Panama Canal Cruise 2020 - Day 10 — Captain Father John

It was a bitter sweet departure from the ship. Life was magical onboard. We climbed into the bus at 8:30 am and drove to the ox cart manufacturer in Sarchi. I must admit I was impressed with how they maintained the original production techniques from 100 years ago. They still power all their equipment with a water wheel. They do not use any electric power tools. The water wheel turns pulleys that are attached to saws and drills. The original design for the oxcart wheel was to find a tree with a large diameter and cut the wheels in one piece. The wheels did not last very long. They then developed a process to use 15 pieces of wood cut in 22.5° triangles. Then a steel rim is attached. Only family members know the entire process. They use mahogany and teak in the construction. Each cart takes 100 hours to build and 110 hours to decorate. The painters go through a five year apprentice program before they can decorate a cart on their own. Each cart is custom ordered and the buyer can only request the base color. Each cart costs between $3,000 and $4,000.

Our next stop after lunch was the National Theater of Costa Rica. It was funded by a tax on coffee and banana exports and opened in 1897. It has a unique feature that the audience floor rises up to stage level to make one giant floor. The original gears still work by people power.

Our final tour of the day was the Gold Museum. It is a display of pre-Colombian gold artifacts from Costa Rica. Christopher Columbus observed the indigenous people wearing gold earrings and necklaces. He reported back to Spain that this was a rich country full of gold. This was not true. The Costa Rican natives traded with other countries to get their gold. Christians define their calendar as BC and AD. The Latin’s define their existence as pre-Colombian for prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Everything changed after Columbus.

We arrived at the Marriott San Juan at 4:30 pm. It is a beautiful resort hotel and our home for the next two days.

Here in’ the decorative ox cart. You can have one for $4,000.

The oxcart factory has a great gift shop.

Here is an artist making new designs. He has been painting for 12 years.

This is the currency of Costa Rica called a colon. The exchange rate is 556 colons to $1 usd. This 5 colon note is worth one US cent.

This is a statue of a pre- Colombian nature wearing gold artifacts.