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Wan’na Buy an Oxcart?

Located in the Central Mountain Range, not far from Costa Rica’s capital city of San Jóse, the town of Sarchí is the center of Costa Rica’s painted oxcart industry.

Decorated oxcart in Costa RicaAccording to legend, around 1910 a farmer was suddenly inspired to spruce up the appearance of his oxcart. He painted the wheels with multi-colored designs. Others copied his designs and oxcart painting became a uniquely Costa Rican art form. At one time each district in the country had its own special design, and people could tell by looking at an oxcart what region it came from.

Until about thirty years ago, oxcarts were the principal means of transporting coffee beans and other agricultural products to market. Today some farmers still rely on this traditional method of transporting their goods. The father of former president Oscar Arias Sánchez made his fortune hauling coffee in oxcarts to the port of Puntarenas.

Today, the painted oxcarts are produced mainly for decorative purposes. In addition to the full-size carts, replicas are available for sale ranging from small, inexpensive table top models to larger carts that are designed to be used as planters or living room cocktail carts. Regardless of size and price, all of the oxcarts are beautifully handpainted in bright colors featuring motifs of butterflies, flowers and fruits, as well as traditional design patterns whose origin can be traced to designs brought to Spain from North Africa by the Moors.

The gift shops in Sarchí are also filled with other woodcrafts including furniture, chairs, desks, coffee tables, and polished wood serving dishes, as well as leather items, ceramic crafts, and jewelry.

Exploring the arts and crafts of a country offers travelers another way to learn about its people and culture. Costa Rica has a wide spectrum of art objects ranging from the inexpensive to museum-quality collector’s items. Goods offered for sale include wood crafts, ceramics, reproductions of pre-Colombian figurines and masks, leather accessories, hammocks, woven baskets, jewelry made of woods, silver, gold and jade, embroidered dresses, blouses, table linens, and, of course, replicas of the famous painted oxcarts.

In San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, almost every craft item is available. However, as travelers visit the beautiful and diverse provinces of Costa Rica, they can purchase products reflecting the particular traditions and culture of the surrounding countryside.

One item that most visitors bring home is a bag or more of Costa Rican coffee beans. Sipping the rich flavor, and inhaling the wonderful aroma weeks after returning home helps recapture some of the adventures and sights of a Costa Rican vacation.

So how about it? Wan’na buy an oxcart?

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Carving Copper Canyon

Long ago, about a hundred million years, a huge plateau arose in an area that is now part of northern Mexico. Seventy million years passed before volcanoes erupted and flooded the plateau with molten rock. Rivers then sliced this lava-covered plateau into deep twisting canyons—the largest area of canyons in North America.
View of Copper Canyon's Balancing Rock
At the interface between the volcanic layers and the old plateau are rich mineral deposits. The depth of the canyons exposes this interface, making the gold, silver, and copper accessible for mining. It is from the abundant copper ore, previously mined here, that the area derives its name—Copper Canyon.

The first people to mine the ore were the Spaniards, in 1632. Over the centuries, hundreds of mines were worked, peaking at the end of the 19th century when 20 million ounces of silver were extracted from the mines at Batopilas, making Copper Canyon one of the richest silver mining areas in the world.

The longest term residents of the canyon are the Tarahumara Indians. No one knows how long they have lived here, but archaeologists have found artifacts of people living in the area around 3000 years ago.

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition, which passed through the Sierra Madres in 1540, in search of the legendary Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, may have been the first contact between the Tarahumara and Europeans.

Then, in 1607, the Jesuits established the first of their 29 missions to be built in the canyons and introduced the Tarahumara to Catholicism, domestic animals and the plow. When the Spaniards discovered the rich mineral wealth in the canyons, they forced the Indians to work as slaves in the mines. This led to many bloody revolts throughout the 17th century.

The influence of the Jesuits came to a halt in 1767 when the King of Spain expelled their order from the New World. The Franciscans took over from the Jesuits, but the Indians were pretty much left alone until the Jesuits returned in 1900.

Today the Tarahumara number around 50,000. They live in caves and small cabins and practice subsistence farming. The majority practice a form of Catholicism liberally intermixed with their traditional beliefs and ceremonies. Among the peoples of North America, they are considered to be the least touched by modern civilization and the most unmixed of any of the Indian tribes of Mexico.

