This quaint mile-high village provides a cool stopover
If you are heading north from San Jose or Alajuela to resorts in Costa Rica’s La Fortuna area, make time to stop and stretch your legs at the town of Zarcero. Follow Highway 141 as it wanders through coffee plantations and green hillsides, climbing the slopes of the Cordillera Central in a series of switchbacks to reach an altitude of 5,600 feet. As the roadway enters town, look to your right, where a collection of unique topiary arches are overlooked by the twin-spires of the San Rafael church. This is the Parque Francisco Alvarado, which contains 16 meticulously sculpted shrubberies clipped into resemblances of animals, dancers, aircraft and Christ carrying the cross. Park and spend a few minutes strolling the garden, then enter the church to take in the extensive wall artwork, which includes murals, paintings and elaborate stencil work. If you aren’t ready to climb back in the car just yet, take a stroll through the small downtown, where markets and street vendors offer local cheeses and fresh organic produce from surrounding farms. Most tourists are soon on their way, but if you are intrigued by this picturesque high country oasis, there are several small lodges and cabins in the area, and wooded trails in the nearby Los Ángeles Cloud Forest Reserve to wander.
