CARRETA IN SARCHI
Las carretas are hands-painted wooden, 2-wheels ox-carts, pulled by oxes. In 1988 were recognized as the symbol of Costa Rica`s handicrafts. They are produced in private minifactories in Sarchi - a small village situated to the north of Alajuela (province of Alajuela). Their wooden circles are painted in small gardens into patterned compositions. Carretas appeared in Costa Rica suddenly around 1840, when the meaning of coffee plantations increased. At the beginning carretas were the only mean of transportation in the country. In the first years they were pulled by people, later (when increased transport of goods) they were drawn mainly by oxes. In colonial times there were very famous caravanes of carretas full of coffee, that traversed a muddy roads between the Central Valley and Puntarenas.