Sanchiri.com

The colonial church in Ujarrás, built of limestone between 1575 and 1580, resides where an indigenous Huetar Indian fisherman claimed to have found a box with an image of the Virgin Mary. Unable to move the box, local people built a classic Spanish Colonial church, ( Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción ) on the site.

Over time, the spirit of Mary is said to have performed several miracles for the villagers, including a spontaneous bell ringing that warned them of an impending flood. In 1666 she is credited with helping a hastily organized militia repel an invasion of the Caribbean coast by the English pirate Henry Morgan.

But she failed to save Ujarrás from a devastating flood in 1833 that damaged the village so badly the people abandoned it and rebuilt on higher ground. Today, the church is beautifully landscaped and makes a worthwhile visit for people like us who love gardens and old church ruins.

Across the road is one of two spring-fed balnearios ( swimming pools ) open to the public. The big hydroelectric dam of Lake Cachí is three km outside of Ujarrás on the northeastern side of the lake. From here the Río Reventazón ( Bursting River ) spills down the mountainside to the Caribbean.

You can visit to this magical place from Sanchiri Lodge, just visit www.sanchiri.com for more information.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Ujarrás. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.