Monthly Newsletter - March 2009

On the Second Sunday of every March, Costa Ricans gather in the town of San Antonio of Escazú to celebrate Oxcart Drivers Day, or Día de los Boyeros. This has been celebrated for the last 26 years and is revelled by people across the country and across the world. In Escazú over 100 oxcarts are decorated beautifully and colourfully and paraded down the main avenue by Boyeros who descend from the surrounding villages.

The Oxcart, or carreta, has been the national symbol of labour in Costa Rica for generations. It was a hugely important vehicle for transporting coffee from the central valley to the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific coast – a journey that lasted over two weeks. A whole laborial culture evolved around the Oxcart trail with local people providing highway guards, smithies, inns, teamsters, and crews needed to maintain the roads. The development of these professions had a profound impact in shaping the local economy of the region and the Oxcart was an integral part of this.

Although they are not used to the same extent today, Oxcarts are still a hugely important symbol for Costa Ricans; they act as a vivid reminder of the country’s rural history. As they slowly disappeared from functional use and were replaced with trains and trucks, aging oxcarts were renovated and preserved as decorative objects. An artistic tradition developed whereby increasingly elaborate designs were used to distinguish oxcarts from different families and regions.

The spokeless wheel – which had been designed to trudge through muddy trails - became the artistic centrepiece of the Oxcart craft. Spectacular and elaborate patterns were painted on the wheels: a blend of flowers and suns, stars and kaleidoscopic colours all acted to give each oxcart its own unique character. Today there are a myriad of different designs and new oxcarts are built purely to continue the tradition.

So if you’re travelling to Costa Rica this year, keep an eye out for the quite spectacular traditional craft that is the Costa Rican Oxcart.

By
Simon Ross-Gill

If you have any questions regarding his article, please write to him at: simon@peruforless.com. If you are interested in booking a trip to our newest Latin American destination, please write to travel@costaricaforless.com.

PAST NEWSLETTERS:

• Newsletter February 2009
• Newsletter January 2009
• Newsletter December 2008
• Newsletter November 2008
• Newsletter October 2008
• Newsletter September 2008
• Newsletter August 2008
• Newsletter July 2008
• Newsletter June 2008
• Newsletter May 2008
• Newsletter April 2008
• Newsletter February 2008
• Newsletter January 2008