Tico Life in Grecia
When we ordered breakfast for today upon arrival at Finca Organica yesterday we weren’t sure what to expect. At 7:30 we walked a few hundred meters down the farm road from our cabin to La Casa de la Abuelos (The House of the Grandparents) where “Grandma” was already hours into breakfast preparation. Within minutes of arriving we were lavished with plate after plate of typical Costa Rican foods: a torte featuring homegrown spinach, cauliflower, and tomatoes; tamale squares; toasted slices of whole grain bread; coffee from the farm; herbal infusion (for me, since I’m not a coffee drinker); bananas; and the best guacamole I’ve ever had (probably because they grow their own avocados, too!). I wished I had a larger stomach so I could keep feasting until every last bite was consumed. And all of this for 3,000 colones (roughly $5.28). We quickly placed our order for another breakfast the following morning.
As we visited with “Grandma” via her English-speaking daughter, Felicia, she shared more about her family, and they gave us recommendations for sites to see around Grecia. Once we left the farm, our first stop was Hacienda Los Trapiches, an old sugar mill on the outskirts of town. The guard spoke no English and we spoke an equal amount of Spanish, so we resorted to some hand gestures and made use of the Speak & Translate app that allows you to speak a sentence in your language and then translates it into the selected language. It was effective enough for us to learn that the mill was closed and that we wouldn’t be able to see any of it in process, but he was willing to let us go in and look around and take a few pictures.
The girl working inside the mill area also consented to us looking around and snapping some photos when I was able to indicate our desire by walking my fingers across my hand and pretending to take a picture (I had run out of the limited number of translations available with the free version of the app, so we were relegated once again to the gesture and smile method of communication).
Our brief tour complete, we continued to the next stop: Los Chorros Waterfalls. A shirtless, moccasin-clad Tico met us as we turned into the drive and let down a rope that was blocking the entrance. Through cryptic language he communicated that it would cost us 3,000 colones to park, plus a voluntary donation, and that he would lead us to the waterfall himself. He showed us to the baños in his hut, where Julian also spotted his weed joint, and then we were off on the path with his two dogs trailing us.
Nervous glances along the way and his removing of branches that appeared to have been carefully placed to obscure the trail entrance made us question the legitimacy of the operation, but we were committed and up for the adventure. A lovely wooded trail led us past one falls that was visible in the distance and to the floor of the forest where we arrived at the base of the second waterfall. Once there, our guide, Luis, gave a few pointers and then indicated that he was going back up. A few other hikers coming from the opposite direction took him up on his offer to guide them to the top.
We explored the area around the falls, which included a decrepit suspension bridge and a deserted bathroom/changing room/snack stand. We surmised that this was an area that had fallen into disuse and disrepair, but was probably at one time a popular recreation area. One of Luis’ dogs remained behind and accompanied us back to the top where Luis was waiting to let us through the barbed wire fence and collect his parking fee plus “voluntary” donation before we departed.
The next stop on our route was Puente de Piedre, an old stone bridge that legend says was formed by a deal gone bad with the devil. Plugging the name “Puente de Piedre” into Google maps led us to the community by that name, so we wandered around looking for the bridge unsuccessfully for 5-10 minutes before locating an office with a couple of people who were able to piece together enough words in English to let me know that the bridge itself was a couple of kilometers down the road.
Julian parked the car and we crossed the bridge on foot, eventually discovering a small footpath that led down the side of the hill and under the bridge. From below we were able to get a much better view of the natural curiosity – a bridge that seems to have been formed completely naturally from a large rock.
The final recommendation for the area was a visit to the neighboring town of Sarchi, so we wound our way to its center square, where a beautiful green church building rose well above the rest of the town. We snapped a few pictures of that and the encased, colorful, handcrafted wagon (the largest in the world according to a town resident) that was prominently displayed in the square, then walked a few blocks over to Musmanni posteria, panaderi, and cafe. Lunch consisted of a variety of filled pastries that were flaky and tasty.
For dessert we walked a few more blocks to the Helados Sensación shop. We’d seen a few of these ice cream stores throughout our trip, so it was time to give them a try. The selection at this particular location wasn’t very extensive and I’m still not even sure what flavor I ended up with, but it wasn’t impressive.
It was early afternoon when we checked the last place off of our list, so we headed back to Finca Organica. Clouds rolled in, so we spent the next several hours sitting on our front porch watching and smelling the steady rain and talking about our dreams for the future. Some much-needed moments of rest and reflection.
Shortly after 5:00 we were back in our trusty 4×4 traversing the narrow roads to the home of the Balke family several ridges over. As a Kansas girl, I‘m used to plotting directions in straight lines with a ruler, so I may never get used to seeing two locations separated by a mere 15 kilometers requiring a route that looks more like a toddler scribbled with a crayon between them. That’s about how it feels to get from point to point in Costa Rican farm country. But I digress. We “found” the Balke’s through the Candle in the Window network we joined a number of years ago, and when I contacted them about meeting up they graciously invited us to their home for dinner.
Four hours flew by as we ate, talked, laughed, and had a most memorable evening getting to know each other. They were such welcoming hosts and shared so many interesting tidbits about their journey to and life in Costa Rica as missionaries. What a blessing to experience fellowship with other Christians in places all around the world. We said goodbye with hopes that our paths will cross again one day.
