San Ramón
The heavily agricultural city of San Ramón is famous for its Saturday Farmers Market in the center of town. Farmers and buyers from all over the valley come here to barter, and the atmosphere is festival-like when the weather is good.
The Catedral de San Ramón, on the square, is modern, despite its pseudo-Baroque style. On the north side of Parque Central is the 1893 Palacio Municipal (admission is free, open 9-4), built in the style of a Spanish mansion and complete with high ceilings and an inner courtyard. Admission is free to next door’s student-run San Ramón Museum, and interesting and quaint distraction. If you’re around in January, take a detour into the nearby town of Palmares for the rodeos, celebrations and parades of the Fiesta de Palmares.
The area’s biggest attraction is the private, 809-hectare/2,000-acre Los Angeles Cloud Forest, 20 km/12.4 miles north of town. Owned by ex-President Rodrigo Carazo, and his wife, Estrella, this little-known ecological paradise is a good alternative destination to the long hard ride to Monteverde. It’s close enough to be done as a day-trip from San José. LA is a delight for hikers, eco-minded tourists and birders interested in seeing a quetzal, the colorful national bird. Cloud forests, a type of rainforest, get moisture more from the fog-like clouds that sweep up the mountainside, depositing water in the form of dew. A naturalist offers tours and explains the diverse eco-system, in English and Spanish, twice daily (9 am and 1 pm, US $25).
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