Irazú, Cartago and Lankaster Gardens, Costa Rica, October 2009

In the San José airport, I was overjoyed to see my luggage again. The hotel staff in Guayaquil had been extremely kind when listening to my saga and found out for me that it would in fact be waiting for me at the American Airlines desk in Costa Rica (for more photos of Costa Rica from previous visits see Costa Rica1, Costa Rica2 and Costa Rica3). On my arrival at my hotel in San José, I made a thorough check of its contents, since I saw that my lock had been cut off. Indeed there was the inevitable piece of paper left by the US customs saying that they had opened my bag to inspect it - not the first time by any means that this had happened, though I wondered why they felt it necessary to inspect it as it was only transiting through their country and it was not my initial intention for it to remain in the USA overnight, if indeed this had been the case. To my absolute shock and horror, however, I found that three items had been removed from my luggage, 1) a brand new two-gigabyte memory card for my digital camera, 2) a brand new USB drive that would allow me to upload the images stored on my camera memory card to my lap top computer and 3) my lovely green socks that had been returned to me by my girlfriend in Montreal after almost a year's absence from my property. Strangely enough, the customs people had left in the suitcase the cardboard wrappings in which the electronic items had been store wrapped. As these items were brand new, they had had to cut into the tough store plastic and remove them from the packaging. But there was no clue as to why they had removed my green socks. Perhaps one of the customs staff had a green outfit with which the socks matched perfectly?!

The day after the evening I arrived in San José, Costa Rica, it was another holiday. But this time, with some forethought, I was able to book a tour on line via Gray Line Tours. On the tour I chose, we drove through the Orosí Valley and visited the highest volcano in Costa Rica, the colonial city of Cartago, and Lankester botanical gardens.

As it had rained and the clouds were off the mountains, we were advised that it was best to visit the volcano first. At 11,000 feet above sea level, the Irazú Volcano is said to resemble the moon's surface. As we walked around three different viewing points, the clouds gradually rolled in so we were lucky to see the crater lake when we did because afterwards visibility was practically zero (Photos 1 to 6).

Our next stop was Cartago, Costa Rica's former capital city, where we visited the Los Angeles Basilica. The story behind this basilica is that a small statue of the Virgin Mary was discovered on a rock by a peasant girl in Cartago. She took it home but the next morning the statue had disappeared. The girl went back to the rock and the statue was in the exact place she had found it the day before. So this time she took the statue to the priest and he locked it in a small box. However, the next morning the statue had disappeared from the box and was back at the rock again.

During construction, the basilica was destroyed several times by earthquakes so it was finally decided to move it to the location where the statue was found. Construction was then completed without further incident. Perhaps the earthquakes were signs that the Lady of Los Ángeles wanted the basilica built at the rock where she was found.

The original statue is now kept in a golden shell inside the basilica. The basilica is also said to contain a collection of small gold and silver images of human body parts, offered in the hope of healing. An official decree has declared the Virgin of the Angels the official patron of Costa Rica.

In August the Basilica is visited by about 1.5 million pilgrims from throughout the country, many of whom join in the celebrated 22-kilometre walk to the basilica from locations all over Costa Rica. Some of them crawl along the 22 kilometres on their hands and knees!

As there was a service going on when we visited the Basilica, we could not get close to where the statue was stored. Yet, unlike Montreal's Cathedral where tourists were kicked out of the church when the service started, nothing was said at all to us when we entered, took photos, walked around. At the end of the service, after communion, a large group of people started moving up the aisle on their knees (but not their hands) and a young priest in black and white robes started to peddle his CD of music up and down the aisles. A strange experience indeed (Photos 7 to 10).

Our final stop, before lunch was Lankester Gardens, since 1973 part of the University of Costa Rica, but founded in the 1940s by a British naturalist and orchidologist, Charles H. Lankester. In these gardens, which were considerable, there was a large collection of orchids and other tropical plants (Photos 11 to 36).