CHAPTER IV 



THE TOWN OF CARTAGO AND ITS LIFE 



During the twelve months that we lived in Costa Rica we 

 made Cartago our headquarters, always retaining our room 

 in the hotel and keeping there our rather large equipment. 

 From Cartago we made excursions to many different parts 

 of the country, remaining away one to two weeks but always 

 bringing back our material to be worked on and stored in 

 Cartago until we were ready to send it to Philadelphia. By 

 this method we avoided many of the dangers and discom- 

 forts of a long sojourn in the tropics. Cartago has a cool 

 and bracing climate— it was one of the places where Panama 

 Canal Zone employees were permitted to spend their vaca- 

 tions — , it was almost free from mosquitoes and malaria was 

 not endemic. Cartago lies on the northern slope of the so- 

 called Valley of Guarco, a slope which ascends northward 

 to become the great mass of the volcano of Irazu and south- 

 ward descends gradually to the Rio Agua Caliente, a tribu- 

 tary of the Rio Reventazon. On the south side of the Agua 

 Caliente the hills rise much more abruptly. The railroad 

 station of Cartago is 4760 feet above sea-level, the Agua Ca- 

 liente at the bath house, two and one-half miles away, is 

 4460 feet, while Irazii rises to 11,300 feet. The town is laid 

 out with great regularity, its streets running almost exactly 

 north-south and east-west; many of the north and south 

 streets are continued northward as lanes and tracks which 

 form a maze over the lower slopes of Irazii running between 

 the stone walls that enclose the potreros or pastures. To 

 the south of the town some of these streets become wide 



