From Wikitravel
Cartago is a city in Costa Rica.
There are many buses running between San Jose and Cartago. For c300 you will be able to catch a bus downtown or most anyplace along av2. They run every 15 minutes.
Get around
See
The Lankester Botanical Gardens in Paraiso, just outside of Cartago. Home to Central America's largest collection of orchids and epiphytes, Lankester is a must see.
The Basilica home of "La Virgen de los Angeles"
The legend:
On the 2nd of August 1635 Juana Pereira, a young girl went into the forest near her house to play by the river. There she found a piece of rock in the shape of the Virgin Mary with a small child. She thought is was a doll and played with it. Later she took it home and put it in her room. The next day she returned to the same spot and again found a very similar representation. That evening she returned with it and went to put it with the first one she found. However, the first one was no longer in her room. On the third day she returned to play by the river and, again, found the Virgin. This time she ran right back to her room and again, found that the ones she had taken home were not there. She then reported this to the priest in Cartago. He went with her the following day and took the statue they found there back with him to the city. There he locked it in a coffer. The next day they returned to the river to find yet another (or same?) statue there. When he returned to check the locked coffer he discovered it empty. This was taken as a sign that a church should be built on the site the statue kept returning to.
It is believed by a great many Costa Rican's that it is this virgin that protects Costa Rica from natural disasters. Every 2nd of August over a million Costa Rican's walk to Cartago from all over the country to commemorate the date.
Las Ruins
The legend:
One day two brothers went to the city of Cartago, one was single and the other a priest. There began a bitter rivalry as they both fell in love with the same woman. The woman chose and married the single brother, who was the more friendly and was loved by all. The priest only became all the more bitter and did everything he could to destroy his brother. In 1577 during the celebration of mass on new years he saw his brother in the church. That day he killed him with a knife. In penance for the deed he build a church for the city of Cartago. On the year it was completed an earthquake destroyed it.
The church has been rebuild, but each time it was brought down by earthquake. The city abandoned the church as cursed after the final destruction in 1910 and left it as the ruins you can now see when you visit the town square.
Do
Good Friday Procession A massive spectical beginning with the Romans marching into the city early in the morning arriving in the center of town around 9am. They arrive at the church and then carry Christ off around 10am taking a long rout to the Bacilica.
Romero Starting the end of July some 1.5 million people WALK to the Bacilica in Cartago to honor the Black Virgin. Streets are filled, traffic redirected, vendors are out in force. Final day of the walk is 2 August (see above for the legend).
Return of the Virgin After the Romero the Virgin travels around Costa Rica for a month. Then she returns to Cartago. Another procession from the church in the center of town to the Basilica. Before the procession begins the path of the procession is decorated. Sand paintings, flowers, paper sculptures...a beautiful and unique expression of adoration for the Virgin.
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