CPtAPTER VIII 



LOWER NEIGHBORS OF CARTAGO 



Cartage lies near the northwest corner of the valley 

 of Guarco. West and north of the town where the land 

 rises rapidly into the flanks of Carpintera and Irazu, it was 

 devoted to maize or potatoes, or to pastures in which great 

 numbers of cattle were raised. In other directions the (down- 

 ward) slope is more gradual and although there were large 

 pastures below the town much of the lower land was occupied 

 by coffee. The valley drains into the Agua Caliente River 

 which flows eastward close to the hills forming the southern 

 wall. The attractive little village of Concepcion de Cartago 

 lay about a mile south southwest of Cartago. Its plaza 

 was a triangular grassy open space bounded on the east 

 by the road from Cartago to San Isidro del Tejar, on the west 

 by the road to Tobosi, these two roads diverging at Concep- 

 cion. The yellow-plastered church of Concepcion de Cartago 

 was particularly neat and pretty, one of its two towers hav- 

 ing a good clock, while the priest's house next to the church 

 had a well-tended flower garden. Throughout Costa Rica 

 the effort was made to have the public schoolhouse the best 

 building in each little hamlet or village and here in Concep- 

 cion de Cartago it was exceptionally attractive, well built 

 of adobe and plaster, neatly painted and in good repair. 

 We rode and walked around this plaza often, on our way 

 to the more distant villages of San Isidro and Tobosi, always 

 with pleasure. 



San Isidro del Tejar lay at the extreme south edge of the 

 valley on the Tejar River, one of the many tributaries of 



