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| CATUCA is in an historic old house near Central Park by La Carreta, one of my cafes |
CATUCA is an acrostic of the Spanish name for the Chamber of Tourism and Commerce for Atenas, Costa Rica. They just reorganized and opened this building last week. There was suppose to be a craft fair there today, but only about 5 crafts persons showed up. Inside is a room with a person to help tourists and newcomers find things in Atenas and they have free post cards which would have been nice when Kevin was here! They hope to add T-shirts, etc.
There are about 4 or 5 permanent craft shops with everything from wooden toys and clothing to a frame shop. There is also a little cafe serving Tico food. It reminds me of some small towns in Tennessee who turned their old train station into such a tourist stop, then had trouble staffing it and getting tourists there. The truth is, Atenas is not a regular tourist town. We will get some on Saturday 18 April for the Tope (horse parade) and Wednesday 29 April for the Oxcart Parade.
For friends coming to visit, let me be your tourism information. It is hard to find out what is happening when, but I’m learning how to beat the bushes.
What particular "region" of Costa Rica are you residing in? I looked at a map and could not determine where Atenas was from looking.
Google maps are pretty detailed now for Costa Rica and the easiest way to find Atenas online. In the middle of the country between two mountain chains is the "Central Valley" where the capital San Jose is located and nearly 80% of the people live because of better weather. From San Jose go west or northwest about 40 miles. It is 30 miles west of Alajuela where the San Jose Airport is located. It is a small coffee farming town of nearly 20,000 people known for a statement in National Geographic Magazine saying Atenas has the "best climate in the world." We also have the national monument to oxcart drivers who got all that early 1800's coffee and bananas to the docks for export. I'll try to put a link to a map if it will work here: https://www.google.co.cr/maps/place/Atenas/@9.9757819,-84.2831217,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8fa05119604dc297:0xaf69ee57a14c8979?hl=en
You may have to zoom out or in to see it. Atenas is the gold star on my screen.