous girl in 1634. The rock where she found it is now held in the basilica, and it is revered as a sacred relic. It is supposed to be in the same location it was when La Negrita was found. However, the old basilica was damaged in all three earthquakes, and rebuilt in a different location. Whenever the pilgrims come to the church, the walk on their knees down the center aisle of the church while praying. We saw a couple of people doing this in the church even though it was only February. We also saw a collection of thousands and thousands of charms that people have brought to La Negrita. For example, there were charms of legs, arms, heads, hearts, etc. People bring the charm and then throw it at the rock in hopes that La Negrita will answer their prayers. It is funny though, I cannot find a charm for my charm bracelet in this country for the life of me...

A woman doing the traditional "walk" to the altar.

After visiting the Basilicia, we travelled to the Lankester Botanical Gardens. The Botanical gardens were incredible and really displayed the floral biodiversity of Costa Rica.

This is my resident director Rebe and her daughter
 Mara at the botanical gardens.

I took dozens of pictures of gorgeous flowers.
A lot of them were really exotic looking like this one.