I first became aware of Copper Canyon about twenty-five years ago when a travel writer friend of mine returned from a journey to Northern Mexico.

“Lee, you have to go to Copper Canyon,” he insisted. “It’s magnificent!!” After seeing his slides I became excited and put together our first Copper Canyon trip. Since then, we have introduced thousands of people to this beautiful area of mountains, rivers and canyons, and the unique people who make it their home.

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Smarter Than the Average Bear

As our California Native group saunters up to the door of the Paraiso del Oso Lodge, we are greeted by three dogs, a cat, and a large white goose known as “Pancho.” The lodge is located in a secluded valley in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains, surrounded by large, volcanically formed spires, one of which resembles Yogi Bear wearing his hat—hence the name Paraiso del Oso, Spanish for “Bear’s Paradise.”

Rock formations above Paraiso del Oso Lodge
We are met by Doug Rhodes, a smiling cowboy who boldly exclaims, “I’m glad y’all made it. Welcome to the Paraiso Del Oso.”

Doug is the owner and founder of the lodge, located halfway between the town of Bahuichivo and the farming village of Cerocahui. Established in 1679, Cerocahui now has around 600 inhabitants, mostly Tarahumara Indians and mestizos.

Doug, or “Diego” as he is referred to in Mexico, was once a tour guide in Copper Canyon. As he tells it, he became so frustrated by the region’s lack of reliable hotels, that he searched until he found a remote spot ideal for exploring the area’s rich flora, fauna, and natural history. Here he built his lodge and ranch.

Doug Rhodes with wife, Ana Maria, and their grandson, below the 'Yogi Bear' rock formationBorn in a rural Ohio farming community, Doug has followed many diverse paths. He was an army sergeant, a NASA electrical technician, an editor, a deputy sheriff, a bodyguard, and now an inn keeper. His greatest passion is horses—he owns at least a dozen, and he brags that they are the best trained and equipped in Northern Mexico.

Diego is married to Ana Maria Chavez Gutierrez, a native Cerocahuian, whose family has a long and rich history in the area. Her grandfather was a famous miner who fought alongside Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution.

Diego and Ana contribute much to the area, furnishing outreach services to local Tarahumara families, and other community services including an annual Christmas party for local children.

At the Paraiso, guests can hike, ride horses, bike, explore historical towns, go birding, or just settle down with a good book in front of the large fireplace, sip a margarita, and relax.

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What Has 4-toes in Front, 3 in Back, a Trunk, and Looks Sort of Like a Pig?

Need a clue? It is also related to the horse and rhinoceros. Give up? It’s a tapir.

Tapir in Costa RicaTapirs are rather strange, primitive creatures. They are big animals—measuring about six to eight feet between their short little trunk and their stubby little tail, and weighing up to 700 pounds. Unlike elephants, who pick up food with their trunks, the tapirs move their trunks aside and browse like horses. Tapirs are the only animals native to the Americas which have four toes on their front feet and three toes on their hind feet.

In ancient times, tapirs were found throughout North America and tropical Eurasia. When the weather cooled down the European tapirs became extinct. The North American tapirs migrated south across the isthmus of Panama. Today tapirs are found only in Central and South America, and Southeast Asia.

There are only four species of tapirs—the Malayan tapir in Asia, the Brazilian tapir in the rain forests of South America, the mountain tapir in the high northern Andes, and the Baird’s tapir in Mexico and Central America.

The Baird’s tapir, which we can see on our California Native trips to Costa Rica, is the largest land mammal native to this region.

Tapirs are timid, inoffensive creatures who generally live in swamps or near wet areas, feeding on water plants and browsing on forest foliage. Their splayed feet help them walk in muddy and soft ground. They are good swimmers and can also dive and walk along the river bottom. Traveling on land the tapir does not always follow a beaten trail but instead doggedly pushes his way through the jungle with his head carried low.

People hunt tapirs for their flesh and hides. The thick hides are used to make whips and bridles. The flesh is considered excellent food. In some areas, natives believe they can cure epilepsy by grinding down the tapirs’ toenails and taking them in powdered form. As a result of both hunting and the cutting of forests, tapirs have become rare in many areas.

