CHAPTER X 



JUAN VINAS ABOVE THE LAGUNA 



The road leading upward from the railroad station to the 

 village of Juan Viiias ran up the west and northwest sides 

 of the crater and gave a good view of the laguna, its vege- 

 table gardens and grazing cattle. The glossy leaves of the 

 coffee on the sloping sides looked very pretty; in June the 

 green berries were about half an inch in diameter. The 

 coffee trees were planted in regular rows five to six feet 

 apart, and the soil kept well cultivated and free from weeds, 

 a peculiar form of machete being used by Costa Rican gar- 

 deners for weeding and "hoeing." 



Although this road was a "Government" road, it con- 

 sisted of earth and loose stones, and after rains it became 

 deep mud, into which, as our diary of July 29 records, "we 

 frequently slipped to the ankles even in the best spots. It 

 soon began to rain again and worse looking objects than we 

 were by the time we reached our cabin it would be hard to 

 find! Our shoes were so thoroughly soaked that it was tor- 

 ture to get into them next day." Another memorandum, 

 of December 2, concerning this road, reads, "it was liquid 

 mud to a depth of a foot or more, as estimated on the legs 

 of a horse which went plashing through it." 



The road crossed several small streams; over the largest, 

 the Rio Naranjo, was an iron bridge on cement piers. It 

 was a picturesque stream ten to twelve feet wide, tumbling 

 over the rocks in little falls. On June 29 we found a rather 

 uncommon insect on a long, freely-hanging vine in the deep 

 shade of this little ravine. It was Colobopterus trivialis, an 



