About two weeks ago, I visited a town in the provence of Alajuela that is called Gracia.

It was a Monday and there was no school because of the national holiday dia de Juan Santamaria or Batella de Rivas. This holiday celebrates when the Costa Rican army, around 1860, chased out the estadoudiense (person from the States) William Walker. Juan Santamaria is the hero of the battle and he was from Alajuela, where I am living. On Saturday, there was a tope, a parade of horses and riders showing off their fancy moves and prancing down the streets of Alajuela Center. I went and it was interesting. I took photos that I cannot put on the web, but some of the horses were almost dancing.

Ok, so about Grecia. That Monday, I took a bus to Grecia, it took about an hour. Grecia is north of Alajuela, the city. In Grecia, there is a church made completely of metal. It has an interesting story. I probably have some details wrong, but I believe that it was made in Italy and was supposed to go to a city named Grecia somewhere in Europe, but by accident (I do not know how this happens!) the folks sent the church to Grecia, Costa Rica. It is a burgendy-cranberry color and set in a nice park (but not without some characters hanging out on the benches). It is quite large, and, when one comes close, he can see how the church is made of large sheets of metal. I believe that even the inside of of metal, the colmns and everything. The inside is very beautiful, more impressive that the outside.

For lunch, I went to a soda (cafe) right near the park. (Not cafe like Xandos or Starbucks, but a cheap lunch eatery.) I had one other site to see in Grecia. There is a bridge in Grecia that is made entire of rocks, or so I thought. I wanted to see this rock bridge, thinking that it was man made, like the bridge you see in storybooks of the 3 billy goats gruff. I asked and friendly looking couple in the park where it was, and they actually offered to take me to see it. He said that he took people on tours around the country. I agreed and went with this couple in their tourist van to the rock bridge, something that I was later told by a friend here never to do! Well, I am living to tell the story!

So we went to the rock bridge, and to my surprise, it was a rock. A big rock with a paved road on it. Underneath was a hole with a little stream running through. I suppose that there are most stories about this rock bridge, like some people say it was built by the devil...it looks like Grecia is just full of mysteries!

The ride in the bus there and back was, like most trips out of the city, very nice with lots of green and mountains.