Aside from humans, the jaguar in Central and South America and the tiger and leopard in Malaya are the tapirs’ only enemies. Despite their bulk, tapirs are fast and, if there is water nearby, can usually escape predators. In addition, tapirs are extremely muscular, with very strong jaws. If cornered, the peaceful tapir can put up quite a fight.

Tapirs tend to feed in the early or late hours of the day, often before the sun comes up and after it sets, although you can occasionally see a tapir at any hour.

Like dogs, tapirs are territorial and mark their territories and daily routes with urine, but unlike dogs, tapirs are solitary and it is unusual to see more than two or three of them together.

A pregnant tapir carries her baby for thirteen months and her single offspring weighs 15-20 pounds at birth. Baby tapirs have striped-and-spotted coats for camouflage. They can look forward to a lifespan of about thirty years of happily chewing their way through the forests and swamps.

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Going the Extra Mile in Copper Canyon

Please, let me tell you of our marvelous adventure to the Copper Canyon in Mexico. It began in El Fuerte in the state of Sinaloa at Hotel Torres Del Fuerte and ended at Hotel Torres Del Fuerte. The hotel is a delightful restored hacienda that is artistically decorated and each room is, individually unique. We stayed two nights in the hotel in the beginning of the trip and two nights at the end of the trip. The owners, Jesus and his wife and their son, Francisco, enhanced our trip with their graciousness, friendliness, and personal attentiveness to the point that we felt that we were personal guests at the hacienda.

The Chepe train ride into the Barrancas del Cobre was a beautiful exposure into the vistas of canyons and mountain ranges, which gave us an appreciation of the wonder and majesty of the many canyons of the area known as Copper Canyon. This is a natural wonder of the world and the man-made wonder of bridges and tunnels carved out of the rock from the canyons is a spectacular engineering accomplishment.

Our first stop was in Cerocahui. We stayed at a ranchito that gave us the opportunity to hike and to ride horses into the rugged canyons. It was also our first opportunity to meet two Tarahumara children. After two nights in Cerocahui, we then traveled to Creel for two nights then back to Posada Barrancas to stay at the El Mirador Hotel.

Our time in the canyons was memorable, enjoyable, pleasurable, and interesting.

On our return to El Fuerte, upon exiting the train, our chauffeur, picked us up at the railroad station and we waved goodbye to the Chepe. During our transfer to Hotel Torres Del Fuerte, I realized that I had left my purse on the train! Of course, it contained everything of importance, money, camera, and passport!

In panic, I informed the chauffeur that I had left my purse on the train. He was shocked and thought for sure that I had misplaced it in my luggage. The driver pulled off to the side of the road and he and my husband searched the luggage in the back of the suburban. Of course it was not there! Francisco, from Hotel Torres Del Fuerte, had been to the train station to pick up someone from the train, too.

While we were searching the Suburban, Francisco stopped his car to inquire why we had stopped. My husband said that Francisco and the driver talked for a couple of moments and Francisco asked where we were sitting on the train. The chauffeur then motioned for my husband to return to the car. The chauffeur drove off without saying a word and went past the town of El Fuerte and into the countryside.

The night was very dark, there were few stars, and there was a gusty wind. Suddenly, after about 40 minutes, the driver pulled to the side of the road, stopped in the “middle of nowhere”, and then turned off his car lights and turned on his car flashers. He motioned for us to get out of the car. As we got out of the car, we noticed the train track crossing the road at what is known as Santa Maria crossing. Within thirty seconds, the train, which we had exited in El Fuerte station and was now on its way to Los Mochis, grew out of the night darkness, began to slow down and was beginning to cross the road; at the same time, the train engineer shouted out of his window for us to go to the last car on the train.

The last car was brightly lit and we could see that the porter was hanging out of the door with one hand fully extended from the handrail and the other arm fully extended toward the approaching chauffeur. In his hand he was holding my purse! He handed the purse to the running chauffeur without the train ever fully stopping. It was another engineering event, or rather a miracle!

