Saturday, March 19

In which we take a break from life down on the farm to sample a taste of the big city.

Specifically, we want to see the local museum of art and the local solid-block-square market. 

And, of course, the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles - considered to be Costa Rica’s most important religious shrine. It’s impressive, majestic, magnificent. We arrive during a service, and the pews are full. A lone singer finger-picks his guitar, the crisp, clear tones resonating throughout the sanctuary.

The market is packed, and even though Cartago is a fair-sized city, it’s hard to imagine that there are enough people to eat all this fruit. 

The City Museum of Cartago features a moving, poignant show focused on the impacts of dementia. One exhibit that touches us all is a video of a New York City ballerina from the 1960s now deeply in the throes of her disease - yet, when she hears the music of a ballet in which she was the principal dancer, she remembers and performs the hand movements with grace and remarkable expressiveness. 

We cap off a beautiful day with hand-picked salad from the farm’s extensive gardens.