Saturday, January 23, 2010

Costa Rican Coffee Carts......

The beautifully patterned and painted old ox carts which used to transport coffee throughout Costa Rica are now the country's strongest artistic symbol of craftmanship. Here is the biggest ox cart in the world located at Sarchi home to Costa Rica's coffee cart workshops..















The bold patterns and painted designs are a little reminiscent of Romany style art...



















Some older carts incorporate beautiful paintings of local birds such as toucans, macaws, and even the elusive quetzal resplendent in the design.....
















But most of the carts fashioned in Sarchi today stick to the original resplendent kaleidoscopic circular patterns in a variety of dizzying colours.....




















As you can see it was hard to stop taking photgraphs of these gorgeous designs which unfortunately are no longer a feature of daily life in Costa Rica except on more remote coffee fincas and haciendas....


















Sarchi is a lovely day trip from San Jose as it is only 45 minutes North of the Capital and Sunday is a good choice as many things are closed in San Jose at the weekend. For other gorgeous glimpses around the world this week check out the My World Tuesday postings by clicking here. Enjoy!!

19 comments:

Xavi said...

Hello Catherine,
I like your header of Opuntia.
Your photos of Costa Rica are very beautiful.
Have a happy week.
Xavi

Sylvia K said...

What incredible carts! Absolutely gorgeous and the colors, fantastic! You really got fantastic captures, Catherine! Love the history, too! Terrific post for the day! Have a great week!

Sylvia

Unknown said...

The patterns and colours are so cheerful! It's hard to believe that many of the people who create them live in poverty.

Coffeedoff said...

Those are so beautiful!

Martha Z said...

These are beautiful and you found lots of red!

Noel Morata said...

wow, those are amazing and so intricate, i love seeing detailed craftmanship like this from other cultures.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Those cart wheels are dazzling. I'd of used a bunch of electrons taking photos also. I've never seen anything like them.

Unknown said...

Love these carts, I wanted to visit this place but never made it. It's good you did and took some beautiful shots for me... thanks :)

My name is Riet said...

What beautiful pictures ,fantastic colours and great captures

PeterParis said...

Really, I don't visit your blog as regularly as I should, but when I do it, I take a great, great pleasure... with the only regret that I don't know this part of the world good enough. I'm happy for you - and us - that you travel around a lot and show us these magnificient landscapes, things...!

Sue's Stitches said...

Hi Catherine - I'm Ant's mum - love your photos and the shadows. great inspiration for textile work!!!

Wendy said...

These are gorgeous.

Fly Girl said...

These are truly dazzling. I unfortunately never saw much everyday art when I was in Costa Rica. If I had known about the craft shop, I would definitely visit it.

Term Papers said...

The beautifully patterned and painted old ox carts which used to transport coffee throughout Costa Rica are certainly the country's strongest artistic symbol of craftmanship.


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Catherine said...

Thanks for all your appreciative comments this week - loved reading them all as usual..

A Cuban In London said...

I just love it when real life contributes to art as in this case. The carts are so beautiful. Many thanks for the history lesson, too. There's so little I know about Costa Rica.

Greetings from London.

Unknown said...

My friend was in Costa Rica, he traveled thorough last minute travel. I saw his photos from there, it is amazing place. I would like to go there in the future.lots in Costa Rica

Anonymous said...

I think that they look really good with all those colors. It is nice that they want to keep a tradition with those carts. Also It is part of culture by the way there are a book that focus in culture and others aspect that it is Generic Viagra.

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