We learned later that in the short conversation between the chauffeur and Francisco that they had devised the plan to retrieve the purse. Francisco made several calls to contact the train operated by the Mexican Federal Railroad and the chauffeur told Francisco at what crossing he would meet the train. After several calls, Francisco successfully contacted the train’s engineer. Francisco, the chauffeur, the train engineer, and the porter made it all happen!

This story is a tribute to the personal service which one experiences at Hotel Torres Del Fuerte. We are so pleased and thankful with all of the Mexican people that helped us as they exhibited such warmth, honor, chivalry, honesty, and generosity. We shall never forget our rescuers!

We wish to thank California Native for their specialized help and expertise in making the train and hotel reservations. They were attentive to details and gracious to work with.

Needless to say, we highly recommend staying at Hotel Torres Del Fuerte for its ambiance, its charm, its history, the delicious menu items, the wonderful and generous owners, and for their outstanding ability to turn a tragedy into a miracle.

The power of Mexico is, and always has been, its people, living together in a lovely land, influenced by culture, traditions, history, art.

Come and share this special part of Mexico!

Stephanie & John Hamann

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Betting on the Yeti in Bhutan

“AAARRGH! The yeti, “Abominable Snowman,” or mirgu, as it’s called in Bhutan, has been a legend throughout the Himalayas for centuries. They are even depicted in ancient Tibetan and Bhutanese manuscripts.

There is a sanctuary for the Yeti in BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan has set aside an area specifically for the yeti, the Sakten Wildlife Sanctuary—a sanctuary for a creature that local lore claims is invisible! While in Bhutan, I was told that not only is the yeti invisible, but his feet point backwards to avoid being tracked.

On their unsuccessful attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1923, a British expedition spotted a line of creatures moving along a cliff face. When they arrived at the location they found huge humanoid footprints in the snow. Twenty-six years later, Tenzing Norgay, who along with Sir Edmund Hillary, was the first to reach Everest’s summit, saw a Yeti playing in the snow.

The yeti has been described as a wildman, half-man half-beast, covered with reddish brown hair but with a hairless face. The descriptions are similar to North America’s “Big Foot.” Many theories have been advanced as to the identify of this “abominable snowman.” Some scientists believe that the yeti is a form of ancient man, a “missing link.” It has been theorized that it is a form of Homo Giganticus, an unproven subspecies of humans. So far expeditions which have set out to capture or photograph the yeti have returned without positive proof of the creature’s existence.

Reinhold Messner is a writer, film maker, and a member of the European Parliament. He is also considered to be one of the world’s greatest mountaineers, having climbed all of the world’s 8,000 meter peaks, and being the first man to climb Everest without oxygen and to climb it solo. In 1986, while leading an expedition in Nepal, he encountered a yeti.

“I thought it was a fairy tale (until) I saw a yeti for myself. I could only see a shadow because it was very late. When I approached the place where the yeti (had) stood, I found a footprint of a two-leg-going animal.”

This led Messner on a twelve year quest for the yeti. His conclusion, “The yeti is the sum of many tellings of a legend. The local people have a lot of fantasy creatures because they live without television and without Hollywood, so they have to create their own myths. Most of these figures, like the yeti, are built on real, existing beings out of nature. The local people tell each other the story. And from time to time somebody brings along a new part because they’ve been in touch, in the night, with one of these creatures. So the yeti is the sum of this fantasy figure and the zoological reality behind it—a Tibetan bear!”

The Tibetan bear, a rare species related to the grizzly, while traveling through snow, puts his back foot in the footprint of his forefoot, giving the appearance of a two-legged animal.

“The legends all describe the yeti as two and a half meters [eight feet] high. If it’s big, they say it is black. If it’s very small, they say it’s reddish, because the small Tibetan bears are reddish. Everything matches perfectly. It goes on two legs when it meets people, to show that he is big and strong.”

Messner came across the footprints of a yak, followed by the footprints of a yeti. He followed them to the carcass of the yak, killed by a single blow. It had been stored underground in the same manner a bear stores his kill.

He journeyed to a remote village in Pakistan, where legends tell of a woman who was kidnapped by a yeti and lived with it for two years. Traveling with a local guide, Messner came across a sleeping “yeti” and got to within 20 yards of it. It turned out to be a Tibetan bear, and very angry at being awakened. Messner jumped and yelled and the bear ran away.

