Tag: Grecia

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Atenas Coffee Farm Tour

Gabriel (our Juan Valdez) teaches us about the natural way to grow coffee at
El Toledo Coffee Farm, Atenas, Costa Rica
Beans go through roasting machine to become
either light, medium, or dark roasted.
We tasted each and chose our favorite before knowing which roast.
The coffee farm pet Olive-throated Parakeets got my attention of course!
Then a traditional Tico Lunch of beans, rice, veggies, salad, plantains, fish
In Sarchi, Kevin got a taste of the rainforest after photographing
some of the colorful oxcarts made here along with furniture, etc.
A typical Costa Rican Oxcart made in Sarchi
Sarchi Church
Tico family in front of Grecia Church
Made of metal in Belgium in 1800’s
and reassembled in Grecia!

We got a little further away from Atenas today and will go even further tomorrow as we head for Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfalls.

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Central Valley Day 2

We are all tired at the end of our full week of touring Costa Rica and considering a move here. It ended today with a stop at Pop’s Ice Cream Shop in Alajuela, a Costa Rica chain that has some of the best ice cream I have ever eaten! Today we went west and north of San Jose in several towns that would make great places to live: Santa Ana, Atenas, Grecia, San Ramon, and Alajuela with visits inside two nice homes, a Realtor talk, and some of the sights. I particularly like the smaller towns for the traditional full-block plaza with a Catholic Church facing it, a tradition all over Latin America thanks to Spanish colonialism. I’m only showing the plaza in Grecia here with the most unusual church in the country both by being red and by being made of metal. It was made in the mid nineteenth century in Belgium and shipped here thanks to some rich coffee growers. But I’m particularly proud of my photo of the church greeter this morning dressed as a clown for some kind of festival going on. You see, I’m a greeter in my church in Nashville and it is fun to imagine being a clown there!

 Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes
Grecia, Costa Rica

August 31, 2014 Greeter at
 Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes

Plaza in Grecia, Costa Rica