Cebollos in Santa Ana and a little pinto too

March 18, 2015

We left at 9:00 with Carlos who took us to Santa Ana, (the locals pronounce it San Tana)  a nearby community we are exploring as a potential place to live. First he took us up the very steep hill to show us a spectacular view of the Central Valley. The hill must have been close to a 450 degree angle. I have never been on such a steep paved road. Carlos went as far as possible but at one point his car’s small engine could not carry us up any further and he had to back down a ways, then turn around and head to town.

The older downtown is very pleasant. Today there was a farmers’ market unlike any we have seen: they sell onions grown here, that’s it, onions, red and white and garlic. Nothing else. 

But we really liked the town. We got out of the car and walked through the market and into the town church, a very beautiful and plain stone church.

This week there is an event with wood carvers on the street so we watched six carvers working on very large sculptures. One was from Romania and one had a Chinese name.

Santa Ana has grown tremendously recently due to an influx of companies moving here and a growing population.  In addition to a nice little old town there is new development with high end stores, good restaurants and any fast food from America you could want.

Next we drove to Heredia the other town we wanted to see. It felt very spread out and neither of us felt like it worked for us so we went back to Santa Ana and drove though more sections of the older part which is what we liked. Next we need to look at rent prices and availability and consider our options.

Later in the day

We discussed our two options: SMA and Santa Ana and we decided we could live in either place and be content. However SMA offers so much more from our perspective. It is a World Heritage site with a town core that has been preserved for hundreds of years. Because of this designation all the overhead wires that usually clutter your vision have been placed underground and signage is at a minimum. It is a very colorful town. The shops carry absolutely exquisite crafts. There are two small movie theaters right in town that run the kinds of films we like. The art scene is thriving and we were told that there is world class chamber music. So at this point SMA is still at the top of our list.

March 20

Today we took a bus to Santa Ana to look around some more since we had nothing on our agenda. Ron took his camera so he could take photos that we missed on Wednesday. 

We had a nice  "tico" lunch at a local "Soda"

(a small cafe catering to locals).  We had a dish normally eaten at breakfast called pinto which is a rice and bean mixture that is sauteed and covered with a fried egg or two.

 We sat in the market area and "people watched" for some time.

Since we have found a suitable place here, we feel free to be tourists. Saturday we have arranged for Carlos to take us to Poas Volcano and the Waterfall gardens. It will be an all day outing.