Adolph Hitler sent an SS man, Professor Ernst Schaefer, to search for the yeti in the hope that it would turn out to be the progenitor of the Aryan race. Schaefer reached the conclusion that the yeti was the Tibetan bear, but kept this theory to himself, “If I had said this to the Nazis, they would have killed me.”

And what about our own Big Foot or Sasquatch? Messner believes it is probably a grizzly bear.

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Welcoming the Next Decade at The California Native

We’re coming to the end of another year, and we at California Native are looking forward to enjoying a great new year, with more fun, more adventures and more opportunities for everyone.

So, what’s new for 2010?

I recently traveled to Argentina where I made new contacts and researched new destinations to offer our fellow traveling enthusiasts. I will be returning there in a few months to continue this project.

Next month we will be traveling to Loreto to survey new and exciting adventures in Baja California—tours to petroglyphs and historical sites, relaxing “sit-by-the-pool-and-sip-margaritas” getaways, and more whale watching trips.

This coming year we will continue to look for more ways to make it more convenient for our fans to obtain information on the destinations they would like to visit. Last year we introduced “The Desktop Traveler,” our email newsletter as an up-to-date supplement to our semi-annual printed newsletter, which we have published for more than 25 years. We also now have a Facebook page and daily update on Twitter. Soon we will include a slide show on our website for each of our California Native destinations.

We are always looking for new ways to make our trips even more fun, and offer more unique destinations.

We encourage and appreciate your suggestions.

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Don’t Cry For Me Argentina

Argentina Iguazu FallsAt California Native, we are always exploring new and exciting destinations to develop unique itineraries to offer our fellow travel enthusiasts.Lee Rappelling at Iguazu Falls

Last week I returned from a business trip to Argentina, where I was a guest of the Argentina Tourist Board. I interviewed many Argentinian tour operators and hotel owners and found several that appeared to meet the high standards that we set for California Native suppliers. I plan to return to Argentina in a few months to do an in-depth survey of this fascinating country. Then we will develop a new series of unique trips to Patagonia, Iguazu, and the many other wonderful destinations in this beautiful, friendly South American country.Lee on zipline at Iguazu Falls

While on last week’s trip I spent several days at Iguazu Falls, traveled under the falls in a high-speed Zodiac, rappelled down the face of cliffs, zip-lined through the jungle canopy, and hiked to the many beautiful spots where the views of the falls were breathtaking. At California Native, even our business trips are fun because, after all, fun is the business we’re in.

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In Peru, It’ Time to Chug Chicha!

Have a thirst for a real native experience? While traveling in Peru, stop at a house displaying a red flag on a long pole. There you can join the locals in a glass of chicha, an ancient Andean drink made from fermented corn.

California Native founder, Lee Klein, chugging chicha with villagers in a Peruvian chicheriaThe strange-tasting drink, yellowish in color with a bubbly froth, is served warm for just a few coins, and is quite strong. It is not usually found in restaurants (a similar drink, chicha morada, made from blue corn, is sweet and sold everywhere like a soft-drink), but is sold by individuals, usually in the lower socioeconomic bracket, who have passed down the traditional recipes since pre-Inca times.

Recently, in the mountaintop city of Cerro Baul in southern Peru, archeologists from the University of Chicago unearthed remains of an ancient brewery dating back to the Wari Empire (AD 600-1000). It is believed that the brewery was used to produce massive amounts of chicha, which was used both for ritual purposes and festivities.

The ruins indicate that the last gathering at this brewery ended with a ritual burning of the entire facility. As the Wari’s threw their cups into the fire, the beams and thatched roof collapsed, leaving what was underneath in very good condition. Scientists have found remains of fire pits and fifteen-gallon ceramic vats.

The first step in preparing the chicha is boiling the fruits and grains (now corn) with water. After boiling, the liquid is transferred to fermenting jars and is ready in two weeks. It must be consumed soon after—it does not have a shelf life!

So, join your Peruvian neighbors in a glass of chicha, if you dare, and carry on the ancient tradition. There is also a musical form called chicha, inspired by the drink, but more on that in another post.