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The Costarrican Oxcart |
Text and photography by Javier Martin |
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| One thing is really conspicuous about the Costarrican oxcarts: the way they are painted. This way of painting them started roughly during late 1800ths, just when the train started to replace the oxcart as a way of transportation of coffee from the Central Plateau to both Caribbean and Pacific coasts. |
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Arriving from Spain in about 1500ths the oxcart was later going to be severely modified to adapt it to the extremely steep and sometimes muddy terrain of the central plateau.
Originally the cart wheels had spokes, but in this terrain conditions these became useless and actually a problem due to mud, so different options were tried until the best solution was achieved: a wheel made out of 16 pieces of wood jointed all together surrounded by a metal ring. |
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| In a period of time in between 1830 to 1900, transportation of coffee done by oxcart became a kind of culture, definitely a way of living. This was a trip done to the port of Puntarenas in the pacific coast, it use to take several days to do it, it was absolutely forbidden for the driver to ride on the cart, he had to guide the oxen walking (apparently is the only way to really guide efficiently the oxen) while maybe a son or a daughter could go on top of the coffee sacks for a while and other times walking with its dad, and later played the role of assistants preparing the meals every day of the trip and helping taking care of the oxen. |
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At the beginning the cart was painted in a single color (red) with red lead also known as minium. Later people started to decorate it painting colorful geometrical figures using fine brushes and different pigments in a somehow free way that evokes a baroque style.
At 2007 the Costarrican oxcart was declared by UNESCO a world’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. |
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More at UNESCO web site... |
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