Enga mellom fjella

Juan Viñas

...is small town between Cartago and Turrialba, the center of the cantón of Jimenez. I took a bus from Turrialba. ¢305 (about 60¢) and 30 minutes up, down and around the winding "highway".

I've ridden through it many a time but this was the first visit. It's an area of coffee and sugarcane.

I took photos of the park, church (was able to get inside!), post office, fire station, red cross, ICE ... what a good size town ought to have. Also have photos of the sugar plant. Unfortunately it was rainy or foggy so no great pictures but I did capture some typical homes and Christmas decorations.

With good connections to two major market towns (about 30 minutes each way) it would be possible to live there and not feel isolated. It sits on the fertile slopes of the volcano Turrialba (torre alba = white tower), a very pleasant setting until the volcano blows...

Me:

Wanted to go to Guayabo (national monument of a historical indigenous site) or CATIE (center of tropical agriculture and botanical gardens). Unfortunately, it rained all day and actually became heavy in the evening.

There are reasons I like to visit no earlier than December 1st...

Will hopefully go with Chris (engineer, Torontonian) in the morning to visit Guayabo.

Stay at Casa de Lis is wonderful but I may have to find another place tomorrow as it is booked. At $10/night it's the best bargain in town.

Still having mental issues. Keep forgetting and losing things. I'm hanging in there otherwise. Found pan casero and torta chilena today and had Chris try pejibaye (peach palm fruit) and a small piece of the torta chilena as he'll only be in Costa Rica for two weeks (an adventure tour). He's traveled to Asia for 4 months so he knows a thing or two about being outside the comfort zone.

He loved the coffee in Viet Nam, the yak meat in Tibet. Didn't care for palm beer in Malaysia. And he'd rather not talk about the sanitary conditions in Nepal ... but he seems to have survived that trip ...so he'll survive me as well!

Soon to bed... need to get up at 7ish or earlier.

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